Chin-Proofing
Chinchillas are rodents and have a natural need to chew in order to grind down their constantly growing incisors. Sometimes when they are out on a run they may try chewing things that you don't want them to touch!
Exercise runs should be supervised because of this and to stop your chinchilla from getting into trouble. Close the door and the windows.
Try to block gaps under furniture and protect any cables, like the tv cable or extension leads. Dangerous situations can be avoided if chinchillas are prevented from chewing on wiring. Where possible, turn off sockets to prevent your chinchilla giving itself or you a nasty shock!
On an average evening out your chinchilla may try testing the edibility of any of the following:
- Skirting boards.
- Wallpaper (in small strips).
- Vertical blinds and curtains.
- Table legs.
- Remote control buttons.
- Candle wax.
- Phone sockets.
- House plants.
- The the corner of the carpet or rug.
- Electrical flex.
Where as some chinchilla owners are quite flexible as to where they can let there chinchilla out for some exercise, some are more limited as to the rooms that they can use. It is best not to let your chinchilla run in the kitchen as there are lots of places where it can squeeze under and hide e.g. fridges, freezers, washing machines, dish washers and tumble dryers, as well as under the cabinets themselves depending on their design.
If you are limited to where you can let your chinchilla exercise and wish to let it run free in the bathroom for a while, close the door and make sure the area is not wet. Close the toilet seat. Open water can be dangerous to chinchillas and it doesn't take much for them to catch a chill if wet. Many people's chinchillas have ended up down the pan in the past. Chinchilla fur absorbs water like a sponge and chinchillas don't swim too well! If the chinchilla should get wet for any reason, dry it quickly with a fluffy towel and a hairdryer on a low setting.
In the room where your chinchilla will exercise, try to remove or protect anything that either may cause injury or that you wouldn't mind too much being damaged!