Content
- 1 How long do chinchillas live at home?
- 2 How to care for a chinchilla at home
- 3 How to toilet train a chinchilla
- 4 Does a chinchilla need a mate?
- 5 How to determine the sex of a chinchilla, photo
- 6 How to determine the sex of a chinchilla at an early age
- 7 Breeding chinchillas
- 8 What should not be allowed in the apartment
- 9 Conclusion
Native to the highlands of South America, chinchillas are becoming increasingly popular as pets today. There are two types of chinchillas in the world: the small long-tailed and the large short-tailed. Due to their valuable fur, both species were practically exterminated in the wild. In Chile today these animals are under state protection. Their numbers have not yet recovered. But the animals are not in danger of extinction.
It turned out that they reproduce successfully in captivity. This circumstance made it possible not only to organize animal breeding farms for the production of valuable fur, but also to keep chinchillas in apartments as pets.
Chinchillas are rodents, but their digestive system is very different from the rats, hamsters or squirrels familiar to Europeans. When buying an animal for an apartment, you need to take into account that it necessarily requires roughage, that is, hay. But it’s better not to give succulent food at all. This is one of the causes of chinchilla diseases.
Chinchillas also do not tolerate sudden changes in temperature very well. Contrary to logic, these animals with the thickest fur in the world do not tolerate low temperatures very well. If the room is below +10°C, adult animals begin to freeze, and young animals can catch a cold and die.
How long do chinchillas live at home?
Due to the rarity and secretiveness of animals in nature, the features of their existence and life expectancy in nature are unknown. All data were obtained from observations of animals in captivity. A smaller species, the long-tailed chinchilla, is bred in large quantities in captivity.
And even when observing animals in captivity, data on their life expectancy varies greatly. According to some data, long-tailed chinchillas, if kept under proper conditions, live more than 30 years. There are cases where chinchillas lived up to 37 years. But according to reviews from chinchilla breeders, in fact, these animals live no longer than 20 years, and the usual lifespan of chinchillas is 6-10 years. With such a wide range of lifespans, it can be assumed that the problem is that the living conditions in apartments are unsuitable for high-mountain animals.
And indeed it is. The optimal temperature for keeping chinchillas is in the range of 18-23°C. The minimum should not fall below 14°C, and the maximum should not exceed 28°C. Temperature extremes are only permissible for a short period of time.
At the same time, caring for a chinchilla at home is not difficult, if you take into account the peculiarities of its lifestyle and needs. It will be much more difficult to create conditions for the life of an animal, actually subordinating your life to the needs of animals.
How to care for a chinchilla at home
When buying a chinchilla as a pet, and not as material for obtaining skins, you should first take care of an equipped cage for the rodent and an air conditioner to maintain the desired temperature in the room. These animals tolerate heat worse than cold, although low temperatures do not contribute to the chinchilla’s well-being.
The cage area for one individual must be at least 1x0.4 m and the height is 0.8 m. If you plan to purchase two or more animals, the cage area increases according to the number of pets.
Chinchillas are active animals and require a lot of space for physical activity. At the same time, the height from which the animal can jump must be limited to 20 cm. If the height is too high, the chinchilla can break bones when jumping from the shelf. Therefore, when constructing a cage, you will have to make several “floors” in it so that when an animal jumps from above, it would land not on the floor of the cage, but on the lower “floor.”
Although these animals seem quite large and “plump”, like any rodent, their body is adapted to penetrate very narrow crevices. Chinchilla owners admit that if they had not themselves seen how the animal escapes from the cage, crawling between the bars, they would not have believed in the possibility of such an escape.
But the fact is that usually novice owners of these South American animals do not ask questions about the anatomy of their pets. The body of chinchillas is designed in such a way that it can be strongly compressed from the sides. This allows small animals to escape from predators in very narrow crevices. Therefore, it is better to use a fine-mesh metal mesh for the cage.
Caring for the animal is not difficult, but it is recommended to clean the cage once a day. Chinchillas smell much weaker than other domestic rodents, but with infrequent cleaning, even the cleanest animal will smell. To save on bedding and cleaning time, you can train your chinchilla to use a litter tray. In this case, only the tray can be cleaned daily, and general cleaning of the cage can be done much less frequently.
How to toilet train a chinchilla
Accustoming an animal to defecate in a certain place is based on the desire of males to mark territory. Since females also mark the boundaries of their territory, they can also be trained to defecate in one place.
When training animals to relieve themselves in a tray, excrement is collected and placed in the tray. Animals mark the territory using old marks. Therefore, excrement placed in the tray will be a signal that the territory should be marked again in the same place. Fresh droppings from another animal work best in this case, but if you only have one chinchilla, you can use its own droppings. The effect will be weaker.
