Tango's Corner

And the winner is . . .

 Mazuri Chinchilla Diet

Photo From AZChins

Why?  Three reasons.  First, it's highly nutritious. This alfalfa based diet has all the vitamins and essential amino acids that chinchillas need. Second, it's highly palatable. Even when mixed with other food, chinchillas seem to pick Mazuri pellets out of their bowls first. And third, it's convenient. This specially formulated diet is ideal for chinchillas of all ages and you don't need to supplement the pellet with others.

Where can I buy it?  Due to increased demand, Mazuri Chinchilla diet may already be available at your local pet store.  If it is not, you can request that it be ordered - let the clerk know that it's made by Purina Mills.  Another option is to order it from online companies, like these two from my preferred vendors list:

http://www.lonestarchinchilla.com/

http://www.geocities.com/forchinatechins/chincessories.htm

Buy in bulk to maximize value and freeze excess food.

How much does it cost?  Cost varies depending on supplier, but most retailers sell it for about $1/lb.

Is there a close 2^nd place finisher?  In my opinion, no.   I personally believe this high-quality product to be in a league of its own, but am willing to compare nutritional information if someone has another recommendation!

***WARNING*** Kaytee brand chinchilla food contains a preservative called ethoxyquin that is suspected to cause cancer in small animals.  Ethyoxyquin is listed as a "pesticide" by the FDA.

And the winner is . . .

Forchinate Chins' Whole Rose Hips

Photo from Forchinate Chins

Why?  You have undoubtedly come to recognize that characteristic "beg" for something sweet.  Rather than giving your chins sugar loaded treats, rose hips taste good AND are good for them too!  They are loaded with vitamin C and can be given one daily to support good nutrition.  As with any safe chinchilla treat, no sugar has been added and you will know by the pile of seeds leftover that this treat was a success!

Where can I buy them?  Rose hips are available at Forchinate Chins' online "Chincessories" store:

http://geocities.com/forchinatechins/chincessories.htm

Rose hips are available there in both the whole and crushed varieties.  While Tango has never tried the crushed, he seems to really enjoy cracking open the whole hips!

How much do they cost?  You can buy them for $0.75/oz., though higher quantities are discounted.

Is there a close 2nd place finisher?  Yes!  While rose hips were selected as the winner due to their nutritional benefits, there is a variety of other tasty treats out there that are safe for chinchillas, in moderation.  Tango's other favorites from Forchinate Chins include the Apple Pellets (also $0.75/oz.), made completely from apple peels, and Banana Chips ($0.50.oz.), dehydrated banana slices, both organic with no added sugar.  Tango is allowed one daily of each of these treats. 

Photos from Forchinate Chins

A fourth popular item is Kaytee's Natural Timothy Cubes ($3.99 for 1 lb.)  Not only are these great for maintaining proper dentition, but are one of the few items available at most pet stores that I recommend.  As with loose hay, it is best to supplement with timothy hay cubes since most pellet diets are alfalfa based.

Photo from PetSmart

Top Row (L to R):  Mazuri Chinchilla Pellets, Bamboo Chew Toys, Timothy Hay Cubes; Middle Row: Quaker Oatmeal (Plain), Whole Rose Hips , Plain (Unfrosted) Shredded Wheats; Bottom Row: Apple Pellets, Natural Pumice Stones, Dehydrated Banana Slices

On one hand you have The Guide to Owning a Chinchilla by Anmarie Barrie, author of the Guide to Owning series. On the other you have Chinchillas, written by David Alderton and marketed as part of Animal Planet's Pet Care Library. Despite the vast difference in appearance and style, both books are published by T.F.H. Publications, Inc., a company that was first associated with tropical fish (TFH-Tropical Fish Hobbyist) and also the first publisher to make color pet books. It should be noted that the table of contents and overall organization of the two books are almost identical, although perhaps the similarity has more to do with a particular formula for writing pet care manuals rather than the fact both books were published by the same company.

In case you were wondering, David Alderton is a respected, international bestselling author of pet-related literature. He is also a long-time chinchilla owner, and has created training programs for pet shops and other businesses on chinchilla care. He is semi-famous in his native Britain, where he hosts local radio and television shows on animals and natural history. At least that's what read on the back of the book; it's probably just marketing hype, but with no foundation for Barrie's expertise, the blurb makes Alderton seem slightly more credible.

The Guide to Owning a Chinchilla is in the standard glossy softbound format common to pet care manuals, with several large color photographs of chinchillas that are mildly related to the text. Chinchillas is a hardcover book, which is a notable feature of the Pet Care Library, and has a much more modern and poppy layout than The Guide, with bright colors and several small offset snippets of tips and advice in case you need a quick reference or get bored with the main text.

