Be prepared 

Alway ensure that you are well prepared before bringing your chinchilla home.

1. A suitable cage or habitat and enclosure set up
2. Food, good quality pellets and fresh Timothy hay (make it available to chins freely)
3. Basic first aid kit and contact details for local exotic vet
4. Room thermometer that also shows room humidity 
5. Pet carrier

If you are going to use a cage, ensure it is of a good size, at least 150cm high, 60cm deep and 100cm wide, is suitable for 1 chin. The bar spacing is very important, Anything more than an inch and you're curious chin is likely to escape. I personally prefer not to use wire floors, these can be rather harsh on their little feet and if a foot will fit in the holes it could lead to injury. It is also impossible to completely clean and sterilze the joint of the wire. This can lead to infections such as bumblefoot if there is an abrasion on the foot. If you purchase a cage please ensure all plastic ramps and ledges are removed or covered with non pill fleece.

You do not need to be limited to cages, A suitable sized aviary can easily be converted, as can a piece of furniture such as a pine wardrobe. There are plenty of examples available on line. My chins spent a relatively short period in a cage before I researched alternatives. If you can use a rule, a saw or jigsaw, a drill and screw driver then you will only be limited by chin safe items and your own imagination.

My first conversion was a solid pine wardrobe that I'd aquired from a free site on Facebook. If you choose this option for a habitat, it will require air circulation, as well as the cage wire in the doors I also cut out a section in the top of the wardrobe into which I also inserted another wire panel. This had duel purpose...air circulation and somewhere handy to hang boredom breakers.

Always ensure pine is kiln dried, the height of ledges will depend on chin age, under six months they have not yet learnt to appropriately judge distance and may miss and fall. Ensure there is at least one safe hide house for each chinchilla, they are prey animals and these will be used as their safe places, multiply levels encourage exploration and some exercise. Alway ensure that the chins have access to a cooling tile, I personally use porcelain floor tiles, they do just a good job as a "purpose brought" cooling tile. Floor tiles can be cut to suit, just ensure sharp edges are removed. 

Non pill fleece can be used to cover shelves and to insert in hides, these can be easily washed. Your chin may chew the fleece so you will need to keep an eye on it as indestion can cause blockages that are life threatening. Non pill is preferred to any other fabric as other types can fray and threads could get wrapped around tiny toes.

A glass water bottle is recommended if it is sited entirely inside habitat, as chins love to chew plastic which again can be ingested.

Pellets and Timothy hay should be freely available. As foragers it's a good idea to have these sited in different places, it helps keep chins active and occupied.

Those are the very basic requirements for a chin set up, so then it's just a case of sourcing chin safe bordom breakers. These, as well as giving your chin something to do, will assist in keeping their teeth short.

A breeder may well insist that you can't make a custom habitat by converting pine furniture. They're only argument being ringworm. Ironically the only cases of ringworm that I have witnessed have been in chins housed in purpose brought cages. Yes, chinchillas are carriers of ringworm, but if the area your chin habitat is housed in is kept within the correct temperature and humidity ranges, your husbandry is regular, then the fungal spores will not develope, and risk of infection is greatly reduced. Ringworm is everywhere, however it cannot thrive without warmth and moisture, so if you remove and wash soiled fleeces and potty materials daily then ringworm shouldn't be an issue. It is also a good idea to occasionally add a small amount of anti fungal powder to their dust bath. This works well as a preventitive as well as a cure for fungal infections. If you are unfortunate to have a ringworm infection, or a suspected infection then the habitat needs to be stripped and everything treated and sterilised. Always seek the advice of an exotic vet. 

If you don't have the space to build a habitat that includes an area for free play, that's fine. However, your chinchilla will require out of cage play. Their play area needs to be completely chin proof. No electrical wires, no plastics, no fall hazards etc, no access to behind cupboards and remember. ...they will chew skirting boards, and wall paper is like crack cocaine to them. Ideally the play area should have hide houses so if spooked they can feel safe. If you're chinchilla doesn't have access to a free play area then they will require upto 2 hours out of cage time if they are aged over 6 months. (Kits struggle to self regulate their temperature and so can over heat). A play area can be created using a pet play pen, always considering the size of the gaps in the wire. Chins can also jump upto 6 feet high  and are quite proficient climbers, as a consequence play pen playtime should always be supervised to avoid escape or injury. This is an excellent opportunity to have bonding time with your chinchilla. Everything has to be done on a chinchilla’s terms, so just sit quietly on the floor of the playpen, they have very sensitive hearing, they love when you whisper to them. Eventually their curiosity will get the better of them and you'll become an excellent climbing frame. As a rule they do prefer not to be handled, but this is dependent on the individual chin. Slowly build up their trust and eventually they tolerate some handling.

So often we hear NO MORE THAN 10 MINUTES PLAYTIME OR YOUR CHINCHILLA WILL OVER HEAT AND DIE!

