#a fridge that are constantly changing temperature and can go from three degrees to almost negative one (Celsius) within half an hour

[onlythebravest]

.

[holy-honeybees]

Snowdrift

AO3

Rating: T+ (for swearing)

Summary: Three friends and  their dog get lost in a snowstorm while investigating the paranormal. Amidst swirling flurries of white, some lose their way and get lost in their memories, others lose sight of their friends and loved ones, and an unforgiving winter quickly fills in the footprints one would follow to get back home.

A/N: I started this back in November 2019 but sadly never finished the work. I was thinking of holding off till it started to snow again, but figured now was as good a time as any to try and finish this.The title is taken from Snail's House song "[snowdrift]" which you can check out here!

My hopes of having a regular posting schedule were completely dashed by the disaster that is the year 2020. But I’m still here, I’m still writing, and though I don’t know when the next chapter will be, I know there will be another. Beware that from here on, there may be some slight SPOILERS for the latest MSA video, “The Future!” If you haven’t already watched it though, you absolutely should, it was amazing, and the whole team who worked on it are all so talented!!

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Chapter One

Chapter Seven

Lewis glanced behind him to watch as Vivi and Mystery disappeared into the woods, the flashlight beam wavering as his friends passed behind trees and headed deeper into the forest. His own fluorescence gave the surrounding snowdrifts a soft, pink glow, illuminating his path as he headed along where he guessed the road to be under the thick blanket of snow. The ghost fought the urge to turn around and check on Vivi and Mystery again, knowing if he gave in now he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from watching until the last glimmer of their flashlight faded from view. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them to take care of themselves. He knew how fearsome Mystery could be, even after his injury, and though Vivi was frustrated by her lack of mastery over magic, she’d taken to it readily. If her friends were in danger, Lewis knew nothing would stop her, magic or no. It was just hard for him to give up old habits. He couldn’t help but think of being the protector as his role in the group, especially after so many years of Arthur hiding behind him. Despite his size, Lewis had never been much of a fighter when he was alive. He’d always relied on his height and broad shoulders to intimidate, whether it was Arthur’s high school bullies or whatever monster of the week had decided to pick a fight with them. His death had surprisingly come with a few benefits, the supernatural speed at which he now travelled being just one of them. Already he had come to the bend in the road where their near miss had occurred just days ago, the guardrail and sign warped out of place from the impact with the van. Lewis ran his hand along the arrow on the sign, brushing loose snow to the ground.  

It was hard to believe that they had been having snowball fights and drinking hot cocoa just the other day. The snow which had once been so entrancing to him now seemed ominous and deadly, the winter wonderland having transformed into a frozen wasteland. Lewis suppressed a shiver. He shouldn’t have been able to feel the freezing temperatures, but the cold gnawed at his bones nonetheless. He was reminded of the walk-in freezer at the Pepper Paradiso. Once, while he’d still been in high school, Lewis had accidentally locked himself in the walk-in at the restaurant. He’d only been stuck for about fifteen minutes, but the cold had seemed unbearable for even that short amount of time. He’d been lucky that Ma and Pa Pepper were so quick to get him out. He couldn’t get his teeth to stop chattering until his mom had fixed him up a special batch of her hot chocolate flavored with cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Lewis remembered sitting in the dining area, cradling his mug of hot chocolate as his dad rubbed a hand up and down his arm to help warm him up. His mother had been livid and had immediately called the fridge manufacturer to demand they send someone to replace the faulty door release on the inside of the walk-in. Despite his parents’ best efforts, the chill hadn’t left him until late that night when he was curled up in bed, bundled in extra blankets.

Lewis wondered just how long Arthur had been gone before the others had discovered him missing. He feared that the mechanic had been gone too long already. He knew now just how fragile people were, and given Arthur’s tendency to stress himself out and forgo basic needs, he worried for the mechanic more than most. Shifting his focus from his worries to the task at hand, Lewis turned to search the expanse of snow surrounding him, trying to find a sign that the mechanic had been this way at all. Each direction looked the same as the others though. It was impossible to tell if it was because Lewis had picked the wrong way to go or if the belligerent snowfall had simply covered Arthur’s tracks. Without any kind of path to follow, Lewis picked a direction at random. Phasing through the twisted metal of the guardrail, he sped away from the road into the snowy fields beyond to continue his search. The plains the ghost now flew over were as flat and empty as the rest of the landscape had been. Lewis hoped it would make the mechanic easy to spot, even with the moon covered by clouds and the thick snowfall still coming down. The snow in the distance went almost blue with shadows, but if he passed close enough to the mechanic, the ghost was sure he would recognize the bright orange color his friend so frequently wore.

“Arthur!” Lewis called. The snow on the ground muffled his shout, and the lowly moaning winds quickly drowned out the remaining sound. Still, Lewis couldn’t help but feel disappointed when he received no response. The spirit pushed onwards, constantly scanning his surroundings for a glimpse of familiar orange amidst all the white. As he rushed further away from the road to continue his search for Arthur, Lewis was struck with a sense of déjà vu. For a moment, he could have sworn that the snowy landscape had shifted, changing from a seemingly barren tundra to a familiar hallway, lined with portraits and doors that looped back in on each other in impossible patterns. The stripes in the wallpaper blurred together as he flew by, hunting down the scrawny mechanic that had betrayed him.

“Arthur!” the ghost bellowed.

Lewis skidded to an abrupt halt, shocked by the wrathful tone of his own voice. As he looked around again, he was back in the snowy field that lay beyond the bend in the road, no haunted mansion in sight. Just an endless, featureless white landscape. It had all been so real, the desire to find Arthur and punish him so strong, that for a moment Lewis had forgotten where he was. He’d forgotten himself and had lost the careful control he had on his anger. Even now that the specter had forgiven Arthur and come to peace with his own demise, the rage never seemed to go away. It was always simmering just below the surface, waiting for him to slip up and boil over. Afterall, it wasn’t just his attachment to Vivi that had brought him back, but his desire for vengeance as well. This anger was a part of him now, as much as he hated it, as much as he was afraid of it. Normally he kept it buried deep, able to force it back down whenever it reared its ugly head. He hadn’t felt such an intense flare of rage in months, and his fury had never boiled over without any provocation before. The imagined cold that had seeped into his bones was now completely burned out, the golden locket that served as his anchor thrumming with anger.

Did he really still hate his friend so much?

Lewis shook his skull back and forth, his hair flickering wildly at the movement. He had to keep it together. He thought back to all the late night conversations with Arthur that had helped to keep his loneliness at bay over the last few months. How before the cave, they would camp out on top of the van and look at the stars, guessing at the names of constellations, the mechanic at ease enough to fill the silence with idle chatter about science fiction and space travel. He remembered how his friend had helped him study for the law school he’d hoped to get into, shuffling through stacks of flash cards filled with legal jargon over milkshakes at the restaurant. Teenage years spent at each other’s houses, sleepovers filled with binge watching Sailor Moon andsuffering through Surf’s Up Pizza because he knew how much Arthur liked it. The only kid in middle school who had readily accepted that Lewis hadn’t been a part of the Pepper household up until the day he was.  

