Chinchilla run Forks


These are used to block males into a female's cage so you can catch them. My herd is very curious and social, it's more of a difficulty to get away from them or keep them away from your tools when things are going on with the cages. Chins are strong enough to drag a full sized pair of nippers into a run when you're not looking!

I needed something to split a run and decided it was time to make some forks.

Ideally forks should have spacing condusive to the size of wire you are using in the runs, most common is 1" x 1/2". To buy forks you'd have to find someone making them and the last ones I saw for sale were $20 each, about five years ago.

Old style forks were made out of refridgerator shelving, though you can also use oven racks or anything that looks like it may fit the bill. In my case, it was some old closetmaid shelving that the previous homeowners left out back.

The downside is that these are not as sturdy as the oven or fridge shelving bars. Chins can actually bend them if they go at it long enough so instead of using one set to block, I used two and left at least a 3" gap between.

Tools used; Dremel w/cutting disks, saftey glasses and about 5 minutes.

Making a chinchilla breeding cage divider
Completed chinchilla run fork
Using a Dremel to cut out a chinchilla run divider
Chinchilla fork in a breeding run