What are some great small pets?
What are some excellent small pets that are often overlooked? Such as different types of turtles, reptiles, and birds...
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M$2 Answers
They also bathe themselves! They just swoosh around in a special dust which softens their delicate fur.
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M$
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M$
Awesome. Have you ever had one as a pet?
I'm a little worried about the temperature. Some summer days, even in the house it can reach 80. I wonder if there's some way to cool the cage though.
Wow! I've never heard of them before, but I'm definitely going to look into them!
Do you have any other first hand knowledge that could help me get a feel for them as pets? Are they friendly? Are they really nocturnal?
They sound really cool! But I just read that if the temperature reaches above 80 degrees, they could die of heat stroke. Living in So. Cal, sometimes during the summer the house reaches around 80, so what do you think of this?
In my experience they are easily adaptable. They are instinctively nocturnal, so they might cause some noise at night, but after a while they adapt, especially if you're like me and had a basement bedroom where it was really tough to tell whether it was night or day.
As for the temperature, yes, extreme heat has been known to be tough on their bodies since their natural habitat is high up in the Andes mountain range in South America, so they evolutionarily lack the skill to sweat.
Instead, their hear is sent to their ears. If you do decide to get a chinchilla, a warning sign of over heating is when their ears become red.
Another fact worth mentioning is their lifespan, much longer than a normal rodent, some live up to 20 years (the oldest American chinny is 26). Compared to a mouse, which is lucky to see its fourth birthday, you're talking about a possible two decade commitment.
The fact that they live so much longer and are considered a more exotic pet means they are more expensive than a typical rodent, averaging around $100-$200. Though some breeders are willing to let them go for less.