The ghost put a hand to his anchor, willing himself to calm down as he wrapped his fingers around the heart-shaped locket. He didn’t hate Arthur. At least, not anymore. Facing down a murderous, possessed kitsune together hadn’t magically spirited away the hurt Lewis had felt. His behavior towards Arthur had ranged from cold to cruel in the first couple of months following their reunion. During one disastrous case, it had gotten bad enough that the mechanic had almost walked away from the Mystery Skulls for good. While on an investigation out of town, Lewis had lost his tenuous grip on his temper and had blown up at the mechanic to a nuclear degree. Arthur had fled, even leaving his precious van behind, determined to hitchhike his way back home to Tempo. Mystery had tried to talk the mechanic out of it, but Vivi had ended up having to drag Arthur away from the roadside herself. With the mechanic refusing to talk, the blue-haired girl had resorted to taking him to a bar and had plied him with alcohol to get him to open up. Arthur had finally broken down into a blubbering mess after several drinks. Once their tab had been paid and the mechanic tucked away safely in the back of the van to sleep it off, Vivi had tracked down Lewis to give the ghost a piece of her mind with a stern lecture that Ma Pepper would have been proud of. While she was sympathetic to the ghost’s position, she reminded him that it wasn’t really Arthur who had pushed him off the cliff, and that the mechanic had been devastated and desperate to find Lewis after he’d gone missing. Vivi also pointed out it wasn’t fair to force her to choose between the faithful friend she’d had by her side over the past year and someone she had only just started to remember having loved. Faced with the prospect of tearing the Mystery Skulls apart and driving away the people he cared about, the ghost had begrudgingly agreed to try and put the past behind him.

With the winter winds swirling around him, Lewis could feel the beating of the heart in his hand slow to a steady thump, thump, thump as he reminisced. Things had been hard at first. The smallest of slights irked the ghost, and it took tremendous concentration to think before he snapped. He had still failed on occasion, with his only choice then being to leave his friends behind while he cooled off. Little by little though, he was able to box up his resentment and pack it away, having a much easier time dealing with it in smaller pieces. He then found he could control his anger, and even if it had become a part of him, it didn’t have to control him. Talking with Mystery had helped. The kitsune had centuries of life experience to draw from, and was more than happy to offer advice or just sit back and listen when Lewis needed him to. Vivi was just as willing to help, but couldn’t always stop herself from offering up ideas and solutions when Lewis talked about his problems. Sometimes it was nice to have someone to just listen without interruption. With time, practice, and help from his friends, the ghost was finally able to be around Arthur again, and being around his former friend reminded Lewis of why they had been friends in the first place. After a while, he found he actually liked being around Arthur, even in their new circumstances. He wanted to try and be friends again, but there had been so much to remedy between them. It had taken a long time for the mechanic to let his guard down around the ghost, not that Lewis could blame him. When he finally did, they had slowly begun to mend their friendship, but something was still missing. Lewis struggled at times to keep his distance, not wanting the mechanic to feel uncomfortable or threatened by his presence after so much bad blood between them. He waited respectfully for Arthur to bridge the gap, but, even now, the mechanic still seemed wary of him. Lewis had to wonder if his friend just needed more time or if he’d irreparably broken something between them. The ghost would never forgive himself if he’d missed his chance to fix things. Lewis looked at the locket in his hand and flipped it open. Eyes unclouded by anger, he could clearly see the picture of the four of them it contained. Together, just the way they should be.

All he wanted now was his best friend back.

Lewis heaved a sigh, closing the locket again as he prepared to continue his search. The sight of the golden heart had given him an idea. Concentrating, the spirit summoned his coffin, the dark lacquered wood standing out against the snow. The casket lid sprung open to reveal six purple-colored spirits, each adorned with a small golden heart of their own. The Dead Beats immediately poured out of the coffin, winding around Lewis’s shoulders and bumping up against his shins. Vivi had been enthralled to be able to study the small ghosts up close once they’d been formally introduced. According to Mystery, they were weaker spirits drawn to Lewis’s power, feeding on his cast-off energy. The kitsune had assured the Mystery Skulls that they weren’t some kind of paranormal parasite though, and no harm would come to Lewis from their presence. It was a symbiotic relationship, and while there was no direct benefit to him, Lewis did find he enjoyed their company. They reminded him of affectionate cats sometimes. Especially with the way they rubbed against his legs, humming instead of purring, as they did now.

“I’m happy to see you too,” Lewis said earnestly, patting at one of the little specters’ heads, “But right now I need your help. Can you do something for me?”

The Dead Beats harmonized in a way he knew meant ‘yes’.

“Good,” he replied, “Arthur is missing. I need you to split up and help me look for him. If you find him, come tell me where he is right away. Can you do that?”

Another affirmative humming sound.

“Thank you! Please, go as quick as you can!” Lewis set about pointing each of the Dead Beats in a different direction, one of them doubling back to see if Arthur had travelled further along the road Lewis had left behind. The others fanned out through the field to cover more ground and expand their search radius. Lewis watched as they took off in every direction, zipping over the snowbanks as they began to search for the mechanic. Satisfied, he continued forwards on the path he’d chosen for himself. There were now six extra sets of eyes looking for the lost mechanic. Lewis only hoped that if one of them did find Arthur, they wouldn’t try to play any tricks on him. The Dead Beats had quite a mischievous streak, with Arthur being the favorite target of their practical jokes and pranks. Having the extra help in his search was a huge relief, but Lewis knew he wouldn’t truly feel at ease until his friend had been safely recovered.

Please don’t let me be too late…to find him…to fix things.

There was still so much Lewis wanted to say. They never talked about that night in the cave, and though sometimes Lewis felt that they didn’t have to, he did wonder if it would help. He hoped he would get the chance to find out. While Lewis had calmed himself considerably, his worried thoughts still tumbled about like a brewing storm as he continued the search for his missing friend. He ignored that, deep beneath the hopes and fears he felt, a spark of anger was still burning in his chest, refusing to go out.

[axogothl]

An Amateur’s Guide To Axolotls — Part One

The axolotl, scientific name Ambystoma mexicanum, is also known as the Mexican walking fish, even though it’s not a fish, but an amphibian. In the wild, they’re indigenous to Lake Xochimilco in Mexico. But you can buy them from breeders or big aquatics shops almost anywhere. Unlike fish, axolotl require quite a bit of care. They’re not only pretty to look at, but they need commitment and love. I’m putting this “guide” together for both your use and mine.

