Habitat: Chinchilla

Today's habitat belongs to Professor Nibbles the chinchilla.  Like his friend, the hedgehog, this habitat was provided by the previous owners with some additions from us.

At this time, Professor Nibbles lives in our upstairs bathroom.  He gets plenty of interaction up there, and it's an easy room to clean.  Nibs lives in a tall wire cage to give him room to climb.  Plastic cages are too tempting for these chewers, and they'll soon chew through and escape.

Most of what you see is what he came with: a couple wooden ledges, a wooden bridge, metal wheel, containers for food and timothy hay, a litter pan, a piece of marble to cool him, and a fleece floor.  We've added a hammock, lava ledge for chewing, and a few chew toys.

Playtime in the bathroom allows him time to run around in a safe environment that is easy for us to clean up.  He has a house for his dust baths, a tube to climb through, and a little house to hide in that he likes to stand on.  He also likes to go in and out of the bathtub that we make sure is very dry for him since chinchillas can't get wet.  He also has a large ball (similar to what a hamster uses) to use when he wanders around the main level of the house.

We are not chinchilla experts, but we enjoy learning about these fuzzy furballs.  We'd love to hear how others care for their chinchillas.  Feel free to comment below!