Cake the Chinchilla

[alyssinreality]

So my little cousin(9 or 10) got a Chinchilla from a friend of his whose mom didn't want to deal with it anymore(they had two and kept one and got rid of one). They asked me to do research for them and this chinchilla has not come in the greatest of conditions. First of all the breeder sells them with these tiny little homemade cages that are not good at all. It is made fine but it is little and has no platforms. There is only enough room for a coffee can for her to sleep in and her food.

I read they are supposed to eat alfalfa hay and this chin has never had that. She is on guinea pig food only.

She drinks out of a water bottle.

And she has no wheel!! (she is getting diggorys old flying saucer, but the only way it can fit in the cage is alternating each night the coffee can or the flying saucer)

My aunt wants to do the right thing for this girl but she doesn't know what she got herself into.

She wanted me to make a C&C cage for her but with some research I saw that you cannot use those for chinchillas. Any other cheap alternatives you know of? The cheapest chinchilla cage I could find was a 50 dollar one on amazon and I don't think they will go for that. They kind of have the mindset towards small animals of "oh, it will survive."

So I'm constantly worrying about how to make Cake's life better and it isn't even my problem. -_-
By the way she is 2 years old. She lived in a house with very rowdy kids for two years and although she has a good temperament I've heard they weren't good to her.

Any advice? Good cages? What is absolutely important that I have to tell them immediately?

I know next to nothing about chinchillas...

[gogrnny1955]

There is another forum on the Internet called Chins n Hedgies
they have information that will help.

All I've heard is their teeth need something to chew on to keep them short as they grow all
the time and could cause problems.
And some kind of dust bath.
Try the Chins n Hedgies though.

[SquiggyTheHedgie]

For chinchillas he closest thing to a proper size habitat is a Ferret Nation, they are tall and can support platforms. They need to take dust baths to prevent mites and keep themselves clean, you can get both the dust and the dust house (Where they can roll in it) at a petstore. They do need hay, either alfalfa or timothy, and need constant chew toys available for their teeth.