Please note that my way of doing things isn’t the universal way of taking care of your water monsters. I’m just here to give you insight on how I do things and what works and doesn’t work for me and my axolotls. (Disclaimer; I will use ‘I’ and ‘we’ through this post, because the axies are also my housemate’s. I’m just the only person writing this post.)

This is part one, where I will be talking about everything you need to know when getting your first axolotl. In part two, I will be talking about the mating and breeding stuff for those of you who are looking to branch out more than you initially anticipated. (Like we did.)

Setup

Before you go out and buy your first axolotl, you need a place for them to stay. Since axolotls can grow quite big, (up to or in some cases over 30 centimetres) you will need a tank of decent size. We started with a 55L one, but had two axies in there and they grew pretty big, so we had to upgrade to a 64L tank.

You don’t necessarily need to put any sort of surface in the tank, but if you decide to, opt for either fine sand/gravel or stones that are over 3cm big. Any other gravel, they might try to eat and choke on. We have opted for fine sand and they love it!

Axolotls need a place to hide, so choose ornaments with big enough holes in where they can hide. Just be careful of any rough or sharp edges; sand them down if there are any.

You might want to look into getting aquarium plants. You can get plastic ones, sure, but again, these might have rough edges and axolotls tend to prefer real plants over the artificial kind. (Female axolotls will in some cases lay their eggs on the leaves!)

Getting plants is slightly more complicated than you think. You need low maintenance plants because of the temperature of the water. (More on the water later on) We chose Anubias Nana and Anubias Barteri for our tank. The reason we picked these is that they’re pretty much indestructible. I put ours in little plant pots I got from Ikea; but there’s different ways of housing aquatic plants. There’s a pretty good article on caudata.org that goes into much more detail! P.S., make sure the plants are in the tank three days before you move the axies in, this ensures the plants get accumulated to the water.

And now the most important part of the setup; the water.

You don’t need to fill the tank up to the very top. The rule of thumb is they need at least as much water as the length of their body. But always opt for more, just so they have room to swim around!

The temperature has to be between 16 and 24 degrees Celsius. (That’s between 60 and 75 Fahrenheit) That should be room temperature. You don’t need a heater! Axolotls are not tropical animals. Cured tap water is perfect for them, just get a thermometer in there as well.

We clean the tank and change the water every two weeks, but you can do a partial water change every week as well. Axolotls are dirty little cuties, so they will make a mess!

Most tanks come with a filter, but consider the type of filter you get. The flow has to be steady, but not at all heavy. We have a waterfall filter that gives the perfect water flow. Get an air stone as well, trust me. Axolotls need oxygen, since they have lungs as well as gills. And they enjoy chilling in the bubbles! The surface of the water needs to be broken by tons of little bubbles, that’s how you know you’ve got good circulation going on.

Lighting. Most tanks come with LED lighting. This light has to be soft, because Axolotls are sensitive to light. (They don’t have eyelids, so try to keep them out of direct sun/light.) We only turn their light on when feeding them or to do check ups.

I’ve heard various different things about how long you have to wait before putting the axolotls in your new tank. With our first tank, we waited two weeks. With our second, we waited five days. So in our experience, anything between five days and two weeks is fine. This gives all the equipment, water and plants the time to settle and work properly!

When you get your axolotl, they will be in a plastic bag with some of the water they used to be in when you bought them. Don’t just dump them into your new tank! Allow the entire bag, with axie and all, to lay in your tank for about 20 minutes before freeing the little animal into their new home. The sudden change of temperature might cause the axolotl to freak out otherwise!

Feeding

So now you have set up your tank and acquired your axolotl(s), you need to know what to feed them. You have various food sources to pick from; some more easily to obtain than others. We first started out by the basic axolotl pellets. There’s the basic ones (3mm pellets) for axies up to 18 centimetres in length. When your water monsters grow bigger than 18 centimetres, you can feed them “XL” pellets, which are 5mm big. Don’t dump half a container in their tank, aim for around 10 pellets per axolotl, depending on how big (and hungry) they are.

As far as frozen food goes, we feed them cubes of bloodworms every now and then as a treat. I tried to give our beasties frozen brine shrimp for a change, but they didn’t like it very much. But hey, you don’t know if you don’t try!

Recently, after much looking around, I have found a pretty decent place to get live food for the axolotls! I ordered bloodworms, but didn’t realise they were the small kind. Still, the axies were curious and ended up liking them a lot! I will need to get some larger ones in the future. (If you’re wondering where I get the live food from, check out reptilecenter.com! Cheap live food and fast delivery! Plus they have a subscription scheme you can totally customise, which is worth looking into! Not sponsored, by the way.)

As I’ve mentioned before, axolotls are messy animals. So it’s best to clean up the food they haven’t eaten to prevent the tank from getting dirty faster.

Oh, fun fact, axolotls are also cannibalistic. Although cannibalism mostly occurs in early stages, they might still nip at each other if not fed regularly.

We feed ours at least every other day. But you can feed them every day if you wish. You will get to know your beasties and when they’re hungry, so after time you’ll get into a routine. Just watch out for any cannibalistic behaviour!

Health

From experience, I can tell you an axolotl’s health is super important. We have lost one of our first water monsters due to what turned out to be fungus and us not knowing what to do. So PLEASE take care of your aquatic children!

Axolotls can get stressed and stress can cause them to get ill. It’s hard to explain the signs of stress because they’re easily confused with your axolotl just being silly. I’ve learned not to panic at the slightest odd behaviour. You just need to know what you’re looking for if you’re worried they’re ill.

(Which is easier said than done, as I’m not a vet in the slightest.)

From my personal experience, if your axolotl constantly comes up for air and floats upwards, having trouble staying at the bottom, something is off. Sometimes, they just have trapped gas in their bodies and need a good burp. But if trapped gas is not the issue, they might be ill.

Another sign is not eating at all. Axolotls love to eat, so if they’re not even making the effort, you might want to keep an eye out.

And the biggest sign in my experience; physically noticing fungus starting to form. This might start to appear around the cloaca (where the gills are) or their butt and looks like a fluffy sort of attachment. This is dangerous and can kill your axolotl.

Separate the ill from the healthy and put them in a salt water bath or in the fridge for a few days. Quarantine is what they need and they should (hopefully) be alright in a few days’ time.

There’s a more detailed article on axolotl.org. Again, I’m no vet, I just write about my personal experience.

[lovemychinchilla]

Can You Keep a Chinchilla in Your Bedroom?

Before you rush out and get your new pet chinchilla, there are lots of things to think of—like, where are you going to put it? Is a bedroom suitable, or should you pick somewhere else?

Can I keep a chinchilla in my room? You can. It's a good idea because you spend lots of time with it, and the temperature and humidity should be right. But chinchillas are active at night, so could keep you awake, and while they are hygienic they can smell. You have to weigh up these advantages and disadvantages. Another potential chinchilla cage location is the living room, or alternatively the basement.

