Rats VS Chinchillas - How different are they to own? 

I'd heard about the less allergen aspect of chins, good to know it works with their urine too! I'm definitely sensitive to hay unfortunately though. Is there an alternative to feeding hay with them or nah?

@@DarkestFinale Unfortunately chinchillas need unlimited Timothy hay at all times, you could give oat hay and herbal hay, but only as occasional snacks. Using anything other than timothy hay as main diet will lead to health problems

No they need it as the main part of their diet. I’m allergic to grass pollen and was sensitive to hay when I had rabbits growing up but now that I’ve been buying higher quality Timothy hay it hasn’t been irritating me at all 😊

We have an active carbon filter running in our room for unrelated reasons, but it takes great care of the rat smell, can recommend if smell is an issue

@@LuluTheCorgi I have a great air purifier in the room but theres always going to be a smell, I don't notice it but people who come to my house do. If i leave anything fabric in that room or even my camera the smell clings to it for weeks after

Awww. I love my piggies too 🐹

Guinea pigs are very sensitive to heat and cold, do you have a temperature setup for them?

@@burntbeansoup yes I do! I have installed AC and keep doors open in summer (there are mesh ones behind those to ensure nothing gets in and they don’t get out). For the winter, I have a greenhouse heater, blankets on top of their hutch, give lots of hay and make sure doors are shut or open very minimally.

As a long time guinea pig owner, I couldn't imagine having pigs in a shed. They're much to fickle and delicate to be kept in one, in my opinion. A C&C cage indoors is the best since they need alot of supervision, etc.

@nontoxicpaint Exactly. A lot can go wrong outside- a large animal can break in, a dog can go loose and scare the shit out of them, the AC/heater can break or not be enough, etc..

Im glad you like learning about chinchillas. I think they are cute but chinchillas are so fragile will die unexpectedly.

There’s so many good things about chinchillas, enough so for me to switch over to owning them entirely lol

Agree 100%. Rats have so much personality! Chins are adorable but derpy as heck😂

They live 6-8 years

I've had 4 that lived for 9 years❤​@@chanellethomas6886

I need the order i've been waiting over 4 weeks for to arrive before I can do that :')

I bought one for my mouse but the spacing is too bug for him

What do you mean by that? Do you want to interact with rats before getting some? You could try asking breeders if they'd let you see their rats. If you mean getting to understand rat body language and such, there's some videos on it you could find

@@echoless3474 I'd like to handle and interact with rats so that I'm used to their general mannerisms. I've held and interacted with other rodents before, such as hamsters and mice, but never rats. Do you know of any other ways other than asking a breeder, though? (There aren't any breeders in my general area.)

@calypsoxx_ maybe a rescue? They sometimes have rats. Or try seeing if there's any facebook rat groups in your area and see if any owners would be fine with you meeting their rats

Chinchillas HAVE to be kept cooler, in their native area of South America (in the Andes mnts it doesn't get hot), they also have no way to easily release body heat and need to get dust baths (never, ever water).

You can have a chinchilla out running around for up to an hour in cooler temps.

Burmese 😊

@@Emiology thank youuuu!

Hi I've had rescued rats from similar backgrounds and found if they don't want rat friend's give him more human time out with you he will bond with you I hope this helps you I've kept rats for over 60 years ❤ good luck Maria x

@@mariabrett6712 thankyou🫶🏻💗

To be honest what I intend as being a "quick free roam" when i have places to be or somewhere to go ends up being longer because i cannot get her back into the cage for the life of me haha. If you have an air con unit or its the middle of winter with no heating in that room they'd probably be fine to run around for a bit longer and a lot of people probably do!

​@@EmiologyI taught mine to go back into their cages I've kept chins,degus and rats I have 33 rats, males and females but they smell the worst I'd say but I love rats and have the little zoo Ventura cages and pet planet for males love your videos❤❤

The actual recommended time of playing is an hour, not 20 minutes. Sometimes they will want to go back early sometimes they fight not to go back in. As long as they are in a cool room and have a dehumidifier going they will be fine.

Some people do litter train them and it works the same as it does with rats where having differing substrates can help them to distinguish the difference. They do pee on their beds / shelves but its no where near as frequent or as damaging as rat pee is to things, i wondered the same thing when I was looking into chinchillas, the idea of having exposed untreated wooden shelves was wild to me coming from owning rats where within weeks everything would be soaked in pee and ruined, but I haven't found that to be the case with chinchillas :)

@@Emiology thank you so much. I was wondering exactly the same with all the extra wooden shelves around! Its definitely given me food for thought. I got back into owning rats after a looong break and our 2 boys are now just over a year old. We lost one of our original trio at a year old unexpectedly. Vet suspected heart failure. My daughter has found it really hard and with their short life spans it's making me reconsider getting any more. But now you've got me thinking about chinchillas! 😊

As long as it’s a safe one it can be beneficial. What was the accident?

one mouse crawled under the wheel while the other was running in the wheel😢

What kind of wheel was it? Was it on a solid platform?

Ehh?? No… it hang on the side of the cage, now we have a wooden wheel which is larger

@@sigridhartman8401 ah yeah I can see how it could have caused a mouse to get trapped behind or underneath it, hopefully the wooden wheel will be much safer

I’ve owned lots of rabbits 😊 I can’t say what’s better as it depends what you’re looking for in a pet, but in terms of companionship most rabbits will be better for that

@@Emiology Thanks a lot😀

hope they become illegal in every single country

It all adds up though. Your $8 may sound insignificant, but it adds up to thousands across the US. I understand theres not as many ethical rat breeders there, so you've got to do what you've got to do, especially once you start owning rats and you need to continuously get more you trap yourself in the cycle of having to support pet stores or feeder breeders. Supply and demand may feel small when its just your $8 but on a larger scale the pet demand creates an added need for more to be bred just like the need for a food source, although that will never go away, its a handful more mother rats that will be kept back and subjected to a life living in a drawer being bred over and over and never seeing daylight so that person can make $8+ dollars per litter. Ultimately I will never recommend or condone it, especially when it can result in some very disappointed first time rat owners when they have a rat they can't touch or who dies at 6 months old because they were never bred to live that long. (Theres always exceptions to this). But its ultimately up to you if its your only option or you're happy with that decision :) Another example is you'll often see videos on social media of people 'rescuing' (purchasing) baby feeder rats who should still be with their mothers drinking milk, and trying to hand raise them and sometimes the baby rat starving and passing away a few days later. Thats subjectively a lot longer and prolonged suffering for a young rat than a quick death from being eaten by a reptile. Live feeding and the huge demand for it in the US doesn't sit right with me as its not so much a thing here in the UK, the idea of young rats / mice being ripped away from their mothers before their eyes are open and they need milk every few hours to be put into a paper bag and then sit in a vivarium where a snake might not immediately eat it seems significantly unfair :( It's a tricky one all round.

@@Emiology Yeah, I thankfully did my research. However, many do not and that results in the death of the first paid bought. I personally don't see myself buying more. However, there is a no refund policy for feeders so I will give them best life possible until then. Thank you for the comment. 🐭

I have 0 control over what ads pop up unfortunately. It will be based on key words like ‘rat’