BASICS
Heart Rate 200-350 beats per minute
Rectal temperature 102-103 F.
Adult Weight 400-800 of an excercised chin (female is larger)
Sexual Maturity at 7-9 months
Gestation is 111 days
Average litter size is 2
Babies weigh 30-60 grams
Average daily diet is 1/2 cup to a cup of timothy hay, 1 oz of pellets and 1/2 teaspoon rounded of supplement. Keep an alfalfa block in at all times and only replace when needed.
Life span up to 20 years; reproducing up to 15 years of age
Native from South America in the Andes mountains
named after the Chinca Indians
What are Chinchillas?
Chinchillas are classified in the rodent family (Rodentia, comes from the Latin word Rodere, "to gnaw"). Chinchilla's teeth grow throughout their life and it is extremely important that they have safe items to "gnaw" on.
Based on the jaw bones they are also in a group called Hystricomorphs with porcupines and guinea pigs. This is described as having large cheek bones and 2 large openings that make it possible for the jaw muscles to pass straight up to the sides of the face.
The Viscacha is the chinchilla's closest relative. The hystricomorph family has 2 species of chins and 4 species of viscachas. The Viscacha are also from South America, nocturnal, vegetarians and stay in burrows located at high altitudes. They look similar to a chinchilla, but have black and white horizontal stripes across their faces. They also live in colonies like the chinchilla. The will eat almost any kind of plant they can find growing in their harsh rocky enviroment.
The Wild Chinchilla
The wild chinchillas live on the same sparse nutrition as the viscachas. Water is scare since it rarely rains and they rely on the morning dew to drink. Sometimes they can get moisture from a cactus or cacti fruit. They are nocturnal to avoid predators such as hawks, eagles and foxes (I was told by a breeder that the foxes are not native to the land, but were brought over by someone). The chinchillas forage for food from dusk until morning and then retreat into their burrows. Their barren environment consists of rocks, crevices and thorny bushes.
The chinchilla must have it's thick coat to endure the low temperatures. Their fur also helps prevent evaporation. (Humans have 1 hair per follicle, chinchillas have 50). Their climate is also low in humidity.
Their territory used to reach across Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Sadly, as a direct result of excessive exporting for the fur trade their population has been decimated and they are on the endangered species list. Even though hunting chinchillas and exporting their fur is illegal, their numbers continue to drop due to mining, wood collection, and livestock grazing. Now they are only found in Chile.
There is a reserve for chinchillas, which was set up in 1983, called the “Reserva Nacional Las Chinchillas”. It was built to protect the chinchillas, but I talked to a long time breeder that said they visited the reserve in 1991 and they did not see any wild chinchillas. The caretakers see droppings once in a while, but that is about it.
You can tell a huge difference from the wild chinchillas compared to the domesticated chinchillas. The domesticated chinchillas are fed high protein quality pellets with much needed vitamins, 2nd cut alfalfa cubes (lst cut is too rich), timothy hay and supplement. The results are shown not only in a larger size, but the color and quality of the fur is much nicer. This is also a result of selectively breeding the best offspring only. The wild chinchillas eat the sparse vegetation in the wild because that is all they have a choice of. The domesticated chinchilla has really thrived on the feed that has been researched, tested and produced for them.
How did the chinchilla come to the United States?
In 1918 a man name M. F. Chapman was working as a mining engineer in Chile when a native who had caught a wild chinchilla came to Chapman's camp to sell the animal. Chapman bought the chinchilla and became very interested in his new pet as he cared for the chinchilla. He wanted to bring some chinchillas back with him to breed in captivity. He was not the first person that tried to breed them, but he was the first to truly succeed. It took him and a group of 23 men 3 years to catch 11 chinchillas that were good enough to breed. Then since the chinchillas were used to such a high altitude (12,000 feet above sea level), he lowered them down the mountain over a 12 month period. On the ship, in 1923, he kept ice and wet towels around their cages to keep them cool.
The chinchillas did more than just survive the trip, a baby kit was born.
Over the years Chapman experimented with housing and diet. The chinchilla thrived and the first chinchillas were offered for sale in pairs at $3200.00. By mid 1960 thousands of chinchillas were being raised on ranches in the United States and Canada. They were then finally offered as pets.
