How to clean a chinchilla cage: a simple routine

How often should you clean a chinchilla cage?

Every day for the quick jobs, every week for a proper clean, and once a month for a deep one. Here is what each source says, so you can see where they agree:

Everyone agrees on daily spot-cleaning. Four of the five say the whole cage gets a wash every week, and PDSA saves its full strip for once a month. We would do both: a weekly wash of the cage, shelves and bowls, and a monthly deep clean where everything comes out. The weekly wash stops urine soaking into shelves; the monthly strip gets the corners and the underside of the tray that a weekly wash misses.

One small difference: the MSD Veterinary Manual says bowls and water bottles every other day, while PDSA, VCA and PetMD say daily. Daily is easy and safer, so we would go with that.

Daily chinchilla cage cleaning

These are quick jobs, and they double as your daily health check. Do it in the evening when your chinchillas are up, as PDSA suggests.

• Scoop out wet patches of bedding and any clumped droppings.
• Brush droppings and dropped hay off shelves with a small dustpan and brush (Woodgreen).
• Throw away any uneaten fresh food or soiled pellets.
• Wash and refill the pellet bowl and the water bottle or bowl.
• Top up the hay rack.
• Offer the dust bath, then sieve it and take it out.
• Shake out or swap fleece liners if you use them; Woodgreen says change them every day or two.
• Check each chinchilla: eating, normal droppings, bright eyes, dry chin, moving normally.

Weekly chinchilla cage cleaning, step by step

1. Move the chinchillas somewhere safe. Put them in a chinchilla-proofed room or a secure carrier with hay and a hide, away from the cleaning area.
2. Keep a handful of bedding. Set aside a small handful of clean, used bedding. PDSA suggests putting it back so the cage still smells like home.
3. Empty the floor. Tip out all the bedding, or lift out the fleece liners, and empty the tray.
4. Take out the loose items. Remove nest boxes, bowls, the bottle, tunnels and toys.
5. Wash with hot soapy water. Scrub the tray, bars and shelves with hot water and a mild unscented soap or a pet-safe, scent-free cleaner (VCA, PDSA).
6. Rinse well. VCA stresses rinsing thoroughly so no soap is left for them to lick off the bars.
7. Replace the dust. Empty the dust bath, wash the container and refill it with fresh chinchilla dust. VCA says replace it weekly.
8. Dry everything fully. Wipe dry and leave to air. Damp corners and shelves lead to damp growth and smells.
9. Rebuild in the same layout. Put the shelves, boxes and bowls back where they were, add fresh bedding and the saved handful of old bedding.
10. Return the chinchillas. Let them back in and give them a few quiet minutes to explore.

Monthly deep clean

Once a month, PDSA and Burgess say to strip the enclosure completely and scrub it inside and out with a scent-free, pet-safe cleaner, and only put your chinchillas back once it is completely dry. The steps are the same as the weekly clean, plus:

• Take the cage off its stand and clean the stand, wheels and the floor beneath.
• Remove every shelf and bracket and clean the fixing points.
• Check wooden shelves, hides and chews for urine staining or heavy chewing, and replace them if needed.
• Wash or replace fabric items, and check fleece for holes or loose threads.
• Check the bars, doors and tray for rust, sharp edges or gaps.
• Clean the wheel, including the axle, where hair and dust build up.
• Rotate in some new or different chews and toys, which Burgess suggests.

What can you use to clean a chinchilla cage?

Hot water and a mild, unscented soap does most of the work. VCA says to clean the cage with soap and water and rinse thoroughly. PDSA and Woodgreen say to use a pet-safe disinfectant that is scent-free. If you use a disinfectant, follow its label for dilution and contact time, rinse if the label says to, and let everything dry completely before the chinchillas go back.

Cleaning different parts

Our chinchilla dust bath guide covers the bath in more detail, and our chinchilla wheel guide covers wheel safety.

How to keep a chinchilla cage from smelling

The smell almost always comes from urine, not the chinchillas. Their dense fur, kept clean by dust baths, has little smell of its own. To keep the room fresh:

• Remove wet bedding daily. A single wet corner left for a week is the usual cause of a smell.
• Add a toilet tray. If your chinchillas use one spot, put a shallow tray of paper or hemp bedding there and change it daily.
• Use absorbent bedding. Dust-free paper and dust-extracted hemp hold urine well. See our chinchilla bedding guide.
• Swap soaked wood. Wooden shelves hold urine. Replace the worst ones rather than masking the smell.
• Never use scents. Scented bedding, sprays and plug-ins are a risk to their airways, and they hide the smell rather than fixing it.

When to clean more often

Step the routine up if you see wet fur on feet or bellies, a strong ammonia smell, damp growth on shelves, or when a chinchilla is unwell. Sick chinchillas stress easily, says the MSD Veterinary Manual, so clean around them gently, and keep a poorly chinchilla's space especially dry. Our chinchilla health guide covers what to watch for.

Make cleaning easier with a good setup

A cage that opens fully at the front, with a deep removable tray and shelves you can unscrew, makes every clean much quicker. Keep plastic out of the cage, because the RSPCA and PDSA warn chinchillas chew it, and keep a spare set of shelves and fleece so you can swap rather than wait for things to dry. Our chinchilla cage setup guide shows a layout that is easy to reach, and our best chinchilla cages page covers cages with big doors and trays. For the rest of the routine, see the complete chinchilla care guide.