Chinchillas have a very long life span. They can live up to 25 years of age but average is about 15
years. It is important to be able to commit to caring for your chin for many years.
Chinchillas are very loving and emotional animals. They really need to socialize to thrive. Chins
should either live in bonded pairs or have TONS of play time with the owner so they have plenty of
interaction with somebody. You should still make it a point to spend plenty of time playing with your
chin even if you have more than one.
Chinchillas a nocturnal, which means they sleep during the day and are active at night. They
usually go to sleep shortly after dawn and wake up around dusk. It's important to house chinchillas in
a place where they are able to sleep without too much disruption during the day.
I do not feel that chinchillas are very good pets for young children for 2 main reasons. 1st: they sleep
during the day when a child would be able to play with them. 2nd: they are very fast moving and fragile
animals that need careful handling. Chins can get injured or killed with rough handling. I only recommend
chins as pets for teens and adults. However; I do think it is okay for young children to live in the
household with chinchillas and to be able to interact with them, with adult supervision of course.
Something potential chinchilla owners should know about chinchillas is that they really have no
control over when and where they deficate. They can be trained to use a litter box to urinate, most choose
a spot in the cage for this anyway, but do not expect the dropping to all be collected there. They WILL
leave dropping around the house when being carried and/or let out for free play. This is not a huge
problem since the dropping are hard and small and can easily be swept up but it is certainly something to
consider before becoming a chin parent.
Chinchillas are hypoallergenic! This means that they do not produce the animal dander that
can lead to allergies. The breeder I got my chinchillas from discovered she had an animal allergy but was
still able to raise her chinchillas because they didn't cause her any allergy troubles. Very cool!