Like any herbivore, the act of defecation in a chinchilla is spontaneous.
Does a chinchilla need a mate?
Due to the high price per individual, chinchillas are often kept alone, but this has a bad effect on the animal’s psyche. In nature, rodents live in colonies, forming monogamous pairs. If the owner of the animals does not want to engage in breeding chinchillas, it is better for him to buy a same-sex pair. If you want to start breeding chinchillas for sale or for skins, you need to learn to distinguish between the sexes of animals in order to form pairs.
How to determine the sex of a chinchilla, photo
If you want to buy a same-sex pair, you first need to decide what gender of chinchillas will live in the house. Males have the unpleasant habit of marking all surfaces in sight with urine. Females are calmer, but during the hunt they begin to refuse food and scatter food around. Refusal of food is unpleasant because in this case it is easy to miss the onset of a serious illness, blaming everything on hunting. When it becomes clear what is better: marks or garbage everywhere, you can go to the breeder and ask for animals of the desired sex.
The sex of chinchillas is determined by the location of the anus and urinary openings relative to each other. In the female, the urethra is located immediately below the anus and there is no distance between them. The male's penis and anus are located further apart than the female's. As chinchilla breeders put it, “the male has a longitudinal bridge between the penis and anus.” In the photo you can see the difference between a male and a female. The top photo is a male, the bottom photo is a female.
Breeders usually sell chinchillas at the age of 3 months either individually or in already formed batches. For those wishing to engage in future breeding of chinchillas, it is useful to know how to distinguish cubs by gender in the first days after birth.
How to determine the sex of a chinchilla at an early age
In newborn chinchillas, sex is determined in the same way as in adult animals. But there is a nuance: immediately after birth, the genitals of chinchillas are often swollen and it can be difficult to understand what gender the baby is. We'll have to wait a few days.
Breeding chinchillas
Chinchillas reach sexual maturity at 7 months. Over the course of a year, rodents are capable of producing 2-3 litters per year, from 1 to 5 puppies in each. Chinchillas reproduce very well at home, but the female needs shelter where she can give birth to offspring.
Since it is possible to breed chinchillas in captivity by forming not monogamous pairs, but families of 4-8 females per male, breeding rodents can be a good income even when keeping one family in an apartment. The cost of a live animal is almost equal to the cost of the skin and is directly proportional to the color, so you can predict costs and profits depending on the initial investment.
Chinchilla colors can be natural or the result of mutation in captivity. Natural color is the most common and an animal with the agouti gene is valued lower than any other.
Chinchilla breeding as a business
Whether it is profitable to breed chinchillas for sale as pets depends on the place of residence of the chinchilla breeder.If in large cities incomes are higher and people can afford to buy an animal that costs $60 or more, then in villages no one will spend money on a “mouse” at that price. Moreover, if not properly cared for, chinchillas die.
Chinchilla nurseries that sell pets are aimed at urban populations with high incomes, and the cost of the animal directly depends on the color of the rodent and can reach up to $500.
It is hardly profitable for novice owners to breed chinchillas in mass quantities for the sake of business. It is better to first get your teeth into breeding a small number of animals, which will allow you to recoup the costs. After finding out the nuances of keeping South American rodents, you can think about a chinchilla farm and draw up a business plan for breeding chinchillas.
A real business plan must be drawn up based on local living conditions and laws. In general, you can only estimate approximate costs and possible profits.
purchase of breeding stock in the amount of 20 animals | from 1200 to 10000 dollars |
shad for chinchillas for 20 heads | from 350 dollars |
hay for 7 months from purchasing animals at the age of 3 months to the arrival of puppies | 30 kg. The cost depends on the region and climatic conditions of a particular year |
grain feed for 7 months. | 150 kg. The cost may also vary in different regions. |
sand for bathing | can be dialed for free |
sharpening stone for teeth | $1 each. Can be replaced with solid wood |
dried fruit supplements | 10 kg and again the price will depend on the region |
vitamins | 250 ml, cost about 8 dollars. |
protein supplements | 5 kg. Since this is most often powdered milk, the price again depends on the region |
climate control if the farm is located in a non-residential premises | from 250 dollars |
registration of individual entrepreneurship |
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registration of veterinary certificate |
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obtaining permission to set up a farm |
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This is an initial cost that cannot be repaid immediately.
The photo shows a block of 3 cages for chinchillas with trays for garbage and litter.
Chinchillas produce an average of 3 puppies per litter. Puppies are weaned at the age of 2 months, puppies can be sold as early as 3 months. If there is a high, stable demand for animals, it is better to sell young animals, since the cost of a chinchilla is equal to the cost of the skin of an adult animal. Maintenance costs for sale in 3 months. will be lower.