Somewhere near the beginning, both authors tell the story of Mathias F. Chapman in 1918 and the first domesticated chinchillas; however, Alderton's version is told merely as a side note within the context of conservationism, whereas Barrie conjures a much more intriguing story about Chapman's incredible efforts over the course four years to bring 11 chinchillas to America: He spent three years in the Andes Mountains of Chile just trying to catch the wily things without injuring them. Then, to prevent the chinchillas from going into shock from the change in altitude, Chapman patiently descended 12,000 feet down the mountain over the course of a year, using ice blocks to keep the chinchillas cool as he neared the foot. Finally, he took the whole herd by ship back to his ranch in California from Chile. Luckily for Chapman, chinchillas are rodents, the horny devils, and had already starting breeding before the ship reached California. Although, considering Chapman's unbelievable dedication in a time before air conditioning and air travel, luck probably had little to do with his success.

I did find some faults with The Guide; however, Barrie's story of Chapman was an inspiration for the level of patience that has allowed many people, including myself, to own a chinchilla today. Then again, Chapman allowed an entire commercial chinchilla furring industry to emerge, and is therefore also responsible for the deaths of millions upon millions of chinchillas. Kind of incredible to slap your thoughts around that little circle, isn't it?

But anyhow,

Alderton and Barrie spend considerable effort in guiding the reader at the initial stages of chinchilla ownership, including the very first step: making a conscious decision to acquire a chinchilla. This may seem trivial, but in fact chinchilla owners do need to consider a few things before they run down to the local chilla patch.

As far as informing the reader whether their living arrangement is suitable for chinchilla ownership, Barrie's "no apartment is too small" comment is humorously idealistic and almost completely contradictory to Alderton's sobering advice, which considers the large cage, but is also mindful of necessary human to chinchilla interaction, and warns against housing a noisy, nocturnal chinchilla in a bedroom. All very sound in my opinion, unless you want to shack up for 20 years next to Mr. Somehow-I-Can-Fling-Poop-Farther-Than-My-Cage-Guard in your studio apartment; then be my guest. Not that chinchillas aren't fastidious and clean and all that, but let's face it, every chinchilla owner has to do a lot of sweeping and vacuuming if they want to walk barefoot around the cage without getting toe-jimmies.

As I was saying,

Barrie tends to gloss over negative aspects and possible barriers to chinchilla ownership at first, barriers such as living in a climate that regularly exceeds 80-90°F and not having AC, although she makes that point later in the book. To be fair, Alderton talks chinchillas up, too, although with obvious concern for leaving chinchillas in the care of children. Which isn't to say the authors shouldn't encourage people to get chinchillas, but within reason.

Both authors recommend getting chinchillas in pairs, preferably two females. But, should you house a male and a female together, Barrie suggests getting your male chinchilla neutered to prevent offspring. I found this to be a little off-putting. She later describes a process for finding a qualified vet, but I think it bears mentioning that even with the absolute best chinchilla veterinarian in the world, think twice before you let your chinchilla go under the knife if the situation can be avoided. For example, it would be much cheaper and less stressful to buy a second cage than to neuter a small animal. Or better yet, don't buy opposite sex chinchillas unless you intend to breed them.

Anyway,

Both authors treat the color patterns somewhat summarily and without illustrations or photographs to correspond with the written descriptions, which I found somewhat disappointing. They both say nearly the same things about each variety, though Alderton tops Barrie with a small paragraph on brown velvets, which are absent from Barrie's list, and he also includes an interesting side-note on the Zimbabwean nationality of the violet variety.

When she describes the size of the cage required for a chinchilla, Barrie seems way off. She suggests a two-cubic-foot cage, whereas Alderton recommends a cage no smaller than 2 feet by 2 feet, which, if you're into math, is missing a dimension and so it is impossible to calculate the volume of his hypothetical cage. But if Alderton's minimum cage were, say, 2'x 2'x 1', it would still be twice as large as what Barrie is suggesting. I always think bigger is better with a chinchilla cage, but 2 cubic feet is just incredibly tiny. At first I hoped that this was a typo, but Barrie goes on to describe a 12"x 16"x 18" cage that is in fact two cubic feet. If you are into metric, 2 cubic feet is 0.18580608 square meters, or about the size of an average hamster cage.

Barrie also recommends hard plastic shelves, which probably has our rabid posters frothing mad already. Alderton warns that plastic consumption can be fatal, but with a lesser degree of fascism, he recognizes that, in most cases, plastic causes some digestive problems.

