Are Chinchillas considered rodents?

[niteprincess]

I was wondering if they were considered rodent like mice and rats. and also how can i makie my chin more active?

[equus_peduus]

Yes, chinchillas are rodents. As for activity level, some tend to be more active, some less. In the cage, a wheel might be an option; if it's during free-play time, I've found my chins are more active if they don't have anywhere to hide (like, little nooks and crannies that while chin-proof are nice places to hang out and take a nap).

[Chins&1Quill]

I second everything said above. :)

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Chins are still considered rodents however they are considering reclassifying them. Check out these links.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/1568/chininfo.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/1568/deguz.html

[Chins&1Quill]

So...would they end up being considered Exotic? I read it, but am confused.

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

I don't think Chinchillas would ever be considered exotic. It would just be a new class of animal.

[DreamerTheresa]

Guinea pigs used to be classified as rodents, but I think they're their own classification now, right? Cavy.

[smokeyrd]

I don't think Chinchillas would ever be considered exotic. It would just be a new class of animal.
I thought chins were already considered exotic...all the sites i go to that have supplies for wide ranges of animals list chins under exotic animals.

[ashley_b9]

I believe what they are saying is that all cavies, including chins, degus, and guinea pigs are being considered to form a new class instead of being a sub-class in the class rodentia. All the stuff about rabbits should kind of be ignored, they were just mentioning that one of the options they considered for the cavies is to put them under the rabbit class instead, but since they aren't any closer to rabbits than they are to mice, etc they decided against it. I hope I explained that well enough.

Ashley B

[equus_peduus]

"exotic" is a classification for pets. You've got domestic (dogs, cats, horses, pigs, other livestock) and you've got exotic (reptiles, rodents, birds, etc, anything else that isn't domesticated). And then there's wild animals :P

The rodent/cavy/lagomorph/whatever categories is a taxonomical classification, which is something that scientists argue about all the time. There are some species that they argue should really be subspecies of something else, and some that we've always thought were related but turned out they wren't and all kinds of crazy stuff. Keeping track of it all would drive anyone crazy. According to those websites, we currently have two classifications (which I knew about): Rodents (hamsters, mice, chins, rats, guinea pigs, etc) and lagomorphs (rabbits and hares). I always heard that lagomorphs aren't rodents because of their teeth, though there's probably other thing as well. It seems that there is debate to split rodents up some more and do rodents, cavies and lagomorphs. Cavy would include South American rodents (dunno if it's all or just some) like chins, degus and guinea pigs.