Caring for your chinchilla. Chinchillas are special rodents behaving like a guinea pig, skunk and squirrel.

The chinchilla is a rodent that looks like a squirrel. It comes in 2 varieties; the chinchilla brevicaudata and chinchilla lanigera. The former has a thick neck and shoulders. The latter has more pointed facial features and the opposite of having a narrower neck and shoulders.

The female chinchilla is larger than the male. It is generally the most expensive rodent pet.

The chinchilla is like a guinea pig in that it can make sounds of crying, barking, chattering, chirping and crackling. It is a clean rodent with no body odor. It is a special rodent as its thick coat does not support parasites like fleas and ticks.

There are many special traits about chinchillas. They are very timid and are easily frightened by noise and rough handling. A chinchilla may bite or shed its fur in fear. Even owners need to be gentle and quiet when handling their chinchillas. You can scratch your pet just like a cat: under its chin and behind its ears.

A chinchilla is a strict vegetarian, surviving on special chinchilla food pellets, hay and fresh drinking water. Seeds and nuts can only be given sparingly as treats to avoid upsetting its stomach.

Normal chinchilla teeth are yellow in color. If its teeth are white, it signals calcium deficiency in its diet. The teeth grow continuously and the chinchilla trims them by exercising them with chewing, grinding and gnawing. In this, it acts like a squirrel, always having something in its mouth. Sometimes your chinchilla may re-ingest its feces to include some bacteria in its digestive system.

Chinchillas hate water. They take dry baths in dust. Fine, powder dust cleans the animal's fur by removing its excess oils. Ask your pet shop for commercially available dust.

House your chinchilla in a wire cage away from sunlight and noise. It tends to gnaw plastic cages so anything plastic is best avoided to eliminate the escape artist act. Place only hard materials like wood, pumice stone and mineral stone for your pet to chew to trim its teeth.

Cats, dogs, snakes and ferrets are the chinchilla's enemies. Don't trust these animals to be alone with your chinchilla.

Items to include in your chinchilla's cage are bedding of white pine shavings, sleeping quarters, branches for climbing, dust container, water bottle, chinchilla food pellets, wooden blocks and perhaps a cat litter tray. You will enjoy watching your pet keeping busy with activities more in the night than day for chinchillas are nocturnal rodents.