Dust Baths, Are They Really Important?

Dust Baths, Are They Really Important?

Dust baths are a necessity for chinchillas as the dust keeps their fur clean and soft. Now before you think that ordinary dust is acceptable, it is not. The dust they use for bathing is actually specially made for them. It is made up of fine or grinded pumice that is made to mimic the dust formed from the finely-grounded volcanic rocks that these chinchillas would have access to in their natural habitat. It looks closely like sand, however it is not. So please be advised not to put these small critters in real sand. It will not be good for them.

Chinchillas actually love their dust baths and unlike other pets, you will not be experiencing too much trouble coaxing them to bathe. They will ‘dive in’ to their baths and roll around good-naturedly as said in most chinchilla care guides. To keep your house from being too dusty from keeping a pet like this, we advise you to have enclosed containers especially for this. In these containers, the dust should be at least a couple of inches so that there will be no shortage of it for your pet to roll in to.

These baths should be done regularly, at least twice a week to suffice. Although during humid weather, baths should be more frequent. The baths are in between the time-frame of 10 to 15 minutes tops. Do not allow your pet to sit too long in a bath as too much bathing can dry the skin, too little though could cause the fur to be clumpy and oily.