There's no right or wrong answer, only what you prefer. Lots of owners choose to keep their chinchillas in the bedroom, and just put up with any little annoyances that might arise from that. And if you're a heavy sleeper and keep on top of cage cleaning, it'll hardly be a problem anyway!

Can You Keep Chinchilla Cage in Bedroom?

You can keep a chinchilla anywhere you like in your house, so long as you're prepared for whatever that entails.

That might seem like a vague answer, but it really is up to you. So long as you're aware of the advantages and disadvantages, you can keep your chinchillas in almost any room of the home. So long as it isn't dangerously hot, dangerously humid or very loud then the room is fine. This section of the guide will look at both the advantages and disadvantages of keeping your chinchilla in your room, so you can make the best decision for you.

Advantage: You Spend More Time With Your Pet

The best thing about chinchillas is how cute they are, and you can only tell how cute they are if you spend time with them! Chinchillas are friendly and gentle if handled correctly, and keeping your chinchilla in your room will give you lots of opportunity to do that. That's because if you put your chinchillas in a room where you can forget about them, well—you'll forget about them! That means less handling time, less cage cleaning time, even less seeing your pet.

It's not just good for you, it's good for your pet, too. Chinchillas are curious creatures and can get bored stuck inside a cage all day (like you would!) Being around you for longer periods will make your chinchilla happy. This is especially important if your chinchilla doesn't have a cagemate.

This is good in other ways, too. The more time you spend around your pet, the more it will trust you. Handling will therefore be easier. If your pet ever gets sick, you'll immediately notice because its behavior changes. And if your chinchilla were to escape somehow, then you'd know, because you're there.

Disadvantage: Chinchillas Are Active at Night

Regular exercise wheels aren't suitable for chinchillas. But even suitable ones make noise!

Easily the biggest disadvantage of keeping chinchillas in the bedroom is that they are active at night. While chinchillas aren't exclusively nocturnal, they are active throughout the night, and that can mean:

Your chinchilla runs in its wheel for extended periods

Your chinchillas bark if they hear noises that frighten them

Your chinchillas may fight loudly

Even if they're otherwise quiet, you will hear your chinchillas moving around, eating and drinking

If you're a light sleeper, they could wake you up. And if you already struggle to get to sleep then chinchillas won't make that situation any better.

Perhaps the worst aspect of this is the wheel. Like other rodents, some chinchillas will run on their wheels/saucers all night long. Chinchillas are constantly active in the wild, hopping from rock to rock and foraging for food, taking breaks only to head home and sleep. So, your chin needs an outlet for its energy. You can make the noise slightly quieter by attaching the wheel more securely to the cage and oiling it with olive oil.

And if your chinchilla's general noise bothers you, consider using a white noise machine. These create a blanket of noise that covers the whole spectrum, blocking out both high and low-pitched sounds. Light sleepers use them if their neighbors wake them up frequently, but they work if you have chinchillas too. You could also have a fan blowing at night to cover the noise (no, it won't kill you).

Advantage: Temperature & Humidity Should Be Right

Wherever you decide to put your chinchilla cage, the room should be suitable for your pets. The two key factors you have to consider are temperature and humidity.

Chinchillas can easily overheat even in rooms that don't feel too hot for you. Anything over 75 degrees Fahrenheit/23.8 degrees Centigrade can kill a chinchilla. That's because of their thick coats; they're more used to cold mountainside weather. And even if the rest of the room doesn't feel like it, if your chinchilla's cage is in direct sunlight, it can get too warm. Ideally, chinchilla should be kept at around 60 degrees Fahrenheit/15.5 degrees Centigrade; whether you personally find this temperature comfortable should tell you whether keeping a chinchilla in your room is a good idea.

The other factor is humidity, and again, this relates to the chinchilla's coat. Chinchillas' thick coats mean that they have trouble keeping their fur dry. When it gets damp, it can cool the chinchilla down and make it uncomfortable. And if they stay damp for a long time they can develop ringworm. Being wet can even kill them if they cool down too much. But again, your bedroom likely won't be too humid, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Disadvantage: Smells & Mess

Hay smells.

While chinchillas are hygienic animals, they do still need to go to the toilet. Chinchilla poop is hard and dry so isn't a problem unless you skip cleaning the cage out. But chinchilla pee does smell, especially if it sits there a while. Most owners spot clean their chinchilla's cage every day to get rid of soiled bedding, or replace dirty fleece liners. But they'll still stink up the room in the meantime.

One good way of avoiding much of this smell is to use kiln dried pine as bedding. This bedding is highly absorbent and doesn't need to be changed as frequently as fleece. You can line your chinchilla's litter tray with it and it should hold onto a lot of the smell.

Besides that, chinchillas do have some of that generic-small-animal-smell. That's because they eat hay. Hay doesn't smell bad unless it rots, but you may not want your bedroom to smell like a barn!

Chinchillas can also make a room messy. They need to bathe in dust, and most owners put the bath right in the cage with their pet. This dust billows around and gets on all your surfaces. Not only is this messy, but it's possible that mineral dust is bad for your lungs, so this is bad for two reasons! You'll need to regularly sweep or vacuum to get rid of the dust, and even if you do, there is always some you missed.

Also... Some chinchillas are sprayers. Spraying is something chins do when they feel threatened. They stand up on their hind legs and spray right at you. Chinchillas normally reserve this for other chins that won't stop pestering them (like if a male wants to mate but a female doesn't). But chinchillas can spray at their owners, too. Because the spray can reach quite a distance, it can get on your things—and on you.

Question: How Big Is Your Bedroom?

If you've never owned a chinchilla before, you'd be surprised at how big their cages should be. There are several reasons why:

People underestimate how much space every rodent pet needs

Chinchillas are bigger than your average rodent

Chinchillas need surfaces they can jump up to, so the cages have to be tall as well

Chinchillas should ideally be housed in pairs, so the cage needs to be even bigger still

Most owners recommend three feet tall cages that are two foot wide by two foot deep at the very least. Take a tape measure and try to figure out where this cage would fit in your room. If you don't have room, you could move things around, or you could put your chinchilla cage somewhere else.

Advantage: You Can Easily Chin-Proof a Bedroom

Your chinchillas will need some outside-the-cage time. To provide this, you'll need to 'chin-proof' your room. This means making it suitable for chinchillas to run around in. It involves:

Securely tidying away any wires. Chinchillas chew through wires which is obviously dangerous. In other rooms this is a problem, as the wires are for big things like TVs and fridges that aren't easily moved. But in your bedroom, the only wires are probably for lamps or phone chargers.

Blocking off entrances and exits. You don't want your chinchilla to escape. Your bedroom probably only has one door, so that's not a problem.

Stopping chins from chewing furniture, wall trims and carpet. This is a problem wherever you go in the house!

