I have one, and used to breed them (responsibly), so I consider myself a good source for information.
They need a large cage, with no wire platforms or ladders. Plastic will be eaten (not just chewed like a hamster or rat would). Paper bedding (carefresh, yesterdays news, shredded unprinted newsprint), or aspen shavings work best and are safe. You can use pine if it is kiln dried, it usually is.
Food - Chinchilla pellets, but NOT if they're made by Kaytee, hartz, vita vittles, sunseed, or charlie chinchilla. Never use a food with treats in it. Mazuri is a good brand. There are others, but I don't remember them. I feed rabbit food. When I was breeding them, I had inconsistant weight gain and dull fur on the chinchilla feeds I tried. I switched (as did several other breeders) to manna pro show rabbit pellets, and had no problems after that. And chinchilla food doesn't fly off the shelves as fast as rabbit, so sits around a while.
Always feed Hay! Hay is more important than pellets, far more important. For my 12 year old chinchilla, I use a timothy/alfalfa blend hay cube from the feed store. It comes in huge bags but doesn't go bad. Sammy just used up the last of some I bought 3 years ago. It still smelled fresh and Sammy never complained.
Dust. They need dust baths, twice a week or so. Just put the dust in a bowl big enough for chinchilla to roll around, they'll do the rest. A big fish bowl works well.
Water only in a water bottle, a bowl will get them wet, and wet fur on a chinchilla leads to fungus since their fur is so thick.
Treats. No treats. They have sensitive digestive tracts, and while treats are fun, it is much more kind to just omit them. If you must, a tiny pinch of oats will suffice. Old fashioned rolled oats or steel cut oats are good, never use quick or instant oats.
They need a house, made of wood (pine). Thick cardboard will do until you get a wood house (or make one).
Toys, those wood parrot toys that hang from the top of the cage and have huge chunks of wood are awesome. Otherwise, plain wood blocks, twigs from apple or pear trees (not sprayed of course), old grapevines. Anything safe and made from wood.
Ooh, hammocks, they love a hammock, fleece is the best material for them, I don't remember why.
And possibly the MOST IMPORTANT thing, heat. They cannot tolerate heat. Some people say 75 degrees, I've had them up to 80. And at just above 80 (it got hot sooner than I expected that day and I couldn't get home soon enough to cool down the house) I had one get heat stroke. He almost died. I know a whole lot of people who have lost chinchillas due to the the heat, so it's not just an idle "probably not good for them" thing, it's crucial.
There might be more, but that's what came off the top of my head.
Ask questions! I'll probably have the answer.
