The cost of keeping chinchillas
So you decided that you want to keep a chinchilla. Do you realise what you are letting yourself in for. Have you done your research? PLEASE STOP AND THINK. There are enough chinchillas that end up in rescue centres, don’t add to the problem. The intial cost is going to be high as you will have to buy the cage and accessories as well as the chinchilla itself. Are you going to keep a single chinchilla, a same sex pair or opposite sex pair? This will affect the choice of cage/cages you will have to buy and costs. Do you want your chinchilla/chinchillas to be purely pets or do you want to get into showing? This will again affect your costs.
The cost of the chinchilla itself various. It will depend on if you want a certain colour. If you want a male or female. Also if you just want a pet or want to show. Most chinchillas ive seen in pet shops start from about £60.00 up to £120.00. If you are not bothered about what colour you want they are always lots of chinchillas waiting for homes in rescue centres.
A cage that would be suitable for a single or same sex pair would cost from about £40.00 from people such as John Hopewell or £45.00 from Paul Spooner. You can buy a cage such as a thickets cage from pets at home that would be suitable for a single or same sex pair which would cost £79.99. If you have somebody that is good at diy you could make your own, but in my opinon it is easier to just buy a cage. If you are feeling adventurous and want to make your own you will need to buy the following: cage mesh ¾ x3/4 16 gauge, C clips, C clip pilers and wire mesh cutters. You can always try places such as ebay or bargain pages for second hand cages.
If you are going to keep a opposite sex pair then you will have to consider that you will need a cage to put the off spring in if the pair breed, you will need a cage to keep the male chinchilla separate for when the female has babies. This will get quite costly, if you want a opposite sex pair and don’t want to breed then my advice would be to get the male castrated. This can cost from £40.00 up to about £90.00 depending on your vets.
Cage accessories you will need will comprise of a sand bath, a food dish and hay rack if your cage hasn’t got one in built and a water bottle as well as disinfectant.
Sand baths will cost you from £10.00 in most pet shops, you can buy them from £6.00 on the internet. However if you have a metal biscuit tin or sweet tin that will fit in your cage this will make a good alternative.
You will also need chinchilla pellets and hay. These items will be your main on going costs as well.
There are always toys available which is great for the envirmental enrichment of your pets habitat. Toys can be as simple as a empty toilet roll filled with hay to the luxuary of a fleece hammock. You can let your chinchilla out of its cages for a supervised run, however be aware that they like chewing so if this is going to be a regular thing I would advice you to put all electrical cables in condiute.
Pet insurance is available for chinchillas through exotics direct £82.20 a year covers vet fees up £2000 a year but is only available for animals from 8 weeks old to 5 years old and has a access of £45.00
Useful website links
http://www.johnhopewell.co.uk/c_cages.html
http://www.petsathome.com/bin/venda?ex=co_disp-view&curpage=3&icat=sa1hom1cg3&bsref=petsathome
http://www.chillaquip.freeuk.com/paulpic1.htm
http://www.exoticdirect.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=home.formstart&aff=a919#
http://rj-chinchillarescue.co.uk/