If this doesn't prove easy, you can buy a pen for your chinchillas to run around in. You can then put this pen anywhere you like in the house. Buy one that has tall walls as chinchillas can jump surprisingly high!

Disadvantage: If You're Married

Not to go into too much detail, but if you're married, you won't want your bedroom to be a petting zoo (well, at least not in this sense). You may find the combination of animal noises, smells and general annoyance to be off-putting.

Where SHOULD I Keep My Chinchilla?

Many owners do keep their chinchillas in their bedrooms with them. If the disadvantages above don't seem that important to you, you can start off keeping your chinchilla in your bedroom. If they do become a problem, you can move your chinchilla's cage. That's not a problem unless you move the cage frequently.

Other rooms you could consider include:

The basement. The basement is a good choice because it's cool and it doesn't have bright direct sunlight. The only issue is it can get damp/humid down there.

The living room. Keeping your chinchilla here lets everybody spend time with it during the day. Just make sure the room isn't too noisy, as this will stress your pet out.

Pretty much anywhere in the house is fine so long as it isn't noisy, humid, too hot or too cold. This rules out the kitchen, for example, which gets hot and noisy; plus, it would be unhygienic to keep your pet there. You also shouldn't keep your chinchilla in the garage because a) it can get too cold, and b) you may not see if it gets sick or somehow escapes.

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

#chinchillas #chinchillacagesetup

[cl-k]

I made a college packing list for my sister and truly outdid myself tbh

A lot of this is #basic but so am I and so is college, honestly

New England College Must-Haves 

Clothing

TL;DR J. Crew, L.L. Bean, and Patagonia are your new best friends.  Pro-tips: L.L. Bean has an amazing lifetime warranty (they will literally replace anything) and J. Crew Factory is a savior.

Note:  New England is lowkey mad hot until like the second or third week of September?  So bring like, ten cute tops and three pairs of shorts that you can stick in a drawer and bring home during Thanksgiving break and bring back during Spring break.  

Fall

·      Barbour Jacket—Literally as soon as the temperature hit sixty degrees you will see these all over campus.  They’re water proof and pretty warm—if you have an umbrella (which you should), they also work as good rain coats.  

(Waxed Beadnell is the classic)

·      Patagonia Synchilla or Better Sweater—“Patagucci”, as it’s known, is the most popular brand in New England.  I don’t know why.  White people go crazy for this stuff, and it’s like the crazier the pattern of your Synchilla, the better.  

·      LL Bean Duck Boots (“Bean Boots”)—An actual must-have.  You need to order them now because they will become ridiculously back-ordered.  They work as both rain boots and snow boots (with heavy socks).  

·      LL Bean/J Crew Plaid Flannels

·      Wool Socks/Camp Socks—Think of the amount of socks you think you might need.  Now add ten. That’s how many socks you need.  

·      (J. Crew) Down Vests—For weather between 45-60*.  I have it in black and chevron gray, but I wish I also had navy.  Good over flannels and also over sweaters.  

·      Leggings—I wear some combo of leggings, an over-sized sweater, and bean boots almost every day of fall semester.  

·      Riding Boots--… unless I wear my riding boots instead of my bean boots. Bad bitches own the Tory Burch riding boots, but I’m not that cool.  

**All of this is in addition to many, many sweaters. As many sweaters as you can. Sweaters will basically replace shirts (except you should layer sweaters over t-shirts because the only way to safely wash sweaters is to have them dry-cleaned, which you should only do like once a year.  You don’t want them to get gross).  

Winter

·      Northface/Patagonia Puffy Jacket—For when the temperature starts to dip below forty.  I recommend putting a tile tracker in the lining, because everyone has the same goddamn black puffer jacket and someone WILL drunkenly mistake yours for theirs at a party.  Don’t play yourself.  

·      (Canada Goose) Parka—Get a parka for when the temperature is in the 0-20 range.  Canada Goose is the crème de la crème, and you will see it everywhere, but it’s hilariously expensive.  I’d recommend either holding out and layering under your puffer jacket like crazy while you save up for a Canada Goose, or buying a parka from Patagonia or LL Bean.

·      Beanies—You lose most of your body’s heat through your head!!! The worst part of the cold isn’t the cold—it’s the wind.  Your ears will literally feel like they’re gonna fall off if you don’t wear a beanie.

·      Tech Gloves—You’re gonna wanna protect your fingers, but you’re also gonna wanna text on your way to class.  Get gloves with sensors on them so you can do both at the same time.  I got mine from J. Crew, but Nordstrom should have them too.  

·      Scarf

·      Long Johns—When the temperature is less than 30*, layer these under your jeans.  You’re welcome in advance tbh. 

Accessories/Misc.

·      A Card Case—Your student ID will be what gets you into buildings and the dining hall, but do NOT do the freshman rookie mistake of wearing a lanyard. Get a card case that you can keep in your pocket and easily scan at doors/take your ID out of.  I like the ones from Vera Bradley, even if they’re a little middle school.  

·      A Crossbody—You can’t take purses to college parties (you will either lose them or they will get stolen), but you’re gonna wanna wear outfits that don’t have pockets.  Get a crossbody so that you can have your ID, phone, and lipstick on you at all times without being worried about losing anything.  My friends are always pissed that they didn’t think to buy one and are constantly putting their shit in my crossbody.

·      LL Bean Wicked Good Moccasins/Ugg Slippers—The only way you’re gonna convince yourself to go to the library hungover is if you are basically wearing pajamas.  Get slippers with soles so that you can do that.  Also, this makes dorms without carpeting a lot less gross.  

·      Canvas Shoes—People in college don’t wear heels to parties, which was absolutely insane to me when I first got here.  Wear superga/converse/vans that you don’t care about.  They’re comfortable, can be worn with socks, and will definitely be soaked in alcohol/maybe vomit by the time winter break rolls around.  

·      (Hunter) Rainboots—Everyone has them, so I thought I should let you know. If you have to pick between these and bean boots, pick bean boots.  That being said, I love mine and get really excited when it’s raining out because I can splash through puddles while wearing these.  

·      3-4 Short Formal Dresses—I literally had a boyfriend my first month of college and was still invited to more formals than I can count.  They’re a lot of fun, but you’ll run out of dresses early on.  

·      2 Pairs of Heels (1 black, 1 brown)—For formals.  When it’s really cold out, wear your canvas shoes to the venue and change into heels there.  You’ll hate yourself otherwise.  

·      1 Professional Outfit—For interviews, being invited to fancy dinners, etc.   

Dorm Life

Pro Tip:  You can register at the Bed Bath and Beyond at home and then pick up what you registered for at the college’s local Bed Bath and Beyond.  

 ·      Bedding—buy two sets of jersey sheets (easier to wash, warmer) and a comforter.  Do NOT buy a white comforter.  Learn from my mistake.

