How to Potty-Train a Chinchilla

Chinchillas are small rodents from the Andes region of South America. Although most chinchillas are raised for the fur industry as their soft pelts are valuable, the use of chinchillas as pets has been growing in popularity since the 1960s. Chinchillas are primarily nocturnal and retain many of their habits from their years in the wild and are not always the most friendly of pets, but owners say animals acquired as babies, known as kits, and regularly handled and trained can be excellent pets. In this article you'll learn how to litter-train a chinchilla. While not all chinchillas can be trained to use litter for urination, many are able to do so if trained at a very young age. According to chinchilla owners and vets, it is not possible to train a chinchilla to defecate in a litter box as there is little to no resulting smell with which to train the chinchilla.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Litter box
• Critter Litter or other litter safe for chinchillas
• Chinchilla bedding
• Chinchilla
• Spoon or small scoop

1. Put the litter box in a corner of the chinchilla's cage, away from water and food bowls. If your chinchilla tends to urinate in a particular spot in its cage, put the litter box over that spot. Put the Critter Litter in the box.

2. Scoop up any bedding in the chinchilla's cage that it has urinated on and put this wet bedding in the litter box. Put wet bedding in the litter box every time the chinchilla urinates.

3. Clean out the litter box every week when you change the chinchilla's bedding. Save a small amount of wet bedding from the litter box and put it back in the litter box with the Critter Litter.

4. Repeat this process for several months until the chinchilla is regularly urinating in the litter. It may take several months for the chinchilla to learn this, and not all are able to learn to do it.

Tips & Warnings

• Use litter safe for chinchillas only. Using cat litter or other litter can be toxic for chinchillas.