If you are considering having this adorable furry pet as your family member, we give you some advices on how to successfully tame and domesticate this curious animal.
While buying a cub of chinchilla, make sure to buy the chinchilla cub that is between 3-4 months old. While domesticating your new pet, make sure to use plenty of treats and but not abruptly, but follow the steps, and do not change to the next until you are sure that the chinchilla has accepted the prior treat.
Give the pet time to adapt
Give a little time for a chinchilla to adapt to the new environment. Keep in mind to give the chinchilla a little distance, and minimize the interaction with the animal at the beginning. Have patience while approaching the pet, and if you have to approach it, do it gentle, slowly and quietly.
Treats
While trying to tame your chinchilla, make sure to be more “active” at night since chinchillas are especially active at night and therefore are more opened for “acquaintance“. In the beginning, sit next to the cage, so that the chinchilla can become accustomed to your presence. Offer your chinchilla a treat (small piece raisins) when it approaches the bars of the cage. When the pet accepts treats from you, open the cage door and let it eat out of your hands then try to coax chinchilla to climb on your hand and eat a treat. Put a treat on the forearm, and allow the chinchilla to climb onto your hand. When the chinchilla gets used to your hand, place your hand on the cage and let the chinchilla climb out of hand, and continued to serve delicacies. Once it gets accustomed to climbing on the hands, try to put your hand on the back of chinchillas.
Do not use force
Avoid chasing and forcibly catching chinchilla to return to the cage, try to make the pet go in the cage by itself, by using the treats.
Carry your chinchilla often and regularly, in order to enable it to good socialization, and make better connection.
Watch the chinchilla while playing
If chinchillas love to play outside the cage, it is necessary to remember that their natural curiosity can lead them to potential danger. To ensure chinchillas safety during the play, specify one room in the house for the pet to play, and try to keep that room a safe place.
Keep your curious chinchillas safe
Curious chinchillas tend to bite and swallow the different things more often than other pets. This means you need to protect your chinchilla from dangerous electrical cables, poisonous room plants, chemicals, and anything that could be dangerous if swallowed or bitten. Of course, you will want to protect your personal items, books, and furniture, which chinchillas like to nibble.
Chinchillas are very agile and are good jumpers – make sure the place where the chinchilla jumps or climbs is not dangerous in any way. Make sure to place all potentially dangerous things out of reach, so that chinchillas cannot reach out to them by jumping or climbing.
Make sure there are no dangerous places to hide (behind heavy furniture, under appliances, in beds, holes in walls, etc.). Keep in mind that under that soft fur, the little body can go trough an amazingly small holes.
Another threat is standing water, since the chinchillas cannot swim. Lower the lid and make sure that the chinchillas do not fall into containers with water.