Chinchillas & Dust Baths

Chinchillas in the wild bathe in volcanic ash. These dust baths help the animals to maintain their fur and to ensure 'skin respiration'.

Since chinchillas are nocturnal, they do all their running and playing at night. That makes the early morning the best time for chinchillas to bathe in order to remove the sweat produced from the previous night's activities.

If you have more than one chin, it is a good idea to have a separate bath for each animal. This will help keep down the transfer of disease or illness. It is best to allow each chinchilla only 15-20 minutes for their bath.

What dust should be used for Chinchillas?

If fine-grained and clean sand is used; be sure to add some talcum powder. Other types of sand such as, coarse quartz sand, river sand, construction sand (often used for cement and mortar), or sand from open pits must not be used as they are not fine enough to yield any benefits for your chin.

Use only very find sands and dust or purchase one of the commercially available chinchilla dust products.

The dust your chinchilla(s) uses to bathe in must be kept clean. Regularly scoop out any feces and be sure to remove any areas that may have been contaminated with urine. If kept clean, new dust can be added as needed rather than fully replacing the entire batch each time it is used.

Dust Baths & Consistency

Chinchillas are very clean animals, but if you do not consistently make a dust bath available to them; they will often not return to it so easily. Young chinchillas should be introduced to dust baths while they are still being nursed or they will refuse to bathe after weaning.