Save the Wild Chinchilla Fundraiser

This is actually a surprisingly interesting topic. Wild chinchillas get most of their water from food, but pet chins don't.

The problem is that pet chinchillas aren't used to eating lots of watery foods, which besides causing diarrhea from containing too much water, can also cause bloat. Wild chins eat watery foods on rare occasions, storing tiny bits of succulent plants in their burrows for when water is scarce.

It's best to feed your chinchilla hay and hay pellets, and dry snacks, rather than watery foods. So, yes, water bottles are necessary.

Owners typically give their chinchillas pellets each morning. They can then be sure their chins have access to pellets any time they want them—but a controlled amount, so they won't be put off their fresh hay.

In the wild, it's females that are the core of the social group. This means females are more concerned with territory than males are, which seems to make males a little friendlier overall.

There are exceptions to every rule, though, so you can find friendly females and unfriendly males!

Alright, maybe this one was a little too easy. If you want to get a chinchilla for your child, you have to make sure that they—the child, that is—knows how delicate and skittish chinchillas can be.

Chinchillas make noise like any other small pet. They're most active at dusk, night and dawn. Your chins may talk to each other, bark, run on their wheels or anything else to keep themselves entertained. Some people can deal with this, but some people can't!

It's perfectly normal.

Chinchillas produce a special kind of poop called a cecotrope. They typically produce them at night, and eat them straight away, so most owners have never caught their chins 'in the act', so to speak. It's a normal part of the digestive process, because chinchillas have to digest their fibrous diet twice to get all the nutrients they need from it.

Both wild and pet chinchillas spend most of their time foraging just to get enough energy to survive. There's no practical way that unlimited hay could make it gain weight. That's why most owners feed unlimited hay.

The only circumstance in which a wild chinchilla would ever be picked up is by a predator. Since chins haven't been domesticated for thousands of years like other pets, they haven't learned to fully trust us yet. Plus when they're outside the cage, they just want to play!

Lettuce is too watery for a chinchilla. It may cause diarrhea, bloating, or even nutritional deficiency if fed in large quantities.

Sunflower seeds are high in fat. Your chinchilla doesn't know to limit the hay it eats alongside any snacks you feed, so they would make your pet gain weight. Most owners avoid them for this reason. They don't contain any kind of poison, even the outer shell.