Monthly Costs for One Chinchilla
We've decided to create this page for anyone who's curious about what it costs to home a regular chinchilla (one with no medical issues) and what it costs to home an ill chinchilla (specifically one with epilepsy, seeing as we currently have three).
Cost if you do not have a fleece liner:
Free-fed, high quality pellets: $1/pound x 2 pounds=$2
Free-fed, high quality alfalfa: $0.50/pound x 2 pounds=$1
Free-fed, high quality timothy: $0.50/pound x 2 pounds=$1
Blue Cloud dust: $1.25/pound x 1 pound=$1.25
Toys: $10
Shavings no fleece liner: $4
Rosehips: $0.65/ounce x 2 oz=$1.30
Total: $20.55
Cost if you do have a fleece liner:
Free-fed, high quality pellets: $1/pound x 2 pounds=$2
Free-fed, high quality alfalfa: $0.50/pound x 2 pounds=$1
Free-fed, high quality timothy: $0.50/pound x 2 pounds=$1
Blue Cloud dust: $1.25/pound x 1 pound=$1.25
Toys: $10
Shavings for litter boxes (using a fleece liner): $1
Rosehips: $0.65/ounce x 2 ox=$1.30
Total: $17.55
Cost if you do not use a fleece liner, and your chin needs medication:
$20.55 + $12 (at most) = $32.55
Cost if you do use a fleece liner, and your chin needs medication:
$17.55 + $12 = $29.55
The costs to a rescue, which gets bulk discounts, is significantly lower. It's anywhere from half to one-third the cost of a pet chin.
That said, we do spend a minimum of $150 a month on basic chinchilla supplies. Anything extra, like a $4 basket of toys (wholesale pricing) gets added to the total.
This is why any donation amount is a tremendous help. A donation of $15 will buy enough food to feed the rescues for a month. A donation of $5 will buy enough hay for two months. $12 will buy a pound of wood, which will last a week.
Special Costs:
If we have to bring someone to the vet, the starting cost is $20 per chin per visit.
Medicine like phenobarbitol or trimeth sulfa is $12 a bottle per month. Baytril does cost more.
Calcium powder with rosehips and alfalfa is about $20/pound.
Calcium gluconate, for chins with severe calcium deficiency (white teeth) is $14.
We are currently saving up to buy each cage here a ChinSpin. The price recently went up, and now they are $62 with shipping. If we buy one wheel a month and then buy nothing but the basics, it will still put our monthly cost at $212.