It is inevitable that you will need to leave your chinchillas unattended while you travel. The ideal is to have someone come to your home and check in on them as well as to replenish food and water.
But for short trips, you can do without a babysitter. When you go away for a few days, fill up your chinchillas' food dish with pellets. If the food bowl you use isn't very big, consider adding another full bowl to the cage before you leave.
Also, put extra hay cubes in the cage. Put enough in to last while you're away plus a little extra to provide a buffer in case your plans should change. And you'll need to give them their fortified seed mix. They'll eat all of this in one sitting so don't give them more than double the normal amount.
Top up the water to a level you think is sufficient given your expected time away. Chinchillas don't drink too much so most water bottles can hold enough to last a short trip.
If you keep your chinchillas in a spare room, leave the door open while you're away. This will ensure good air circulation. The exception to this is if you are in a warm climate and need to ensure cool temperatures via a window A/C unit.
In closing, it you are thinking about taking your chinchilla with you, please read our post on the issues with traveling with your chinchilla.
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For Christmas vacation, I will need to be away for almost a month. Although I'd like to board my chin with a vet, it seems very expensive, and I am doubtful that they will do much more than a friend would do. It seems like a large burden to ask my friend to let my chin out to run; if I just have them make sure the chin has plenty of food, water, dust baths, and some attention, will she be ok without running around all the time? She has a wheel to keep her occupied. Even if I did board her with a vet, are the vets likely to let her run around?
What about dust baths? Like do you have to make sure that someone comes over to do it for you while you are away?
And by the way, this is a great website. I'm thinking about getting a pet chinchilla and I'm finding basically everything I need to know here. It's really cool how it's centered around your guys' chinchilla experiences. It makes it easier to trust. Thank you!
Dear Leah,
the only thing you have to worry about is if they pee in there. thenyou can't reuse the dust. if they poop you just have to scoop it out. when the dust gets clumpy you have to through it out.
Timo,
Chinchillas will chew on electrical cables. They'll actually chew on just about anything.
Hi,
One question about leaving them alone. Is it true that they like chew on electrical cables ? Do I have to hide all the cables ?
Hi Simon,
There's no way to know if your remaining chinchilla will be happy. You'll need to compare the behavior of your chinchilla before and after.
As for the dog or cat playing with a chinchilla, we strongly advise against. Even if the dog or cat is friendly, a misplaced swat of the paw or chomp of the teeth could really harm (maybe kill) your chinchilla.