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How big should a cage be?

2K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  Chinchi 
#1 ·
I'm thinking about getting my first chinchilla sometime soon. Probably in a few months. So I have a few questions.

I have a rat cage I bought from a friend recently, which is empty. I haven't measured it, but it looks about 2ft cube, and has 2 levels of upper platforms. It's made from what looks to me about 14 gauge wire in 1 inch squares, and the platforms and ramps are wires with approx. 1/8 inch squares. Is that a good size for one chin? I could pretty easily take out the wire platforms and replace them with wood if that would be better. It has a nice big door and a drawer tray in the bottom.

I have a spare room that has tile floor where I would probably keep my chin. It's kind of a double room, where one half has carpeting and a door (where i put the cage) and the other half is tiled floor with just an arch to separate it (where I'd like to put up baby fences to let the chin run around in). But it's in the basement, is that okay? That's really the only available space I have. There's a window, though it's small. I'm just worried it might be too cold or something? It tends to get chilly down there in the winter.

Thanks for the help!
 
#3 ·
Well, the biggest animal rights organisation is saying 80x80x100 cm.
I wouldn't make the depth more than 60 though, because then it gets hard to clean :)
H = 100 D = 60 and L = 80
I think that would be a quite nice cage for 2 chinchillas.
But bigger would be nice, no question about it :)

We have a female in a 80x50x70 cm (HxDxL) cage (or something like that), and she is quite fine in that. Actually she tends to get very weird if she gets a very big cage. And it's not because she's mistreated ;)
At one point we had 2 chinnies in that cage, and that worked quete well too. You just need to let them run outsite more often, and for at longer period of time, if you have a relativly small cage :)

(1 centimeter = 0.393700787 inches - you can get google to figure it out by typing x cm in inches)

The chinchilla comes from the Andes. It's coat's made for cold weather ;)
There are like 5 degrees celcius in my room at winter (i sleep there), and they don't mind at all :)
It's better if it's a bit cold, than a bit to hot!

I think you should get 2 chinnies.
They are relativly social animals, and like to have a friend to sped time with (they live in colonies in the wild, so they do not live a bunc of chinnies together in the same den ;))
 
#4 ·
I think you should get 2 chinnies.
They are relativly social animals, and like to have a friend to sped time with (they live in colonies in the wild, so they do not live a bunc of chinnies together in the same den ;))
I was definitely considering getting 2. My sister might want one too so the chinnies can be friends. I'm considering building a cage now. I found a nice design on a chin site for a cage that looks almost like a cabinet, which is pretty neat. And it's pretty big.
 
#5 ·
The smallest cage I would ever have a chin in would be 30"W X 18"D X 29"H. The more room the better. My female Chloe lives in a cage that is 32"L X 20"W X 55"H. She absolutely loves her cage.

Lots of people like ferret nation cages. You can go to ferret.com and look at those. I also like qualitycages.com

I would also recommend getting two bonded chins. That way when you're sleeping you chins have someone to play with, and keep each other entertained.
 
#7 ·
We plan on getting all our chins 55"tall, 31.5" long and 23.5" deep.
We have one cage like this, and it is very nice, because you can put all sorts of fun things in there :) (it might seem like odd numbers, but it's because it's 140x80x60 in centimeters ;))
But I think that 39.4" x 31.5" x 23.5" is fine for two animals :)
 
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