Hello everyone! I want to ask female members about taking care their chinchilla while being pregnant themselves. I am in my early pregnancy weeks and as i used to take care of my chin me myself, now i am a little worried about doing it as i dont know what are the risks or the parasites a chin carries and could affect me. So i left my husband to handle our pet and he cant do it in the right way. We use to leave our chin playing in a room about 4 hours a day, and as you can imagine he leaves his poops everywhere and sometimes pees. Now that i am in that sensitive period of my life i dont know if it is dangerous for me to clean his pees and his poops and i dont know if there is something i have to protect myself from, like cat owners have to worry about. For sure, especially now, i wear gloves and a mask to do every cleaning. Any information would be very useful as i dont want my Peanut to feel sad. He is a very happy and full of life Chin and now that i dont play, hug and deal with him as i used to i think he is a little confused and sad and i dont like it, but honestly i am afraid of harming my baby as i can find no information about chins like i find about cats for example.
Petting a chinchilla while being pregnant my self
- Thread starter Angy
- Start date
Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:
Nope, no problem with chins unless you already have an allergy to something like the dust or shavings. Urine should never smell strongly in their cages if they are kept properly and the poop is just poop. As long as your chin isn't suffering from an infection (i.e., giardia) you're good to go. Go ahead and love on him!
Unlike most rodents and other animals that eat omnivore or carnivore diets like cats and dogs, chinchillas don't naturally carry any bacteria or diseases, which is likely why there is no info online. So as long as your chin isn't sick it's unlikely to be carrying anything, but obviously practice basic hygiene like washing your hands after handling and don't eat the poops 
. It's also not a bad idea to be on the safe side using gloves and a mask when cleaning the cage, but that's about it. There are plenty of people that have cared for their chinchillas like normal for their whole pregnancy, including breeders with hundreds of chinchillas, without any issues assuming they don't have any health issues.
. It's also not a bad idea to be on the safe side using gloves and a mask when cleaning the cage, but that's about it. There are plenty of people that have cared for their chinchillas like normal for their whole pregnancy, including breeders with hundreds of chinchillas, without any issues assuming they don't have any health issues.Unfortunately my husband didnt clean its cage for 3 weeks now and didnt notice his pee in a specific space in the room and i can smell the urine. I freaked out with the smell and afraid of breath it and clean the cage. Do you think something can be transferred with the smell? Now that i came in house (i lived in my parents for almost a month) i will clean it but first i wanted to know some things. Is there any way to figure out if my chin suffers from parasites like giardia?
Thank you so much... Maybe that is the reason why i cant find information. Is there any way i can find out if my chin suffers from any health issues? I think he looses some hair. I think the pet is stressed because he hasnt seen me for a monthUnlike most rodents and other animals that eat omnivore or carnivore diets like cats and dogs, chinchillas don't naturally carry any bacteria or diseases, which is likely why there is no info online. So as long as your chin isn't sick it's unlikely to be carrying anything, but obviously practice basic hygiene like washing your hands after handling and don't eat the poops
You can get the chin a checkup at the vet if you haven't already, but unless you have other animals in the house that the are sick that chin has regular interaction with the most common issues are just giardia and ringworm.
For giardia the chin will have wet poops/diarrhea (often it's green, smelly, soft, and slimy), which can be tested for and treated at the vet. Giardia is most commonly picked up from contaminated food or water, or directly ingesting the poop of other infected animals or humans (like by not washing your hands after touching poop). So really basic hygine and making sure your drinking water is not from a contaminated source is all that is needed.
The most common health issue that can cause loss of hair is ringworm, which is a fungus. You will notice not only bald spots where the hair has fallen out, but also the skin will be red, flaky, and itchy. Again make sure to wash after handling and maybe even change your clothes just to be on the safe side. If you just mean shedding (wispy bits of fur coming off) or fur slips though, that is normal and doesn't indicate any health issues other then stress. They are social animals, and about as smart as a young toddler or a small parrot, so not getting daily interaction (at least an hour a day) or not getting the amount they are use to, especially if they are an only chinchilla, can effect their mental health and make them stressed and even depressed.
Thank you again so so much, really. No he is not having these symptoms in his skin. I just noticed in the cage were some hair around and when i cuddled him there were some hair in my hands. My vet told me that we should do a deworming treatment. But he asked me to wait some days to tell me what else we can do. You see i live in a very small city and there is no vet experienced to chins. But he reads and search a lot everything i ask for, so i trust him. Thank you very much, again!
Last edited:
It's rare for chins to have worms unless they have contact with other animal's poop that have worms (cat, dog, rabbit, etc) or the food or water has been contaminated. Without any symptoms (weight loss, diarrhea, bloat, etc) I wouldn't do any treatment for worms unless the chin's poop has been tested and shows they have worms. Vaccinations and deworming are not a normal health care for a chinchilla, but I know a lot of vets unfortunately lump chinchillas in with "similar" animals like rabbits and guinea pigs, which they may have experience with, and just assume chinchillas require the same things.
Mel
Member
I agree with what the others have said here. I am not pregnant but I am on medications that suppress my immune system and I asked my dr about health risks he said that Giardia and ringworm fungus would be the 2 things I could catch. That being said he told me wearing gloves and hand washing would protect me and it would be very, very rare to catch anything from a pet chinchilla.
