Chinchilla's Lifespan - What You Can Do To Help Your Pet Live A Long And Happy Life Free From Stress

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chris_Arkell]Chris Arkell
If you've decided to adopt a new chinchilla, there's an important fact you should know before you actually go ahead. A chinchilla's lifespan is pretty long, so you'll need to be ready to have a chinchilla in your home for many years to come. In fact, if you adopt a baby chinchilla, it will probably be living with you for around 20 years. But, in order for your new pet to have that sort of lifespan, you'll need to keep it healthy and give it high quality food.
If you want your chinchilla to have a long and happy life, you'll need to take care of its health, just like you would with any other pet. Your chinchilla's health will depend on how you handle things, but don't let that make you nervous because caring for a chinchilla is quite easy.
But how do you go about helping your chinchilla lead a long life? Making sure your chinchilla eats a wholesome, nutritious diet is probably the most important thing you can do. Your chinchilla's food should consist of chinchilla pellets and hay. Although loose chinchilla food works well as a supplement to pellets and hay, it should never replace the pellets completely. Your chinchilla needs fiber in its diet, and that's the role of high quality hay, because it's very high in fiber. Chinchilla pellets simply don't give your pet any fiber, so it needs to eat some high quality hay every day. You can purchase quality hay at most local pet stores. Timothy grass hay is the most common type of hay that people feed to chinchillas. If you can't find any timothy hay, you can use alfalfa instead, if your chinchilla is willing to eat it. You should be wary of feeding your chinchilla other types of hay, and you should avoid giving it any hay that is dusty, stale or moldy, because that might create some health problems, including respiratory issues if the hay is dusty. Watch for any "unwanted" plants that are bundled into the hay. Thistle and some potentially poisonous plants could harm your chinchilla if you don't remove them.
In order to have a long lifespan, your chinchilla's life must be free of stress. We've all heard how stress can shorten our life and lead to all types of health conditions. The same thing can happen if your chinchilla has to deal with too much stress. When you first bring home a new chinchilla, you might have a hard time interacting with it. Your chinchilla will be going through an adjustment period and will probably need some time to get used to you and its new living situation before it comes to trust you. Until you've gained your chinchilla's trust, life can be stressful for your new pet. Eventually it will be okay, though, and then you'll be able to pick up and hold your new chinchilla.
One thing that makes chinchillas such great pets is the way they don't often need the attentions of a vet. In fact, chinchillas don't even need vaccinations. No pet can come close to a chinchilla when it comes down to vet care. Your pet might have a few problems during the crucial adjustment period, however, and those problems are usually related to stress in some way. The stress your chinchilla feels while it's trying to understand what's happening during the adjustment period can actually weaken its immune system. You can make this adjustment easier and reduce your chinchilla's stress levels by making sure it's been fully weaned from its mother and can feed itself before you bring it home.
If your chinchilla is healthy it has a great chance of having a lengthy lifespan. And, it's actually pretty easy to keep a chinchilla healthy.
Want to learn more about a [http://www.chinchillascare.com/chinchilla-life]chinchillas lifespan? Visit my website at http://www.chinchillascare.com/ for helpful tips and information on buying and caring for chinchillas.
Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Chinchillas-Lifespan---What-You-Can-Do-To-Help-Your-Pet-Live-A-Long-And-Happy-Life-Free-From-Stress&id=6630599] Chinchilla's Lifespan - What You Can Do To Help Your Pet Live A Long And Happy Life Free From Stress