Housing
Below are some helpful slides about setting up a cage for the first time. They cover Location and environment, cage style, furniture and substrate as well as toys and enrichment.
Scroll down even further to see what cages we currently use, including a setup review.
Location and Environment
Chinchillas prefer a cool and low humid environment, they struggle with temperatures over 22 degrees celsius. Air conditioning is perfect but not many homes in the UK have it so a fan that isn't pointed directly at the cage can be used in a pinch if you live in a warm area. You can also get 'marble slabs' that are ideal for keeping chins cool, they can be placed in the fridge overnight and then left in a shaded area of the cage for your pet to lay on.
Chinchilla cages should be placed somewhere where the animal will not overheat but without a direct draft. In front of windows is not ideal as the sun can be too hot and shadows from birds or other animals can upset the chins and make them nervous. Don't place the cage near a radiator unless you plan to keep it off all winter.
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Preferably keep your cage off of the floor as the higher a chinchilla is the more safe they will feel, most parrot style cages come with a stand that suits this well but using a table or unit works too. Choose an area of your home that is not too busy to avoid unnecessary stress, but where you will still often pass through and be seen as this will help keep your pet used to having people around. If they are kept in a room where you don't go very often you will need to spend more time socialising every day.
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If your cage is placed against a wall I would recommend putting something behind it to protect your house. A thin blanket or towel is a cheap option but it will need washing and eventually it will get chewed. Make sure that any furniture, wires or plants are kept a safe distance from the cage bars, chins have a surprising reach when they want something.
Our Cages
In March 2020 we upgraded our four parrot cages. We ordered online from Midwest and bought two of the Ferret Nation 182 double units, and two Ferret Nation 183 add on units. Our intention was to attach them all together to make one large unit which would be split into three cages for all of our Chinchillas and could be adapted in the future.
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​We wanted to make a cage that was 2 across and 3 tall, giving us a total cage size of 25 W x 87 H x 72 L. We paid £797.36 for the 4 units and shipping.
Why we chose these cages:​
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Midwest sells two major cage brands, the Ferret Nation (F.N), and the Critter Nation (C.N), both of which have a single unit, double unit and single add on models available. The two are roughly the same size, but the F.N was designed specifically for ferrets with wide vertical bars, while the C.N was designed for smaller animals and so has narrower, horizontal bar spacing. After reading multiple reviews online for both sets of cages we decided that the F.N was more appropriate for our needs, the wider bars will be less likely to gather loose fur during moults and since chinchillas don't climb well they don't benefit from horizontal bars. We also read that the F.N was a much sturdier build and the bars were tougher, useful for heavy chins that jump between ledges.
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The cages themselves are a good size, with the 181 single unit (25 W x 39 H x 36 L) being just reasonable for two chinchillas together, though it is a low style cage which is not our preference. Most people buy the double unit (25 W x 63 H x 36 L) for two-three chins as it's tall and spacious. It has a division in the middle that can be left in with a ramp down, or closed to make two separate cages. Alternatively the divider can be taken out completely, leaving one tall cage. The add on unit can be placed on top of the single or double unit to make them both taller, it again comes with a divider which can be used or removed.
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Left, from top to bottom: Midwest Ferret Nation 181, 182, and 183 models. Pictures from Midwest homes for pets website
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Building it: a Review
The cages arrived five days after we placed the order in separate, heavy boxes, which were an absolute pain to get in to. There was a lot of waste packaging but once I'd finally gotten everything out and found the instructions I was pleasantly surprised. They were easy to follow and the cages themselves were incredibly painless to put together. I have built a lot of cages, and a lot of furniture in my time, and it has never been as stress free as this was. The base had a couple of screws, which a screwdriver was provided for, but otherwise all of the panels just slot straight into each other. I did have to use a rubber mallet just to knock a few pieces into place, which was something I expected from reading other reviews, but otherwise I had the entire set up done within a couple of hours on my own. If I were only building one cage I probably could have put it together in under 30 minutes.
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I built both double units first, but left the lowest side walls facing each other off so that I could attach the cages together later. I used the division on the double unit, but not when I added the third level unit on top. I did have to use a stool for this part as by that time the cages were a fair bit taller than me (and I'm 5.10"). Once I had both halves built I pushed them together and used cable ties to secure them. There was a slight gap between the two at the bottom that I'd left open because of the screws from the base pushing against each other, but after cable tying, the gap was only the same size as the regular bar spacing. I then put in all of the trays/shelves that I wanted and hooked the ramps up to separate the lowest part from the top two tears.
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The Final Product:
I ended up with two tall cages side by side (one for the girls, one for the boys) and a third long cage at the bottom which will house my solo breeding male when he's not in with the girls (he is too aggressive with the other males). This bottom section can be opened into either of the top cages so that I can move the groups around or integrate them as I want. I can also place the females in the lower section when they are heavily pregnant or have older kits with them to reduce the risk of falling from height. (The bar spacing is not suitable for young kits, I have a separate nursery cage for this). Having my male in the long low cage at the bottom was not what I originally wanted to do, I would rather have him higher up. However because he is solo I spend more time socialising with him and having out of cage play which would be difficult if the long cage were at the top of the tall units. In the future I plan to have my females and neutered males integrated, so I will remove the side panels of the top section to give them access to the entire space. If I ever have to split groupings up I can put the dividers and side panels back in and have up to 6 separate cages, each of which is large enough for a single or pair.
Pros and Cons:
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The F.N cages were easy to build, easy to attach together and very sturdy once finished. I was especially happy with the strength of the bars, which is something I've had issues with in the past, and the fact that it can be divided by pinning up the ramp to cover the gap between sections. The whole front of the cages open up for easy access and the doors can actually be taken off the hinges which makes adding and moving ledges around much easier. To top it off, it has a nice finish and looks sleek and professional.
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The biggest down side for me is that it has solid plastic base panels. I do prefer to have pull out trays with a wire mesh for easy cleaning, and this is purely because of how many animals I have. The plastic trays mean that instead of using substrate I have to use felt liners, which take longer to clean and my chins also have a habit of chewing felt so I anticipate going through them very quickly. They do look good though. The other issue here is that the chinchilla could chew the plastic, which is very dangerous and can cause a lot of health issues. Bass equipment company make custom F.N/C.N stainless steel replacement pans, that have the added benefit of being deep enough to stop poop being scattered out of the cage. This is something that we are looking to invest in soon.
The Finishing Touches:
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There are a lot of sellers on ebay and etsy that make custom felt liners for FN/C.N cages, but they can be quite expensive. I decided to make my own and just bought about 15 meters of no pill fleece off ebay and some strips of elastic. I used the leftover material to cover the back of the cages and protect my walls.
For furnishing I put in a mix of different sized (kiln dried) pine ledges from ebay and etsy, placing them around the cages for the chins to hop between. Then added wooden nest boxes, hammocks, marble cooling slabs and an assortment of mineral blocks and willow toys from our local pet shop Jollyes.
We also have a few 14" metal tic tac wheels which we buy from here. We've been using these wheels for about five years now, they're perfect for chinchillas and last incredibly well if you maintain them. They are also fairly quiet!
Lastly I put in a couple of metal clip on dishes which you can get on ebay or amazon and our 750ml glass water bottles which are a recent purchase from paw products. We found that we were having issues with leaking plastic bottles.
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That was pretty much it before the chinchillas went in. Since then we've moved a few things around but are otherwise very happy with the cages and the chinchillas have definitely been enjoying the space.
