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Basic Care  Feed & Water- The simpliest way to provide a well balanced diet is to feed them a good quality pellet, and give them Timothy hay or cubes. I give my chinchillas bottled water or I boil tap water for 20 minutes. Well water is not good. City water may have bacteria and might be high in nitrates, and distilled water might dehydrate them. Chinchillas with an unblalnced diet will lead to tooth disorders and sudden diet changes can be fatal. You must change there diet over a 3 week period. Maruzi, Oxbow, or Manna Pro are good quality pellets
Cage- The best cages are large cages made for chinchillas. You need to decide if you want a wire bottom or not. Their are advantages and disadvantages to both. Wire bottoms are cleaner and less messy, but you need to make sure the wire is small enough and you have something solid for the chinchilla so if he wants to get off the wire he can (this is where the chin chillers are nice). You will also want some rabbit guards. The open bottoms are nice but messy they will kick the bedding out and they are in their poops were with the wire bottom their poop drops to the bottom tray. They will chew thru plastic. Your pet will also be thankful if you put many different levels . Remember to keep the cage out of direct sunlight or out of the way of heaters because chinchillas are prone to heat strokes. Keep them in the tempeture range of 70 F. Chinchillas DO NOT sweat.
Bedding-Do not use cedar, care fresh, or any chemically treated bedding. I have found Aspen or pine to be the best. They can be a mess with hay and their little poops. You might want to invest in some rabbit guards they help poops, hay, and bedding stay in the cage.
Toys- They need chew toys because their teeth grow constantly. They like alot of toys, make sure they are safe. They need a hiddie house wood ones are best. Most wood bird toys are ok I stay away from plastic parts and toys put together with wire. Chain and rope with wood pieces are the best. They like levels, if you put levels on, their poops will go off the end, you can get rabbit guards up to put on the cage those seem to work really well. Stay away from treated pine and pieces with knots in the pine. Wheels they like them to. Wheels need to be safe and large. I don't care for the round wheels they can be dangerous. If you want a wheel, the saucer wheels are the best and safest. Remember they are fragile and clumsy they can break bones very easy just be careful and think about what your puttin in the cage and how high it is.
Dust Bath- A chinchilla should never be given a regular bath in water because their fur is to thick, as a result it can cause the animal to catch a chill and get sick. Chinchillas are given a special dust bath 2-4 times a week. I have some chinchillas that don't pee or pop in their dust so I can leave it in their cage and I have others that pee in it right away. The older ones seem to be better at not peeing in it. I have a couple of pairs that they don't pee or pop in it and their babys don't either. The dust is actually volcanic ash, which keeps the fur oil free. Use a large bowl or a dust bath house to hold the dust and replace the dust when it gets urinated in. Chinchillas shed every 4 months for 2 weeks, but this doesn't generally bother those with allergies. Shedding can be controlled with some extra dust bath time and a mild brushing. Its usually the hay and bedding that bother people with allergies.
Children & Chinchillas- I think children should be supervised with any chinchilla. If your child is under 10 then you might want to consider another pet that might be easier to care for, unless you plan to be the primary care taker. Chinchillas are very fragile and aren't really the cuddly type. They do take alot of time and patience. I have a couple of chinchillas that really like to cuddle, but it has taken alot of patience and they only cuddle when they want to. Playtime- Playtime outside the cage is great but you will need to keep an eye on them. You will need to chin proof the room of cords and anything else you don't want them to chew on. They are very curious and love to play outside their cage. On http://www.youtube.com/ their are some cool videos of chinchillas and their owner at playtime. When you go to the site just put in chinchillas and all kind of videos will come up.
They are not likely to have fleas and don't need shots when keeping them as pets. Chinchillas are known for being practically odorless compared to most pets as well as the fact that they are known for their silky soft fur.
They are very social and very intelligent animals, and they have very good memory. They often know who their owners are, and pick up on their own names. 
Archibald was determined to break the
'CHINCHILLA GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS'
All he needed was a 'MOTIVATION' object to aim at!
JUMPING
Always supervise your pet on his daily run out of his cage, be very aware that although they are very good at 'getting up' they are not so clever at 'getting down', sometimes they take a chance and it could be a very dodgy
chance!
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