Chinchillas

Silver Shaded Chinchilla Longhair Cat

(Also known as Sterlings)

The Silver Shaded Chinchilla cat falls under the persian/exotic breed, and are known for their sparkling look, which they derive from a pure white undercoat, tipped with blue or black. they have large, round expressive eyes, which are outlined in black. Not to be mistaken with the Silver Persian Chinchilla.

The Romans had no word for chinchilla, but it works fine just as it is.

Often the request for a "Latin name" of a plant or animal is really asking for the scientific name, or Linnaean binomial (see the related link below). In the case of chinchillas there are two, since there are two living species of chinchilla and each has its own binomial. These are Chinchilla brevicaudata and Chinchilla lanigera. The word Chinchilla comes from the name of a native people of Peru, the Chincha. Brevicaudata means "short-tailed" and lanigera means "wool-bearing".

Chinchilla's are nice pets to keep but need a few things:

1. A good quality chinchilla cage, I recommend the Ferret Nation Cage (142) or the Critter Nation Cage (162). The difference between the two is just the Critter Nation has smaller bar spacing!
2. A nesting box is an essential, it is best if you get a wooden one but an animal safe plastic one is good only for journeys in the carry cage!
3. Wood based litter, I recommend using Care Fresh bedding mixed in with this also, make sure that the bag you have of wood/care fresh litter doesn't have dusty litter in!
4. Hay, a good quality supply of Timothy hay is essential, top it up every day
5. Chinchilla pellets, chinchilla "mix" wont do as chinchillas' can be selective and have a poor quality diet
6. A sturdy food bowl, either a heavy crockery dish or a stainless steel "Coop cup" to clip onto the side of the cage, DON'T get a plastic dish as it will be gone quicker than the food!
7. 150-320 ml (4oz-8oz) plastic or glass water bottle with an easy to suck sipper, never get a water dish as it will be soiled quickly!
8. Lava stones/pumice stones, these help file teeth down as chinchillas chew allot. You can buy pet safe pumice stone ledges at pet shops
9. Mineral stone/chew, you can easily purchase a rodent safe mineral chew/stone at pet shops
10. Large tubes, you can go to a carpet store and ask for the cardboard inner tube that carpets are rolled round. Chinchillas also like to chew loo roll tubes. You can also but tubes that are made of vegetable parchment and rodent safe plastic in pet stores
11. Dust bath, I recommend buying a metal dust bath with high edges from a pet store or you could use a large (metal) family size sweet tin, e.g Quality Street tins. The plastic dust house's are good when chinchillas' are small but a fully grown one may find it a bit of a squeeze and may overheat
12. Chinchilla Dust, buy chinchilla dust from pet stores, DON'T use anything else! Sand is horrid to use for them.
13. Wooden toys/chew/sticks, if you use sticks from your garden/yard then don't use sticks from pine or citrus fruit trees. Before you give the sticks to the chinchillas' put them in boiling water for 10-15 minutes as this destroys germs and bacteria
14. Treats - dried apple with no preservatives is good for a treat
15. Cage cleaning spray and wipes, get special safe cleaning spray for pets to spray shelves and toys down. Use wipes for wire bars and smaller toys. Another option is to put dilute vinegar in boiling water and leave the stuff that needs cleaning to soak
16. A carry cage, I recommend getting a very well ventilated carry cage that's for cats and small dogs as "Small pet" carriers are too Small normally. Or if you don't have this believe it or not a medium sized hamster cage with no accessorises, tubes or shelves is good as they are well ventilated. Make sure the cage is about 20cm high, 20cm wide and 30cm long, the bigger the better!
17. A book on chinchillas, you can get books on Amazon, in book shops, sometimes in library's and also in pet shops