·      A mattress topper—100% chance the mattress the college gives you sucks.  

·      Under-Bed Storage—Don’t get risers until after you get to the college and absolutely think you need them.  Usually, you can raise the mattress frame on the bed itself.  Buy plastic bins to store all of your stuff under the bed.

·      Bins For the Top of Your Closet—My friends are constantly rummaging through drawers to find their gloves/scarves/hats and it makes no sense. Keep them in bins at the top of your closet (there should be a shelf), and you’ll always have a place for them.

·      A hanging sweater organizer for your closet—You’ll save a lot of drawer space, will always be able to find the sweater you want without needing to mess up all of your folding, and it looks way less messy.  

·      A Step-Stool—Especially if you loft your bed, you aren’t gonna want to have to launch yourself onto your mattress to sleep every night.

·      iHome—To charge your phone/work as an alarm.  

·      Wall Hooks

·      Shot Glasses/Flask

·      NyQuil/DayQuil

·      Emergen-C

·      Advil

·      Thermometer

·      Eyemask

·      Tissues

·      2 Towels

·      Bath robe

·      Shower shoes

·      Caddy

·      Clorox Disinfecting Wipes—Trust me.

·      A Fan—Old colleges don’t have air conditioning or ceiling fans (10/10 what I miss most about Florida), and like I said, New England is really hot the first month of school!

·      Laundry Basket

·      Hamper

·      Detergent

·      Fabric Softener

·      Water Bottle

·      Tervis

·      Mugs!

·      Plate

·      Silverware

·      Tupperware—To steal from the dining hall

·      Sponge

·      Dish Soap

·      Keurig—Is it an investment?  Yes.  Will you kick yourself if you don’t have it?  Yes. Justify its cost by reminding yourself that you’ll own it for 4+ years.

·      Keurig Pods

·      Creamer

·      Extension Cords/Power Strips

·      Mini-Fridge—Share the cost with your roommate.  

·      Brita (NOT the small, individual one!)

·      Brita Filters

[brausupply-blog]

How To Perfectly Control  Fermentation Temperature

I’ve been asked many times in the past how to control the temperature of your fermenter when the tap water exceeds the desired fermentation temperature.  I’ve seen lot’s of expensive equipment implemented, and I thought that there has to be a better way.  The most common is fermentation fridges, and brewers would either lug a carboy into a deep freezer set to a thermostat, or buy a fermenter small enough to fit into a refrigerator.  Both of these methods work, but let’s be honest, they're a pain in the ass.  What if you want to ferment a lager, and a porter at the same time?  That means that you’ll need 2 refrigerators, right?  Not necessarily.

I struggled with this problem myself, using tap water to ferment my brew and I’ve been using tap water controlled by a solenoid to regulate the fermentation temperatures in my conical fermenters.  While it works fine, I wanted to get away from wasting so much water.

The solution I came up with started with a compressor driven aquarium water chiller.  This method of cooling is for my money, the most efficient method of cooling multiple conical fermenters.  I'm using a 1/4 HP water chiller, and it is almost too powerful even when I have 3 75L fermenters hooked up to it!  Also, the power consumption is minimal as it is cycling on and off, with prolonged off times meaning the only power that is being consumed is the draw of the recirculation pump.

Water chillers chill water, but need to have the liquid pushed through them, so I use an aquarium magnetic drive pump for that.  It can chill up to 3 fermenters at different temperatures at the same time, using just this single pump and a small aquarium chiller and a custom made pair of manifolds to add, or remove fermenters as you wish.  This setup has room for expansion, and in fact it would be a perfect solution to chill multiple fermenters in a micro or nano brewery, sized appropriately.  If you want to chill a single fermenter, or multiple fermenters, this tutorial should give you a good starting point.  Now your cooling requirements will differ based on these factors; the ambient room temperature, the GPM flow of the water pump through the chiller, the size of fermenter and the number of fermenters you are planning on adding to the closed loop.  

If you are running a bigger set up than what I’m using for this tutorial, you’ll need to properly size up your cooling needs so that you purchase a properly sized fermenter.  Here’s how you do it.

Calculate the “delta T”, which is the change in temperature between the inlet water through your fermenter(s).  You’ll need to place a temperature probe inline to measure accurately.  Check the water temperature of the inlet water and the outlet, and subtract the difference for each fermenter.  Now you will add these numbers up to calculate the total difference in temperature. Calculate the flow of the water pump.  Rated flow will be different than actual flow because of line restrictions, so it’s best to measure using a flow meter, or fill up a 5 gallon bucket at the return end of your fermenter. Now that you have these two numbers, calculate how many BTU’s (British Thermal Units) that your fermenters combined put out.

BTU/hour= 500 x GPM X Temperature Difference or “delta T”.

For larger cooling applications, this would be how you would choose the appropriate water chiller for your needs.  I’ll give you an example:

Disclaimer:  I have no idea how much heat a 3 BBL fermenter will put out.  Please don’t use the example calculation below as gospel, you will have to measure your cooling requirements yourself to accurately size a water chiller for your brewery’s needs.

You have 3 3BBL fermenters and a 1500 GPH pump driving liquid through.  You’ve measured the return of the liquid at 1200GPH.  This gives you 20 GPM.

The measured temperature difference of a single fermenter in the room you are fermenting in is 1 degrees at the return from the inlet.  Because you have 3 fermenters this would give you a total temperature differential of 3 degrees farenheit.

Using the calculation above 500 x 20 x 3 = 30,000 BTU or 2.5 Tons of cooling required for your application.  Makes sense?

Now back to our post.  For my setup, the return temperature from the fermenter was almost impossible to measure vs. the input temperature.  In this case you could buy a 1/10th HP water chiller which is the smallest made on the market.  I used stuff to make this out of what I had, plus a few trips to the local Home Depot. Feel free to adapt this general design to your own setup, there are many ways to skin a cat.

How it works:

We designed this system to use as few parts, and to be as low cost as possible, yet provide predictable and accurate fermentation temperature.  

Making use of a check valve, you are able to use only a single pump.  Because the water chiller needs to have a constant flowing source, the water flows from the reservoir and through the chiller constantly, and returns to the reservoir via the check valve in the supply manifold.  The check valve is spring loaded, and as soon as a fermenter has a demand for cooling, the solenoid valve associated with that fermenter opens.  The pressure reduces enough to allow water to flow through the fermenter and the check valve closes.  You may find the check valve isn't sprung tight enough to close all the way when a fermenters solenoid valve opens, and this can be fixed by either tightening the screw inside the check valve, or adding a second check valve in line with the first. The water then flows out of the fermenter, and through the return manifold, into the reservoir.  I like to set the temperature of the water chiller a few degrees lower than the lowest fermentation temperature.  Too low, and you’ll overshoot the temperature inside your fermenter.  As you can see, this makes for a far simpler, economical way to chill multiple fermenters.  Please share with us your own builds, you can email us your photos here, or upload via social media and don’t forget to tag us!  Also, we’ll have a video up on our youtube channel so please check it out.

