One of the questions that we're asked is whether it is safe to take a chinchilla on trips. Our general response is that taking your chinchilla on your travels is a bad idea.
The reasons for our response are many. Here are the top reasons to NOT travel with your chinchilla:
- Chinchillas are skittish to begin with. Moving them outside of their familiar surroundings can cause them great stress.
- If you move them very frequently, they may learn to associate your presence with the move and thus stopping trusting you.
- You don't have as much control with the environment when you travel. As a result, you may put your chinchillas in situations where the temperature and/or humidity are high enough to kill them.
- The more moving, the more likely your chinchillas will become physically harmed e.g. broken leg.
We also understand that sometimes you have no choice but to take your chinchilla with you. Breeders that attend shows are obviously taking their chinchillas to different locations with no ill-effects. So it is quite possible to do successfully. We do hope that you'll carefully examine your plans and make sure that at all stages you've considered the implications to your chinchillas.
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Hey everyone, what about if flying is your only way of travel? I am also hoping they well let me keep him in his carrier on my lap. But its a big flight from Florida to California...any tips ?
I've been thinking about getting chinchilla's, and then taking them with me to a chinchilla-friendly college when the time comes (I'm in middle school right now). But the drive there would be 13 and a half hourse long, and I'm not sure about the plane ride. Should I not even bother, drive, or fly?
Hi Delilah,
I am impressed that you are thinking so far ahead in the future. When the time comes for college and a 13 hour ride, I would definitely suggest driving. I drove my chinchillas from NJ to CA and they were just fine. You may have to consider that almost all colleges will not be chinchilla or pet friendly unless you live in an off-campus apartment, which even then often do not allow pets. I got my chinchilla in college, I just kind of hid it in my dorm room and never got caught lol. Good luck with the process!
Steph