Chinchillas?

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I remember in the 1960's there was a chinchilla coat fad; now that second hand fur is a no-no for people; do chinchillas have value as for pets? Cost, feeding, reproduction???

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), March 24, 2002

Answers

their pelts STILL fetch a decent price, but overseas have "bigger/better" farms, russia just had a few shut down due to the operating costs. I beleive you have to have at least 100 pelts before someone will buy though. I knwo they make neat pets, easy to care for, clean, just need a "dust bowl"

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.coms), March 24, 2002.

When we lived in Wisconsin we raised chinchillas,degus, fancy rats & mice for the pet market. By far my favorite critter was the chins', they are easy to raise,friendly & Oh so cute. The only thing is since they come from the Andes Mtn area they cannot handle heat over 85 degrees, something to consider if you live in a very hot area. We raised ours in 3' X'3'x 3' cages with a shelf on the back half. We turned a spare bedroom into a chinchilla habit and we were very successful in raising & breeding them. I bought the start up chin's for $20 males & $40 female, for standard greys & $50 male & $80 female for lavenders & Blacks. We bred them and most had twins which sold at 8-12 weeks old for $25 & up depending on the colors. The lavenders & blacks sold for almost twice as much as the greys. There are a few genetic flaws you'll need to be mindful of when breeding colors, two blacks each carry a fatal gene & when bred will produce dead or very defective offspring. There are some excellant books on breeding & raising chinchillas as well as sources of info online. I think it cost us approx. $5.00 per offspring for feed,chews,etc so it depends if you think the time,space & costs make a profit of $20- $40 dollars is worth it. I hope this helps, I think you'd enjoy raising them, they made me smile with their big eyes & cute ways so doing 'chores' was never a real chore. I really hated selling out when we moved to KY, but with the heat down here in the summer, I was too afraid that if the power went out & we lost air conditioning we'd end up with a whole bunch of dead chinchillas. My fear was justified though-the first summer lightening hit our house & took out the central air & we were without AC for 8 days & the thermometers in the house registed 98 degrees!! Have a great day, Blessings Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@lycos.com), March 24, 2002.

Chinchillas make excellent pets.

Chin Net is a good source for info on these critters.

-- bethany (nospma@4me.com), March 24, 2002.


Around here Chins go for about $120 each, give or take a few dollars.

Susan

-- Susan in MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), March 24, 2002.


bethany's link has the wrong URL. Here's the link for Chin Net:

Chin Net

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 24, 2002.


My son wants one desperately but it would be another thing for me to take care of. We sell them for $150 at the pet store I'm at in NJ.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), March 24, 2002.

I raised them for awhile here in NC, you can get 80-120 for a standard Grey, but I paid $250 for a homo ebony (solid black) from a breeder. I must agree, they make great pets, but not for small children. They are not ususally 'huggy' pets, prefering to be exploring or bouncing around.

-- Angela (Daizy_73@hotmail.com), March 26, 2002.

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