You have two options when it comes to cages for chinchillas. You can build your own or you can buy one ready-made. We've actually done both.
Our first cage was typical of pet store cages. Its dimensions measured 3 feet x 1.5 feet x 2 feet and it had two levels. It seemed to be a decent size for one chinchilla, but it didn't take long before we started to think about coming up with our own design. The main advantage of a store bought cage is immediate availability. Pre-built cages can also be reasonably priced given the economies of scale inherent in mass produced products.
Our second cage was one we designed and built. We wanted to build something as large as possible, but still be small enough to move around our house as needed. This meant the cage had to be no wider than 2 feet so that it could fit through a doorway. The length was determined by figuring out what we could maneuver around the hallways of our home. This turned out to be 4 feet. And the height was also 4' mostly because of the size of the materials that we selected (more about that below).
The custom chinchilla cage we built has a 5-sided base (i.e. 4 walls and a bottom) made out of melamine. Melamine is particle board covered with white plastic that is easy to clean with Windex and a paper towel. To make moving the cage easy, we attached strong caster wheels to the bottom of each of the 4 corners.
The sides and top of the cage are made out of white Elfa shelving you can buy from the Container Store. Holding the whole thing together are 1-inch square pieces of wood that run length-wise or width-wise throughout the cage. These pieces of wood also provide support for wooden shelves (4 levels) that the chinchillas can jump onto. The Elfa walls and ceiling form another 5-sided box that sits within the melamine base. Both the melamine bottom and Elfa have a door to allow for entry to and exit from the cage.
To make the cage easier to clean, we put together a 5-sided wooden box which we filled with bedding as a cue to our chinchillas. The wooden box also has a melamine bottom, but it has pine sides since they're exposed and may be chewed.
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August 18th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I've been looking into chinchillas for a while now. At the pet stores though I couldn't find any cages. I don't have the room on the shelf to get something as wide as a guinea cage, so would it be fine to just get a bird cage (I would prefer to not construct one, I'm not exactly great at that sort of thing) one that's not to wide but makes up for it in height and with platforms wouldn't it be feasible?
August 13th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I just recently got a chinchilla and i couldnt find any 2-3 story cages., so i bought a guinea pig cage for him. is that size big enough
July 12th, 2007 at 1:19 am
i got a few questions, about building a decent cage.
1. roughly how much time does it take to construct?
2. i have heard that one should avoid adding anything plastic to a chinchilla cage as they like to chew on everything, and plastic in there stomach can be very harmful. yet most things for them are plastic like a running wheel, ball for walking around the house etc, does this mean you should not buy them?
3. how often do you have to replace the wooden shelving due to them soaking up urine and such?
4. whats the best type of wood to use? i have heard you should avoid things like cedar and elder wood at all costs as it makes them sick, and some wood is better for them than others?
5. since they live a very long time i plan on building a decent size cage that will last for along time thats why i'm going to custom build one but, whats better longer length, or taller cage? some sources have said they need a long run area as they like to run and jump, but others say a tall cage with lots of levels is better as they like to climb? could you clarify what is better?(im thinking long as in the wild they run around)
6. finally whats the best way to secure the corners? as using plastic tie wraps does not see right, so should u screw it together somehow? or get someone to neatly weld the corners together?
June 29th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
When we built it, it took us a day to gather supplies and two days to build it.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Hi- I would like to know how long it took you to build this cage because i am planning on getting a chinchilla soon. Thank-you