Husbandry 

Having good husbandry is essential to keeping your pet happy and healthy. It's also what will keep their beautiful coat in tip top shape. 

Basic husbandry covers these topics: 
  • Dusting
  • Cage cleaning 
  • Necessary care 

Dusting 
Dusting is a huge part of owning a chinchilla. They bathe in a non-traditional way. Dust! A fine powder is used to penetrate the chinchillas naturally dense fur, this powder absorbs the oils in the fur taking the look from greasy and flat to light and fluffy. 

The dust is made from finely ground pumice, volcanic ash and rock. We know it as blue cloud or blue sparkle dust in the USA. It's better to use the fine dust versions vs. the sand versions. The dust penetrates deeper and removes more oil, but because it's dust it will make a cloud in the area it's used in. The sand is heavier so it makes less of a mess, but it does not penetrate deeply and can pose a issue if it gets in the eye. The larger grains of sand can scratch the eyelids. 

Dusting should be done at least once a week, but many owners leave the dust bath in the cage. You can do this if you don't refill the dust daily, and watch your pet for dry ears and feet. If they're drying out you may want to pull the dust for a few days. 

Grooming 
Pet owners don't need to groom their chins as extensively as a show breeder does. On occasion, you will notice hair tuffs or knots on your pet. These can gently be wiggled/tugged out. The tugging will result in a small hair slip and release the affected hair. It's not painful, though your chinchilla may bark at you in annoyance. The hair will grow back. 

For a chinchilla with fur in really bad shape, you can take a fine dog comb or chinchilla-specific grooming comb and brush gently with small swipes from the base of the tail up to the back of the neck going against the flow of the fur. 

You only want to remove dead fur ( it'll be a dull solid color. ) and not live fur ( it will have a band and a white live root. ). 

We will explain this process in our "Chinchilla Show" tab. 

Another part of grooming is to check the ears and feet for dryness, and if you have a male chinchilla you should perform a hair ring check.