When breeding chinchillas for skins, the animals need to be raised to adulthood. That is, up to 7 months. When a polygamous family of 4 females and 1 male is formed, there will be 4 families and 48 young animals on the farm at the same time. Young animals require additional cages, but the number of chinchillas per cage may be higher. However, at least 3 more blocks of 4 cells will be required so that the animals can grow up calmly. Ideally, it is better to populate these blocks with same-sex chinchillas. The cost of 3 more blocks starts from $80 per block.
Thus, the total cost of initial costs, taking into account unforeseen expenses, will be from $2,100.
Semi-annual feed consumption for a total livestock of 70 animals
hay
| 90 kg |
corn | 450 kg |
dried fruits | 35 kg |
vitamins
| 1 l |
protein supplements | 18 kg |
grindstone | 70 pcs. |
Even with a rough estimate, it is clear that the costs of maintaining a chinchilla farm are low (the cost of water and electricity for climate control is not taken into account).
You don’t have to buy special mineral stones, but pick them up locally or replace them with hardwoods.
Income from the sale of 48-50 skins will range from $2,880 to $25,000. But the latter is only possible in the case of breeding chinchillas with a very rare and expensive color, so in reality you should not count on such income. Most likely the income will be lower. However, even at the minimum price for a skin, you can get more than $5,000 in a year. The costs of setting up a farm and obtaining permits will pay off in one year. Then it will be possible to receive net profit.
Minuses
There are also pitfalls due to which a beginner in chinchilla breeding may fail. This is the high sensitivity of chinchillas to adverse factors. As a result of improper maintenance, all purchased animals may die.
There are certain “don’ts” that must be observed when breeding chinchillas:
- You can't swim in the water. Instead of water, use sand;
- overheating/hypothermia should not be allowed;
- do not give succulent food and nuts;
- You cannot suddenly change the type of food;
- Do not give food to rabbits, hamsters or guinea pigs;
- You cannot place a female younger than 6 months with a male;
- chinchillas should not be kept in a noisy room;
- oak should not be used as shavings for bedding or as a toy for grinding teeth;
- Do not give branches of stone fruit trees that contain hydrocyanic acid;
- You cannot give tap water without settling it;
- chinchillas should not be separated from the female before they reach 3 months.
These are the general “don’ts” that must be applied to both chinchillas on a fur farm and pets.
Whether chinchilla breeding as a business will be profitable or not depends on two factors:
- compliance with the rules for keeping chinchillas;
- availability of a market for live specimens or skins.
To sell the skins, it will be necessary to learn how to slaughter animals and harvest the skins.
To successfully produce fur and make a decent profit, you will have to import animals of dark colors from abroad. This will significantly increase the costs of the initial organization of production and reduce income.
Since today the Russian pet market is already saturated with chinchillas, the breeding of rodents for sale to exotic lovers has come to naught. Today it makes sense to breed only high-quality animals and only to obtain raw materials for fur products.
When keeping animals as pets, there are additional reasons why chinchillas die at home.
What should not be allowed in the apartment
All of the above prohibitions must be observed not only on the farm, but also in the apartment. But on a farm there are usually no other factors that are found in an apartment. So there are many more prohibitions when keeping pets:
- chinchillas should not be kept in the same cage with other animals;
- you should not chase animals (this especially applies to children);
- chinchillas should not be left alone with domestic predators: cats, dogs or ferrets;
- You cannot take photographs with flash;
- You can’t immediately place a new chinchilla next to an old one. We need to give them time to get used to each other when living in different cages.At the same time, quarantine periods will be observed;
- you cannot put it in a walking ball, like a rabbit or a hamster;
- cannot be woken up during the day;
- You can’t walk on a leash like a rabbit;
- You cannot leave dangerous objects: paper, foil, beads, polyethylene, threads, etc., if the animal is allowed into the room for a walk. A chinchilla may eat these things out of curiosity;
- Do not suddenly grab the animal;
- cannot be kept in a noisy room. It is better to place the TV in another room;
- should not be allowed to walk around the room unattended;
- cannot be kept in a small cage.
There are much more rules for keeping pets than for farms, because on farms few people are interested in the inner world of a chinchilla, and living conditions are provided to a minimum. In such conditions, animals can exist, but their life span is much shorter, since breeding females are slaughtered as soon as their productivity decreases.
Conclusion
According to real reviews from the owners of these animals, keeping animals is actually not that difficult. At least the stress resistance of chinchillas is higher than what is reported on the websites. But individuals are different. If you come across an animal with a weak nervous system, it can actually die from stress. Therefore, it is better to first create the recommended conditions, and then the content can be adjusted. Some chinchillas even like to watch TV.
