The chinchilla comes from the Andes so it can withstand very extreme temperatures and a lot of dryness, two typical characteristics of these mountains.
As a consequence of this, it became very difficult for him to get used to the city when man began to tame it. In addition, there was an uncontrollable hunting of this animal to use its skin for clothing and it became one of the most valued dishes … With all this we were about to extinguish the chinchilla at the beginning of the 20th century.
It was a miner from Chile who began to breed this animal, on the one hand to use it in fur making, and on the other to introduce it into homes as a pet. At the end of the last century was when the chinchilla became more popular as a companion animal, leaving aside the fur industry.
It is a rodent of the chinchillidae family, in which there are three species. It measures about 20 cm counting the length of the tail and weighs about 750 grams. There came to be a chinchilla that weighed 8 kilos but it became extinct, possibly because it was the most appreciated by the palate of those people.
The most popular chinchilla subspecies is the lanígera . It has large eyes, as do its ears. Both serve to guide him when there is no light, he also uses his whiskers. The hair of this animal is very curious because each one has three pigments: gray at the base, white in the middle and black at the tip.
The care that you will need will be essential to give a good life to a rodent: a home that is according to its size, specialized food, clean water always in its bowl, an accessory that serves as a hiding place, products with which you can entertain like stairs or pieces of wood (treated) to gnaw, hay always at your disposal, exercise to drain your energy and a daily check that your general condition is correct. However, chinchillas have a particular need: they clean themselves with sand baths, so put a bowl of specialized sand for them for a while a day so that they can clean themselves.
If you want to continue deepening your care, take note of the following tips.
