Setting Up a Breeding Unit.
It is a major leap from pet owner to chinchilla breeder, and for the transition to go smoothly a lot of thought has to go into the building itself, the type of cages used (polygamous or monogamous), electricity, water supply, insulation for the wall and roof, fixing of cages to walls, air conditioning, dehumidifiers etc etc etc, the list just goes on and on !!
 |
This image shows one wall of my chin room. Each cage has it's own integral dust bath thereby avoiding the spread of any infections from one cage to the next.
First consider the room itself. Will it be a room in your house and home, or a garden shed or garage, the choice is yours (and ultimately every member of your family !!). When you consider the amount of mess that one chinchilla makes it is very small and negligible, but multiply that by 10 or 20 or up to 100 depending on how many animals you will have in your breeding herd then the amount of mess to contend with is not so small !! From this perspective an outside unit would be preferable, but would make it difficult spending time outside away from other members of the family (your partner may not be happy about the amount of time you spend away from them with your extended family). You would not be able to just pop in and check on your chinchillas as and when the mood took you which you would if one of your bedrooms was converted to your chin room. Which ever room, shed or garage you decide upon it must have certain features :
· Electricity to power all equipment used
· Lighting
· Ventilation
· Easy access. Consider having to move the rubbish from cleaning out several cages through your house.
· Running water is an advantage, but not a requirement (it saves having to carry several big bottles or containers of water from the house).
Having now decided on your room to contain your breeding unit, how should you alter it to meet your needs ? Firstly if you have gone for the outside shed/garage option you will have to consider what will happen to the temperature inside during the Summer. Erect a few fence panels along the side of the shed that will catch the full force of the Summer sunshine. This will keep it in the shade and hopefully help to reduce the interior temperature (failing that build your shed next to a tall hedge or a tree for the same effect). Line the interior of the shed with some form of insulation material such as loft insulation or polystyrene sheeting. You will need to line the walls and the roof. If you use loft insulation remember to cover it with something like plywood to prevent you or your chins coming into contact with it as it is an irritant and will make you try to scratch your skin off !! If you do not live in a direct overhead flight area you might want to consider painting the roof of your shed with a white exterior paint or an aluminium paint to reflect some of the heat.
OK, so now you have the room sorted, what else do you need to put in there before your chinchillas :
· airconditioning unit for the Summer to help to keep temperatures down.
· dehumidifier to control the damp during the winter, helps prevent damage to chinchilla coats
· electronic flying insect killer to control fly population
· deioniser to deal with floating fur and dust particles.
· extractor fan to circulate air
· fans to help air circulate in Summer (these will not help to cool the chins themselves as they do no regulate body temperature in the same way that we do i.e. sweat. They have no sweat glands so cannot lose excess heat by evaporation of sweat from the skin, as such a fan is useless to them for that reason, but will hopefully help to circulate cooler air.
· Storage bins for pellets and chinchilla dust.
· Rubbish bin
· Lights. Remember chinchillas without an adequate day/night cycle will not breed. You probably have windows in the shed/garage but are they allowing adequate light into the room ? You may or will want to consider extra lighting especially if you will be in the room after it is dark with no natural light.
Ok so now you have your room set up, your airconditioner plumbed in to allow drainage of water from the unit, your extractor fans installed in a suitable location where they will not be trying to suck a chinchilla out of it's cage, you need to think about the cages themselves and how they will be arranged inside. Remember that cages must not be positioned in such a way that fans are blowing directly into them, chinchillas do not like draughts !!!