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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September 13th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
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.
September 12th, 2006 at 1:39 am
This is not about traveling. We had two chinchillas and one ran away. Will the one we still have be happy even though it doesn't really have anyone to play around with? We are also thinking of buying a cat or dog that likes to play with chinchillas. Is that okay?
August 16th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Kacy,
In theory you could leave your chinchilla in its cage with enough supplies for a week. However, chinchillas get very used to routine and can become quite stressed when their routine is changed. We try to have someone stop by when we're on vacation.
Also, make sure you have a wheel to give them an alternative to running outside of their cage.
August 16th, 2006 at 11:15 am
If you leave on vacation for a week but give them enough stuff and make sure the airs good and everything you said above, will it put stress on the chinchilla cause no one is home and it can't go out of its cage?
August 6th, 2006 at 11:24 am
My family does a lot of traveling. Will that hurt my chinchilla in any way?