We prefer to avoid reviewing an item that we haven't actually owned, but when we read about a product called the Chin-Chiller, we couldn't resist.
The description of the chin-chiller indicates that it remains cooler than the ambient temperature and thus provides a way to keep your chinchilla cool. This is bogus! How can something without external power remain cooler than the air temperature around it?
What is more likely is that the material that these Chin-Chillers are made of is a good conductor. As such, it feels like it is cooler to the touch because it conducts the heat from whatever touches it. But if the air is warmer than the chinchilla then the Chin-Chiller isn't going to have any effect.
This product is akin to a fan. When a fan blows air on your face you feel cooler. But the air isn't any cooler because it is being blown around by a fan. At best you're feeling cooler because the moving air is pushing away the air close to your face that you've warmed up and replacing it with slightly cooler air in the room.
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I own a Chin Chiller also (a cut piece of granite), and it does feel cool to the touch, and Chin Chin spends a lot of time on it eating his treats and lounging on it. I have never put mine in the freezer and feel it does a good job.
I own a chin-chiller and my chin (Bottles) loves it! On warm days she chooses to sleep on it instead of in her house. On really hot days I will put it in the freezer for a little while and it remains really cool for a good amount of time.
i have one two, i see my chinchilla CiCi on it alll the time. i also put one in her little shelter so she can be in her area while being cool
I agree that you shouldnt review an item you havent owned. Especially to call it bogus. The chin-chillers are made of either mable or granite. All types of rock are very poor conductors of heat, unlike what you review stated. The whole concept of the chin-chillers makes perfect sense to me. I have slate floors that my dogs love to lay on during the hotest parts of the day in summer. Unless the sun is shining directly on the floor, its stay very cool, even when the air is hot. I believe thats the same idea. I have 2 granite pieces for my chinchilla. And putting it in the fridge or freezer makes it even cooler.
For anyone who has or is planning on getting a chinchilla, you should get one of these. But dont purchase from pet stores! I got mine for free at a granite counter supplier. They have tons of scrap pieces and let me pick what I wanted. Even if you have to pay, it will be much cheaper than a pet store price. Just make sure you smooth the edges before letting your chin use it. If you dont have access to a stone grinder, a metal file works fine.
I had the same problem in my house with keeping the tempature down on hot days, but I live neer the beach and didn't want to bring the humidity up any higher with ice in the cage or on top. What worked really nice for my chins was dry ice. I placed the block of dry ice in a collinder on top of the cage and then a bigger bowl (upside down) on top of that. The collinder holes let the cold ail flow down into thier cage. The bowl on top of the collinder was just to make sure the cold air didn't escape out of the collinder. I then plased a sheet over the cage, it kept all the cold air in the cage. My chins LOVED it. They sat directly under it on a ledge about a foot away. You can feel the cold air coming off the ice and it last a long time. The best part is that dry ice does not have water in it and does not increase humidity at all.
Some warnings!!!
Dry ice will burn if they come into contact with it. So make sure ice is kept in a collinder so that as the pieces shrink they don't fall into cage. Also keep an eye on the tempature as the ice works very well and you don't want them to get to cold. also make sure the highest leadge in the cage is at least a foot away from the ice. The chins will try to cuddle with the top of the cage and that will burn them.
Another big warning here for those who think to try this: dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. If you completely cover the cage, it will fill up with CO2 as the dry ice sublimates (melts)... CO2 is heavier than air and will end up suffocating your Chinchilla. There is a lot of CO2 in a tiny bit of dry ice.
these work well i put mine in the freezer and they get very cold in about 5 minutes i dont have the actual thing but my dad is a tile setter and we had some granite tiles in the garage i cut them up into blocks and we switch them out every 30-40 mins our chin pepper really likes it after playtime and i live in west Texas so it gets very hot even with central air.i saw these at the store you can get a large granite tile for about the same price as one of these small chin chillers but i would recommend it