Materials Required:

QTY 1 -  water chiller, I bought mine on Amazon

QTY 1 - roll of teflon tape

QTY 1 - water reservoir, I used a small insulated ice chest cooler that I bought at a camping store and it is around 5 gallons in size.  The smaller the reservoir, the quicker the aquarium chiller will cycle, and you don’t want it to cycle too often as a compressed needs a minimum down time.  However if your reservoir gets too big, you won’t be able to chill the water cool enough for the size of your chiller.  Most chillers have a guideline as to how much the maximum reservoir size is.

6’ of 3/4” ID tubing.

1/2” ID tubing for connecting your fermenters to the heat exchanger manifold.  You’ll determine yourself how much length you need for this.

QTY 3 - 1/2” Female to Barb Quick Disconnect fittings.

QTY 3 - 1/2” barb to tri-clover adapters (depending on your setup this may change)

A bunch of stainless hose clamps

A water solenoid adapter kit (We sell these on our website, however you can come up with your own, and adapt it accordingly.  Ours has a male garden hose fitting at the end for easy connection)

QTY 3 - Washing machine connection hose.  These come with female Garden Hose connections at both ends, making adding or removing a fermenter an easy task.

QTY 3 - ETC switching temperature controllers.  We sell these pre-wired, in my case I’m using the Dwyer controller, but any switching controller will work fine for this task.  We could’ve used 2 instead of 3 controllers, and used an extra temperature probe, because the Dwyer is a dual stage controller, but I wanted each fermenter to  display the actual temperature, without having to push any buttons.

QTY 1 - jar of PVC cement

Pump Assembly: QTY 1 - water pump, I bought a 900 GPH Danner pump for this application, as they produce very little heat, and the flow of water is high enough to run through the coils of our fermenters.  

QTY 1 - 3/4” FPT PVC coupling

QTY 1 - 3/4” MPT to 3/4” barb plastic adapter

Supply water manifold: QTY 5 - 3/4” PVC tees

QTY 4 -  3/4” PVC 90º

QTY 4 - 3/4” PVC shut off

QTY 3 - 3/4” slip to GH male PVC adapters

QTY 1 - 3/4” slip to 3/4” MPT PVC adapter

QTY 1 - 3/4” slip to 3/4” barb PVC adapter

QTY 1 - 3//4”  FPT spring operated brass check valve

QTY 1 - 3/4” MPT to 3/4” barb plastic adapter

2 feet of 3/4” PVC pipe

Return Water Manifold: QTY 2 - 1/2” PVC 90º

QTY 2 - 1/2” PVC Tee

QTY 3 - 1/2” PVC shut off

QTY 3 - 1/2” PVC slip to 1/2” MPT adapters

QTY 3 - 1/2” FPT to male quick disconnects

2 feet of 1/2” PVC pipe

How To:

1.  Assemble the parts you will need to make your supply water manifold.  I like to lay things out first to get an idea of the finished product.  The reason that I made a loop is to equalize the pressure of the manifold, so that each fermenter receives equal water if for some reason all three of the solenoids open at once.  Lay a piece of cardboard underneath your build, it gets messy.  If you have some gloves, use them.

2.  Cut the 3/4” PVC into the lengths needed.  Tubing cutters make the job easy.  Dry fit all the parts BEFORE gluing together.

3.  Glue all of the PVC joints together, applying glue to both parts to be glued together.  Work fast, it sets very quickly.

Here’s what it looks like as it’s setting up…

4.  Lay out the parts for the return manifold.  Once you have it the way you want it, cut up the 1/2” PVC tubing.  You’ll need 10 lengths.

5.  Glue them up!  It should look like this:

6.  Now, attach the pump parts, and drill out the lid of your cooler.  I used a 1” paddle bit.  Use a hole saw if you want cleaner holes than my messy drillings!

7.  You’re almost there.  Place your pump inside the reservoir, and attach the 3/4” tubing to your pump, and to the inlet of the supply water manifold.  The tubing will go through the lid of your reservoir.  Attach another length from the outlet of the check valve run it into the reservoir through the second hole of the lid.  Now place the long end of the return manifold through the last hole of the reservoir lid.

8.  Finally, you’ll hook up your fermenters to the supply and return manifolds using the solenoid kit, and your tri-clamp barb fittings. The solenoid regulates the incoming water to the fermenter, and is connected to the supply manifold using the washing machine hoses.  The return from the fermenter is connected to the manifold using a length of the 1/2” tubing, the female quick disconnects at one end, and the tri-clamp fittings at the other.

9.  Now all you need to do is mount your ETC controllers to the wall, plug the probes into your thermowell, and plug the solenoids into the ETC controller.  Here’s a shot of what it looks like in action!

[lovemychinchilla]

Can You Keep a Chinchilla in Your Bedroom?

Before you rush out and get your new pet chinchilla, there are lots of things to think of—like, where are you going to put it? Is a bedroom suitable, or should you pick somewhere else?

Can I keep a chinchilla in my room? You can. It's a good idea because you spend lots of time with it, and the temperature and humidity should be right. But chinchillas are active at night, so could keep you awake, and while they are hygienic they can smell. You have to weigh up these advantages and disadvantages. Another potential chinchilla cage location is the living room, or alternatively the basement.

There's no right or wrong answer, only what you prefer. Lots of owners choose to keep their chinchillas in the bedroom, and just put up with any little annoyances that might arise from that. And if you're a heavy sleeper and keep on top of cage cleaning, it'll hardly be a problem anyway!

Can You Keep Chinchilla Cage in Bedroom?

You can keep a chinchilla anywhere you like in your house, so long as you're prepared for whatever that entails.

That might seem like a vague answer, but it really is up to you. So long as you're aware of the advantages and disadvantages, you can keep your chinchillas in almost any room of the home. So long as it isn't dangerously hot, dangerously humid or very loud then the room is fine. This section of the guide will look at both the advantages and disadvantages of keeping your chinchilla in your room, so you can make the best decision for you.

Advantage: You Spend More Time With Your Pet

The best thing about chinchillas is how cute they are, and you can only tell how cute they are if you spend time with them! Chinchillas are friendly and gentle if handled correctly, and keeping your chinchilla in your room will give you lots of opportunity to do that. That's because if you put your chinchillas in a room where you can forget about them, well—you'll forget about them! That means less handling time, less cage cleaning time, even less seeing your pet.

It's not just good for you, it's good for your pet, too. Chinchillas are curious creatures and can get bored stuck inside a cage all day (like you would!) Being around you for longer periods will make your chinchilla happy. This is especially important if your chinchilla doesn't have a cagemate.