As long as your environment is safe, this includes temperature and humidity. Between 50° and 70° for temperature and humidity no higher than 50%, your chinchilla is healthy and has no underlying health conditions such as heart problems or seizures then your chinchilla will not die from too much exercise. Like us they know when to stop. Yes your chinchilla may go at a thousand miles an hour when let out of their cage if time out is always limited. Wouldnt you behave the same? If allowed access to playtime when ever they choose then it becomes more sedate, and your chinchilla is less likely to hurt themselves. They behave similarly to their wild counterparts.  They sleep, eat, play and amble around perfectly safely. That's not to say they don't have "mad moments", oh they do, my blind chin is the biggest culprit within my herd, he becomes just a blur of fur. For added peace of mind I have 24 hr cctv covering the entirety of my herds habitat. This is a personal choice, but it has been cause of hours of entertainment for not only myself but others to, and it has provided us with the ability to observe them in a more naturalistic way.....chins being chins. Not stuck on one shelf or another for 23 hours a day. A habitat can not be too big, a chinchilla will first scout their habitat, then they map it and memorise it. Their vision is not the best, it's blurry, but they do see in colour. They rely more on using their whiskers and hearing. As I mentioned previously, one of my chinchillas is blind (a result of the breeder using the "smooshing method" to bond several chinchilla.). Womble surprisingly is top dog in my herd, he is also the most adventurous, he has no fear. From observations I learnt that whilst he's mapping his habitat he makes a constant low level churp, almost like white noise. He uses these churps like sonar, giving him the ability to judge size and distance, even changes don't hinder him. Not once has he suffered an accident or injury.

With the opportunity to have access for play and adventure available at all times a chin will build up muscle mass and bone density, reducing the risk of fractures, their mental health will be improved and so will their general physical health.

CHINCHILLAS ARE ONLY ACTIVE AT DUSK AND DAWN

Simply put....Wrong! Chinchillas are active thoughout the day and night if their environment facilitates it. Given the opportunity they will nap a while, eat, explore, play and repeat thoughout a 24 hour period. Obviously if their habitat is a 2ft by 2ft cage with just a couple of shelves, a hammock and a few boredom breaker chews then they are not likely to do much more than lay there. "Oh my chins so cute, he spends hours just laying like this in his hammock, he loves it! 😍"  He's probably depressed, this is not natural behaviour, it is a consequence of a limited habitat.

These are a couple of  breeders statements:

If a chinchilla spends most of its day in a cage, then yes, it is more likely to suffer an injury during playtime. Like we would, they come out over excited and try to squeeze a days worth of stimulation into a very short space of time. Too often I hear owners proclaim "he doesn't want to go back in his cage!" - would you?

If you choose to have a free play area you must always ensure that your chins have easy access to their safe place, be that converted furniture, a cage etc. It's also a good idea if it has space for you to be able to clean their habitat and to spend bonding time in there with them.

To ensure my chins can't escape I built a framed enclosure that I fitted with clear pvc sheets. It has a gate for easy access. I then attached it to my walls using hook and eye fittings. The enclosure walls can be made using safe timber framing and wire, however, if you use wire it may be wise to take it to the ceiling....or you may find the great escape in progress as your chinchilla will climb it. This was part of my reasoning for using pvc....they can't get a grip on it. It is also easy to clean and disinfect and as a bonus it allows for easy viewing with the cctv.

I recently upgraded from the wardrobe to a brand new aviary that was donated. I again made all the ledges and hides myself, using kiln dried pine. You may have noticed that there are only 2 hides in it. Each hide will comfortable accommodate all 3 chins, however, Womble has never used a hide to sleep, he much prefers to doze on one of the top ledges. It's a standing joke that he's the look out. With the 2 hides in the aviary, there are also 2 under the aviary, 1 large one in the free play area and the play tower that is enclosed more than the aviary. This allows each chin access to a safe place where ever they are.

From 1999-2013 one research study was undertaken to assertain the causes of death of 698 captive chinchilla. This study was published in the Journal of Applied Animal Research. Below is an excerpt from the results:

Overall, infectious agents associated with the diseases seen (enteritis, pneumonia and other infections) were identified in 72.4% of the necropsies, significantly outnumbering the rest of the non-infectious entities (trauma, miscellanea and undetermined) (p < .01, rr = 1.12, 95% cl 1.00–1.72). Moreover, enteritis and pneumonia cases, altogether accounted for the 63% of the total investigated accessions (p < .01, rr = 1.37, 95% cl 0.88–1.61).

As you can see the greatest cause at 74% of all necropsied (animal autopsy) deaths during this 14 year study were actually from infections.
Over that 14 year period only 39 chinchilla died from causes such as heat stroke:

The miscellaneous category had a vast range of pathologies. Thirty-nine animals died by suffering adverse environmental factors such as heat stroke (n = 27) or hypothermia by extreme temperatures.

I believe this clearly assertains that if your chinchillas environment is within the suitable temperature and humidity levels then your chin really won't die from heatstroke whilst having outside cage time. The figure of actual deaths from such causes as heatstroke in that 14 year period equates to just 6%. 
Ref Pablo Eduardo Martino, Emillia Lucila Bautista, Eduardo Jorge Gimero, Nestor Oscar Sanchi & Nilda Esther.

The study can be viewed here :  The journal of Applied Animal Research. Fourteen year status report of fatal illnesses in captive chinchilla 1999-2013 https://doi.org/10.1080/09712119.2016.1174129