On the subject of chinchilla dusting, Alderton prohibits using sand instead of dust, suggesting that it can cause cancer. I had not heard this before, but if you think about it, sand is not very much like the good stuff, volcanic ash, and is probably analogous to using sand paper instead of bathroom tissue. Good call on that one, Alderton, and thanks for the heads up.

Early on in Chinchillas, Alderton warns of the greatest threat to chinchillas: heat. This should be apparent from the earlier description of the care necessary to remove chinchillas from their natural habitat, but heat stroke is always something to be concerned about. Alderton's warning is placed in one of those aforementioned snippets, set off by a bright yellow border with an off-colored background, and featuring bold, contrasting text. Now that's a warning. And for a new chinchilla owner, that kind of information needs to be accessible, and not buried within page whatever of a monotonous text.

David Alderton is an expert on animal nutrition apparently, which gives his section on proper chinchilla diet much more credibility, although to be fair, the two authors essentially agree that store bought chinchilla pellets are the best diet. Alderton explains that because of the chinchilla furring industry Chapman induced, a great deal of research went into producing very healthy chinchillas (because, after all, a malnourished chinchilla has ugly fur). Chapman had saved some examples of the Chilean mountain flora the chinchillas had previously been surviving on, and before long, top scientists deduced the proper balance of fat and protein, among other nutrients, to create a dry food pellet that could be stored easily and would keep the chinchillas happy and healthy, just long enough to be, er, anally electrocuted.

Well, the point of the story is that all the hard work has already been done for the modern chinchilla owner, albeit funded with blood money of sorts, and both Alderton and Barrie agree that it's best to go with a manufactured pellet and supplement with the best hay you can find.

No, Hay is not for horses. Chinchillas love that shit. Really. Alderton says that chinchillas benefit from a wide variety of hay. Barrie ranks timothy hay first, alfalfa second. Alderton also recommends a high-quality timothy hay.

Additionally, in one of the aforementioned offset snippets of advice, Alderton writes that Rabbit food can harm your chinchilla's liver, resulting in a fatal condition. However, Barrie says it's ok to use Rabbit food short term as long as it's supplemented with timothy hay. Perhaps Alderton is wrong, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Alderton warns against sweets, too, and even mentions some slightly unsuspecting evils like avocados and salted nuts. And although the cover of Chinchillas depicts a chilla eating a raw leaf, Alderton warns the reader several times about the dangers of fresh foods.

All in all, it's as if Alderton read Barrie's Guide, edited and fixed some factual errors, filled in the blanks and filled out the basic framework Barrie set down, while also modernizing as he went. The similarities are numerous, but you might as well spend the extra $2.00 on Chinchillas to get a slightly more accurate, complete, and readable chinchilla care book.

And the winner is . . .

Simply Chintastic's Kiln-Dried Pine Shelves

Photo From Simply Chintastic

Why?  These custom made shelves are made from kiln-dried pine, no hazardous grating or bars that could catch feet as with metal wire shelving, and are more comfortable to walk on.  They come sanded with kiln-dried pine rim guards on the outer edges to reduce droppings and food from littering the floor around the cage.  The rims are assembled with non-toxic glue, rather than with screws or nails which could cause injury if the surrounding wood were chewed.  Also see their Hidey-House selection and wood toys.

You can design the shelving to fit your chin's cage.  For a sample arrangement, see Tango's cage at the Chinchilla Pictures link at the top of the page.  You want to make sure you arrange the shelves such that, if your chin were to accidentally fall, he or she wouldn't fall more than 18 inches.  Contact the retailers with your cage plan - they are experienced chinchilla owners who can help design shelving to fit your needs.

Where can I buy it?   http://www.freewebs.com/simplychintastic/

How much do they cost?  Price varies by shelf size starting at $7.50. 

Is there a close 2nd place finisher?  This is the only retailer of safe wood shelving that I'm currently aware of, but I'd be happy to update this listing if anyone has a recommendation!

Photo from Simply Chintastic

And the winner is . . .

Martin's Chinchilla Highrise, gutted of shelves & ramps, with Slide-Out Pan option

Photo from Martin's Cages (click on the Chinchilla Pictures link above to see Tango's cage with wood shelving replacing the metal shelving and ramps)

Why?  In an ideal world, I would want to order a metal cage fully loaded with wood shelving, a hidey house, metal wheel, hay rack, water bottle, hammock, and food dish, but to this day I have not been able to find a single retailer that makes it that easy!  (Hey, if medicine doesn't work out for me, I may give the cage making business a shot!)  Until then, I have found Martin's Chinchilla Highrise to be the best out there and I have been extremely happy with its quality.  This heavy duty, metal cage is the ideal size to maximize a chinchilla's natural desire to jump and stretch his springy little legs. It measures 30"x18"x48" with ½" x1" bar spacing (small enough that a baby chinchilla would not fit through). This cage features two doors, one high and one low. It is strong enough to support the weight of the Flying Saucer or Chin Spin wheels (or the equivalent, if you find one) and is built to last the chinchilla's lifetime. It comes partially assembled with easy instructions for completion and custom "pliers" that have divets to more easily grasp the metal rings that you use to hold the panels together.  I also used small needlenose pliers to tighten all of the metal rings to avoid rattling when Tango runs on his wheel. 

