Emergency Cooling

Posted by Chinchilla Planet in Caring for Chinchillas

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If you live in a warm climate, it's important that you have a backup plan to keep your chinchillas cool in case your A/C unit fails. We keep a couple of frozen jugs of water in the freezer during the summer months. So far, doing so has come in very handy.

Emergency Cooling

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35 Responses to “Emergency Cooling”

JJD:

I'm getting a chinchilla but I have a dog and 3 cats. I know 2 of my cats will never give any harm to a chinchilla they never harmed a fly. But my dog could scare the chinchilla and my 3rd cat catches every bird or rodent in sight. He doesn't always kill it he's just a very active cat that was found in the wild catching things is an instict. I was thinking of putting the chinchilla in the basement but the basement could flood and the washing machine/dryer is to loud any suggestions where I could keep the chinchilla but still give it no harm.

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KL:

What I use:
Food - Mazuri chinchilla pellets
Treats - rose hips
Exercise - wheel and letting her run around the room at night (chin-proofed first), no exercise in a plastic ball as there are many negatives about the plastic ball
Dust - Yes, you can purchase the dust, i purchase mine online. My chinchilla gets a bath every other day because it's a bit warmer in my area.

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Chinchilla Planet:

Georgia,

There is nothing better than an AC in warm areas to keep the temperature constant.

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Georgia:

I'm planning on getting a chinchilla. I live in England. I don't have A/C and it's very expensive to get it over here. Is there a better alternative that can be used at all times?

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- EricPost:
  
  You have to figure out the average mean temp of your house. I have had a chinchilla and he did fine in a house with no a/c. What I did was buy stone marble and freeze it. I put one in his cage every 12 hours, during the hot months. Mr Chinch would sit on it and rub his face then forget about it mostly. Chinch's are from the mountains so they like it on the cold side. If it's hot and humid increase their dust baths to mabye daily.
  
  The chinchilla coat will adjust to the heat, I noticed a marked decline in fur during the summer. In the winter it would get thicker.
  It's not so much the one time temp spikes as the average temp. If your house gets to 90Âºf (32Âºc) and stays there it is bad. But it if rises that high and falls to 55Âºf (13Âºc) at night, the chinchilla will adapt. Cool marble helps a lot. Don't use ice cubes as they melt or form condensation which isn't the best for the chinchilla
  
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Chinchilla Planet:

Lisa,

There's a lot to cover so we think the best idea is to read the home page of this site which lays out several links to articles in a logical (hopefully) order. Also, if you have a specific question, try using our search box with one or two words. We use Google for the search functionality so if the topic is covered, it'll show up in the results.

Good luck!

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Lisa McGee:

I just received 2 chincillas from a friend who is having a housing crisis right now. I wanted to know some basic things I needed to know about caring for them. They appear to be very fragile and I have a Japanesse Akita that is very curious. I'm afraid that if I let the dog near the cage, they'll have a heart attack. What I needed to know is
1. How often do I change the cage? 2. What do I feed them? 3. Should I give him treats? 4. How much exercise should I give them in that plastic ball? 5. Can I purchase the dust for their bath and how often should I bathe them.

There are more questions I have but I would just like to know some of the basics to caring for them. I would hate to have something happen to them while I have them.

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