This is good in other ways, too. The more time you spend around your pet, the more it will trust you. Handling will therefore be easier. If your pet ever gets sick, you'll immediately notice because its behavior changes. And if your chinchilla were to escape somehow, then you'd know, because you're there.

Disadvantage: Chinchillas Are Active at Night

Regular exercise wheels aren't suitable for chinchillas. But even suitable ones make noise!

Easily the biggest disadvantage of keeping chinchillas in the bedroom is that they are active at night. While chinchillas aren't exclusively nocturnal, they are active throughout the night, and that can mean:

Your chinchilla runs in its wheel for extended periods

Your chinchillas bark if they hear noises that frighten them

Your chinchillas may fight loudly

Even if they're otherwise quiet, you will hear your chinchillas moving around, eating and drinking

If you're a light sleeper, they could wake you up. And if you already struggle to get to sleep then chinchillas won't make that situation any better.

Perhaps the worst aspect of this is the wheel. Like other rodents, some chinchillas will run on their wheels/saucers all night long. Chinchillas are constantly active in the wild, hopping from rock to rock and foraging for food, taking breaks only to head home and sleep. So, your chin needs an outlet for its energy. You can make the noise slightly quieter by attaching the wheel more securely to the cage and oiling it with olive oil.

And if your chinchilla's general noise bothers you, consider using a white noise machine. These create a blanket of noise that covers the whole spectrum, blocking out both high and low-pitched sounds. Light sleepers use them if their neighbors wake them up frequently, but they work if you have chinchillas too. You could also have a fan blowing at night to cover the noise (no, it won't kill you).

Advantage: Temperature & Humidity Should Be Right

Wherever you decide to put your chinchilla cage, the room should be suitable for your pets. The two key factors you have to consider are temperature and humidity.

Chinchillas can easily overheat even in rooms that don't feel too hot for you. Anything over 75 degrees Fahrenheit/23.8 degrees Centigrade can kill a chinchilla. That's because of their thick coats; they're more used to cold mountainside weather. And even if the rest of the room doesn't feel like it, if your chinchilla's cage is in direct sunlight, it can get too warm. Ideally, chinchilla should be kept at around 60 degrees Fahrenheit/15.5 degrees Centigrade; whether you personally find this temperature comfortable should tell you whether keeping a chinchilla in your room is a good idea.

The other factor is humidity, and again, this relates to the chinchilla's coat. Chinchillas' thick coats mean that they have trouble keeping their fur dry. When it gets damp, it can cool the chinchilla down and make it uncomfortable. And if they stay damp for a long time they can develop ringworm. Being wet can even kill them if they cool down too much. But again, your bedroom likely won't be too humid, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Disadvantage: Smells & Mess

Hay smells.

While chinchillas are hygienic animals, they do still need to go to the toilet. Chinchilla poop is hard and dry so isn't a problem unless you skip cleaning the cage out. But chinchilla pee does smell, especially if it sits there a while. Most owners spot clean their chinchilla's cage every day to get rid of soiled bedding, or replace dirty fleece liners. But they'll still stink up the room in the meantime.

One good way of avoiding much of this smell is to use kiln dried pine as bedding. This bedding is highly absorbent and doesn't need to be changed as frequently as fleece. You can line your chinchilla's litter tray with it and it should hold onto a lot of the smell.

Besides that, chinchillas do have some of that generic-small-animal-smell. That's because they eat hay. Hay doesn't smell bad unless it rots, but you may not want your bedroom to smell like a barn!

Chinchillas can also make a room messy. They need to bathe in dust, and most owners put the bath right in the cage with their pet. This dust billows around and gets on all your surfaces. Not only is this messy, but it's possible that mineral dust is bad for your lungs, so this is bad for two reasons! You'll need to regularly sweep or vacuum to get rid of the dust, and even if you do, there is always some you missed.

Also... Some chinchillas are sprayers. Spraying is something chins do when they feel threatened. They stand up on their hind legs and spray right at you. Chinchillas normally reserve this for other chins that won't stop pestering them (like if a male wants to mate but a female doesn't). But chinchillas can spray at their owners, too. Because the spray can reach quite a distance, it can get on your things—and on you.

Question: How Big Is Your Bedroom?

If you've never owned a chinchilla before, you'd be surprised at how big their cages should be. There are several reasons why:

People underestimate how much space every rodent pet needs

Chinchillas are bigger than your average rodent

Chinchillas need surfaces they can jump up to, so the cages have to be tall as well

Chinchillas should ideally be housed in pairs, so the cage needs to be even bigger still

Most owners recommend three feet tall cages that are two foot wide by two foot deep at the very least. Take a tape measure and try to figure out where this cage would fit in your room. If you don't have room, you could move things around, or you could put your chinchilla cage somewhere else.

Advantage: You Can Easily Chin-Proof a Bedroom

Your chinchillas will need some outside-the-cage time. To provide this, you'll need to 'chin-proof' your room. This means making it suitable for chinchillas to run around in. It involves:

Securely tidying away any wires. Chinchillas chew through wires which is obviously dangerous. In other rooms this is a problem, as the wires are for big things like TVs and fridges that aren't easily moved. But in your bedroom, the only wires are probably for lamps or phone chargers.

Blocking off entrances and exits. You don't want your chinchilla to escape. Your bedroom probably only has one door, so that's not a problem.

Stopping chins from chewing furniture, wall trims and carpet. This is a problem wherever you go in the house!

If this doesn't prove easy, you can buy a pen for your chinchillas to run around in. You can then put this pen anywhere you like in the house. Buy one that has tall walls as chinchillas can jump surprisingly high!

Disadvantage: If You're Married

Not to go into too much detail, but if you're married, you won't want your bedroom to be a petting zoo (well, at least not in this sense). You may find the combination of animal noises, smells and general annoyance to be off-putting.

Where SHOULD I Keep My Chinchilla?

Many owners do keep their chinchillas in their bedrooms with them. If the disadvantages above don't seem that important to you, you can start off keeping your chinchilla in your bedroom. If they do become a problem, you can move your chinchilla's cage. That's not a problem unless you move the cage frequently.

Other rooms you could consider include:

The basement. The basement is a good choice because it's cool and it doesn't have bright direct sunlight. The only issue is it can get damp/humid down there.

The living room. Keeping your chinchilla here lets everybody spend time with it during the day. Just make sure the room isn't too noisy, as this will stress your pet out.

Pretty much anywhere in the house is fine so long as it isn't noisy, humid, too hot or too cold. This rules out the kitchen, for example, which gets hot and noisy; plus, it would be unhygienic to keep your pet there. You also shouldn't keep your chinchilla in the garage because a) it can get too cold, and b) you may not see if it gets sick or somehow escapes.

Below, you can find our chinchilla quiz, new posts for further reading, and a signup for our Chinchilla Newsletter!

[ays_quiz id='9']

#chinchillas #chinchillacagesetup