Whenever I start filming, there has to be an emergency.
Hi guys, it's Em. You've seen chinchillas around on YouTube
or maybe your friends have them, and you're thinking,
"They are the cutest! I need to add them to my family immediately."
And I mean who can blame you? This is an insanely cute animal.
It's basically a gray non-electrically-charged Pikachu.
But have you really thought about the true cost of owning a chinchilla?
Well, I'm here today to break it down for you.
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[clears throat] Frog in my throat. [ribbits]
Let's get started. So let's look at the cost of actually buying a chinchilla.
Now, I'm not endorsing this company, but just looking at the PetSmart website,
the chinchillas are actually about $150. Chinchillas are social, you're going to need at least one more.
So it's $150 plus $150.
So, that's gonna be—cha-ching!—That's $300 right there. Just on buying the chinchillas.
But, uh oh! We do not want to have any babies.
What's the best way to prevent babies if you've got a male and a female together?
Neutering because we want to be responsible.
Let's figure out how much it costs to get a chinchilla neutered in the states.
♪ [singing] Let's run up my long-distance phone bill. ♪
[phone beeping]
I should do this in an American accent just so that they don't think I'm prank calling them.
It's in the name of research! Let's see if they pick up.
>> This is Breanna, how can I help you?
>> Oh, hi, Breanna.
I just wanted to know if it'd be possible to get a quote for how much it would cost to have an animal neutered.
>> Neutered?
>> Yes, I'm looking to have a chinchilla neutered. Is that something that you can do?
>> Ah, yes, give me one second.
>> Thank you.
>> Hi. So, we don't have a general estimate that we usually go by.
That has to be examined first and then have an estimate written,
but usually it's anywhere between three to five hundred.
>> Okay, so three to five hundred dollars. Is that including tax or is that before tax?
>> Including.
>> Oh, that's including tax. Okay, great.
Let me just give a call to a couple of other places and then I'll give you a call back.
There you go. About three to five hundred dollars.
Oooh! Next I'm gonna have to try and call, New York... New York.
[attempting Brooklyn accent] I wanna get a Chinchilla neutered... neutered... neutered.
I wanna get a chinchilla neutered! [laughing]
We're going to need a place for our chinchillas to live.
So we're going to need an enclosure.
An enclosure should have levels, it should be spacious, and it should be secure.
These guys are very active. They like to move around,
and if they're going to be in an enclosure for any part of the day,
it's got to be nice and spacious enough.
And the best one, realistically speaking, that I can find on Amazon at the moment is this one.
[mouse click]
Let's add that to our total tally.
Now we're going to need some food before we can bring our friends home.
Looking online, the most prominent company that I can find is Kaytee.
We don't have that company over here in the UK, so I can't say whether or not
they are a good quality or a bad quality. This is purely just for research purposes,
How much it would roughly cost for some food.
I'm not recommending this food. I'm not not-recommending this food.
It's just the food that I can find most prominently online.
This bag of food over here costs about $9.
Remember, this is not a one-off cost.
This is an ongoing cost and that should certainly be factored in.
So this is going to be every couple of weeks,
you're gonna have to spend another $9, and another $9, for the duration of your chinchilla's life.
Let's add that to our total tally, somewhere.... There we go! Right there.
That's currently what out tally stands at.
They're also going to need a nice clean water bottle.
I personally would recommend a glass water bottle because they have less bacteria.
Okay, here's a plastic one. This one is $8.58.
Let's add that to our total tally.... [click] There we go.
Chinchillas also need to eat a lot of good quality hay.
So, on Amazon, hay seems to be around five to six dollars.
This is also going to be an ongoing cost. To keep this cost down and to support your local farmers,
I would actually go to your local farms and ask them if they would be willing to sell you hay.
A lot of farms will do that. They'll have their own farm shop,
and I think that this would be a more cost-effective way to provide for your chinchilla.
Chew blocks are also a necessity because these guys are true rodents,
and they need to be constantly gnawing in order to keep their teeth in shape.
So we're going to need to get some blocks.
Let's see if I can find some chew blocks.... Here we go!
$10.99. Again that will be an ongoing cost, but because it's a multi-pack,
this should mean that you only have to get them a couple of times a year.
This one is very important.
Chinchillas, in order to keep their fur clean, require dust. A very special kind of volcanic dust.
You can buy this commercially and this will be another ongoing cost.
So we're going to need the dust.
But before we can get the dust, we're going to need something to put the dust in.
This can be something as simple as a large, heavy, ceramic dog bowl,
which is what we use at my work for Olaf and his friends and family.
Okay, so this one looks pretty good. This one is $11.
The dust itself we're also going to need.
Let's have a look at how much the dust is going to—oh, okay!
So Kaytee also do it. This is $9.46. So there you go.
That's another thing. Let's add that to our tally along with the dog bowl.... There we go.
Bedding will also be needed at the bottom of your enclosure because these guys poo a lot.
So you're going to want something in order to soak up the urine as well as to catch the droppings.
Bedding I can find.... Oh! CareFresh do bedding and it is $7.19.
Let's add that to our tally. Remember, this is going to be an ongoing cost.
Chinchillas will also need somewhere to hide in order to feel nice and secure
if something scares them or just [to] get away from each other.
So this hide is $9.99 and we're gonna add that to our tally.
I quite like this hide, I think it looks pretty decent.
Which brings the total cost to $1,092.42.
[cha-ching]
There are other costs which I can't really go into on this video because it will just take far too long,
but if you go away on holiday, you're going to need a pet sitter.
So if you don't have friends and family who can look after your pet for you?
You're going to need to pay someone to either have these guys in their home
or to visit your home and to care for them while you're away on holiday.
Roughly, I think it's something like $15 a day I've seen,
In order to get someone to come in and care for your animal.
It can go up, it can go down.
That is a rough estimate based on what I've seen on Craigslist.
And here's a big one out in the states,
'cuz I know insurance is massive in the states. You're going to want to get your chinchilla insured.
It's very difficult to see how much this would cost.
You're going to have to call around and get the best quote.
Do you keep pet chinchillas? [ding]
Let me know in the comment section below and any other costs
which you think may be good for other people to know that you didn't know,
and you wish you knew when you first got your chinchilla.
Remember to be a responsible keeper.
Thank you guys so much for watching, and I will see you guys in another video shortly. See you later. Bye!
Neutered!
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