For buying a chinchilla there are several possibilities: At the pet shop Young chinchillas are normally offered at the age of 8 - 10 weeks. Most of them are from hobby breeders but also from commercial breeders or traders. The prices are quite expensive, because the pet shop owner has to buy the chins from the breeder and wants to gain money out of the trade. At the hobby breeder Here you can normally get chins at the age of 10 - 12 weeks, because most hobby breeders don´t give away their babies at a younger age to strengthen their resistance. At the hobby breeder there it is guaranteed that the chins are used to people, because it´s growing up in the family. From hobby breeders you normally get the chins against a protection contract and a small protection fee. At the commercial breeder Here you also have the possibility to buy young ones, but often it is very difficult to find out where the next commercial breeder lives. Many commercial breeders are making skins and so they do not make their business official to avoid militant protectors of animals from attacking them. Nowadays there are many commercial breeders which only breed chinchillas as pets and many of them you can find in the internet and get in contact with them. In oppostion to the pet shop you normally get at the breeder a lot of tips and tricks for the chinchilla care, because they have more experience with these animals. No matter where you buy your chinchilla, there are some things you should take care of: If possible watch the chinchilla in the evening because then it is awake and you can better watch them. If you want to buy a chinchilla from a hobby or commercial breeder and the breeder does not allow you to visit his farm then keep away!!! Every respectable breeder is proud of his chinchillas and would like to present you his chins!!! Generally you should look very carefully at the chinchilla´s circumstances of living. It is important that the cage is clean, because otherwise it could happen that the chin has fungus. If there are other pets like guinea pigs together with the chin in the cage you should not buy these chins, because normally these chinchillas have mental problems because of the different living routines. Next you should take the chin out of the cage and watch what happens during catching. Is it nervous or hectic you should not buy it. Either it is a very nervous chin or it has made bad experiences with other people. Both things are no good assumptions for keeping. Then you should check the condition of nutrition. Therefore you should palpate the chin´s back and chest. A healthy chinchilla palpates slim, but has noticeable pads on its ribs and spinal column. If you feel the bones the chin is too thin. You should take a look at the chinchillas back to see if the anus is clean or dirty. If it is dirty the chin has diarrhoe, which can be caused by a not very good keeping. By checking out the teeth they should be orange. If they are white and transparent there is a deficieny in nutrition. You should also watch the droppings in the cage. Are the droppings very small or soft and flat so this points to constipation or diarrhoe. You should not buy such a chinchilla. If the chinchilla has crusts and shed on its nose, on the eyes or ears then it has probably fungus and you should not buy it. Then you should look if the chin has a cold. You can see this if the chin has tearing eyes and a running nose. If the chin shows any signs of illness you should not buy it!!! If the chins are paired in groups and one chin shows signs of illness you should not buy a single chin from this group. The chins could have infected themselfes mutual without seing any signs of illness right now.