FOOD DISH - Heavy ceramic bowls are best and straight sides are important to prevent tipping.

WATER DISPENSER - Use a small lick type animal water dispenser (16 oz.) attached to the outside of the cage. Be sure not to hang it over the hay. Water in bowls is to be avoided.

WIRE CAGES

These are easy to find, certainly have their benefits, but are not my preference. Chins tend to spray urine, and fecal pellets also escape these cages easily. Wire cages can also be drafty. All of these concerns can be remedied by adding plexiglass or melamine coated pressboard to the sides and back (and top if you happen to have a cat or bird that likes to lounge up there). Also, it's certain that chins prefer sitting on solid surfaces. These can be provided in a wire cage by adding some solid surface areas for them.

WIRE MESH - The chinchilla can't gnaw on galvanized bars or wire mesh, but avoid painted or plastic coated cages. The gauge of the mesh should be no larger than 1" x 1/2" as kits can get out of anything larger. Wire bottoms are not good at all for baby chins as they can get caught in it or chilled from it.

CAGE DOOR - Large enough for easy removal of dust bath, sleeping house, and wheel.

BOTTOM PAN - Wire cages will have either pull out trays or drop in trays (cage set into tray) for cleaning. These should be metal (like galvanized zinc or aluminum) if they are pull out trays with no wire floor, but plastic is okay if the chinchilla can't reach it to chew on (drop in trays, or pull out trays with wire floor). The tray can be lined with paper or pine shavings and cleaned weekly. It is my preference to avoid the wire floor as chins do best without them.

SHELVES - These will also be of mesh (1/2" x 1/2"), but your chinny will love you more if you put some solid shelving in there.

Here are some links to suppliers of wire cages:

Bridgeport Pets

Martin's Cages

Pioneer Cages

SOLID CAGES

These are my preference, though they usually need to be homemade (I'm lucky to have a talented builder in the family). Solid cages provide more privacy for the chinchilla during his daytime sleeping hours as well as keeping the floor and nearby furniture in the chinchilla room cleaner. The solid shelves are more comfortable on the chinchilla's feet, and all of the surfaces are easily cleaned with a damp rag if they are made of:

MELAMINE COATED PRESSBOARD - This can be found at your local building supply and is the best choice for building material. The coating prevents chewing, urine saturation, and bacterial growth while making cleanup easier. Not only that but it looks great!

BEDDING MATERIAL - Solid bottomed cages will need to be lined with at least 2" of pine shavings (kiln dried is best). Do not use cedar shavings! These shavings should be changed once a week. They make great garden mulch! The addition of a bit of kitty litter (or similar product designed for horse stalls) can be sprinkled into the shavings for odor and moisture control between cleanings.

SPECIFICS ABOUT OUR CAGES

 

Here is another copy of the cage picture so you don't have to scroll all the way back up to the larger version. Our cages measure 2' deep by 4' wide by 4 ½' high. They have removable dividers down the center with one chinchilla family on each side. Each family group takes turns running in the chinny playground every other night. This is a 40 sq. ft. area that is loaded with branches, boxes, shelves, and a wheel, as well as a dust bath. While one group plays in there for several hours the cage divider is removed to allow the other family access to the whole cage (assuming there is no skin fungus or other contagious illness going around). The cage has a solid bottom with pine shavings that are changed once a week, and we've removed the wire hay racks that are pictured (we've gone to using only alfalfa hay cubes due to the high mold risk of hay in our area and because of the danger the wire hay racks imposed). The nest boxes, made out of overturned clay pots with openings, are placed on the floor (the safest place for chinchilla kits). Eye hooks have been screwed in on the side walls at just the right height and spacing to accommodate the wheels that we've purchased from Dea's Northwest Chinchilla Place (different from the one pictured). We have been very happy with the more expensive choice of melamine coated pressboard for the frame of this cage for all the reasons mentioned above. These cages are so great that we now have three of them!

Here are some detail pictures:

A bit of hinge detail - now you can see the door closed and get a feel for the construction of the door frame and bottom, plexiglass area.

The wheel is simply hung from eye hooks on the side so that it is suspended about 3" above the floor.

The shelves are 10 1/2" apart with the lowest one 20" from the floor, allowing plenty of room for the wheel. The nest box provides a step up to the first shelf.

The divider has two large handles for easy removal (only the top handle is visible).