My one negative critique of the cage is that it usually comes with wire shelving and ramps.  A chinchilla, of course, does not need ramps to get from shelf to shelf and they can be a potential hazard if toes get caught in the holes, about which I have heard one sad incident.  I can't imagine it would be very comfortable to walk on all the time anyway!  My recommendation is to call the company when you place your order and request the cage without the shelving or ramps.  As of this summer (2008), I was issued a $15 discount for this modification.  I replaced these shelves with kiln-dried pine shelves, which will be listed in a subsequent "Favorite Things" entry.

The slide-out litter tray design is great because Tango doesn't have to step directly on the dirty litter, I don't have to worry about him chewing on the wood shavings, and it makes cage cleaning a breeze!   We have purchased 2 of these cages, one for home and one for "grandma's house", and they have served Tango well.  This is especially a great option if you have a pair or trio of chins residing together.  If you purchase this cage, I advise wiping it down before use with a soapy sponge and hose in order to remove the residue from the welding process.

Martin's Cages' Chinchilla Skyscraper is also an acceptable option from this retailer, though I do not advise purchasing a cage smaller than 30"x18"x36" if you can avoid it, especially if multiple chinchillas are residing in the same cage.

Where can I buy it? http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/chinchilla/

How much does it cost? $150 plus shipping for the cage and slide-out pan upgrade. Call Martin's Cages to request the cage without shelves and ramps for a $15 discount. 

While seemingly expensive, this cage is GREAT value when you consider how sturdy and long-lasting it is - I would be very surprised if you ever had to replace it.  I figure the life span of the average chinchilla is about 15 years, so split up over his or her lifetime, it's only $10 a year - a good investment I'd say!  The alternative would be to buy a lower quality cage for around $50 that you have to replace every couple of years and isn't made to support the heavy duty wheels like the Flying Saucer or Chin Spin.

Is there a close 2^nd place finisher? Quality Cage's Chinchilla Mansion (http://www.qualitycage.com/) is another suitable alternative, with the added note that if you purchase the "Starter Package", do NOT use the dangerous plastic food bowl.

Today's Feature: Exercise Wheel

And the winner is...

Quality Cage's Flying Saucer

Video from http://www.qualitycage.com/

Why? This is the Rolls Royce of exercise wheels!  The innovative oblique design has brought chinchillas out of the vertical wheel world onto a flatter, more natural plane for running. The Flying Saucer allows for greatest range of motion and top speeds. It's durable, quieter, and, with no sharp edges or openings and no plastic components, it is safe for chinchillas. It attaches to the walls of most wire cages.  The Quality Cage Company has recently added a bearing cover feature that protects it from bath dust, prolonging the life of the wheel.

Where can I buy it? http://www.qualitycage.com/

How much does it cost? $69.95 plus shipping

Is there a close 2^nd place finisher?  For more traditional runners, Tango has spent uncountable hours on his 15" Chinchilla Chin Spin, which is another high-quality option from Quality Cages (I would not, recommend any wheel with a smaller diameter than 15".) It is also made of safe wood and metal, is relatively quiet, and very durable. Selling for $46, it is less expensive than the flying saucer, but still great value for a durable product and far safer than anything you will find at the pet store.

Photo from http://www.qualitycage.com/ 

While you may have come to know me as the critic of bad chinchilla products, I am introducing a new segment to the Chinchilla Place where I will give praise to some great products that are safe and have worked well for my chinchilla, Tango.  I had originally intended to do one large list of Tango's favorite products; however time has not permitted me to compile such a list (something about being a medical student :P ), so I will rather feature a different chinchilla "category" as often as possible.  As a disclaimer, I submit that there are undoubtedly other acceptable (and even perhaps better) products out there of which I am not currently aware and this list is certainly not to be viewed as an exhaustive list of good products.  It is being written merely to satisfy those requests I receive for recommendations of products that are deemed safe, reliable, and loved by Tango!  That said, I welcome your comments regarding products your chinchilla loves and your feedback about any product I may feature.  I hope this list is of benefit to you and your chin!  Check back often for new updates and products by clicking the "Recommended Products" link on the Chinchilla Place homepage.

Happy Trails!

Amanda