The Craigslist Experiment

[Olallie]

Wow what a difference. its great what you're doing and I look forward to reading your stories.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

I got Rodya and Sonya off CL, a breeder was advertising that she was thinning out her herd. She kept all the violet and sapphires, and the carriers. Rodya was matted on his back, and Sonya has that scar on her eye, but otherwise they were fine. Although they only got a bath once a week at the most. And the dust they got was a mistake, apparently they were going cheap and got sent pumice dust for feet?? IDK they said something about a person who did pedicures gave it to them. They did tell me to get Blue Sparkle or Blue Cloud, but they said since they had a herd they had to go cheap.
Also, their cage only got cleaned thoroughly once a YEAR. The bed pans got changed more often, but... yuck. They're much healthier and happier now, though.

 

[Jazicat]

Bless you for helping the chins that need it the most!

 

[3CsMommy]

I would do this too if I could, but first things being first, I need to get a job so I can keep feeding my guy (and myself!).

 

[ChunkyChins]

"Bernard" doesn't like to be touched.. held.. or even looked at. He has been hiding under the wheel all day and all night last night. When I even try to touch him, he gets completely under the wheel and won't come out.. so I've left him alone. I offered him a cheerio, a rose hip, a raisin and a piece of dried papaya.. he didn't want any of them. He also refuses to take a dust bath. I put him into the bath, and just from picking him up he slipped fur. He also gets all squeaky. I took a picture of his tail for you, it's completely coiled, he looks like a little pig! lol I left the bath in his cage, I hope he takes one.. he sure needs it!

 

[brittiny]

Awe, Bernard does look like a little pig. I know you said you couldn't bring yourself to call him Bernard, but I keep picturing Bernard from The Rescuers, but that could be because I watched it all of 3 days ago.

sings: R-e-s-c-u-e Rescue aid society....

I aced a 2nd grade spelling test because of that cartoon.

 

[AZChins]

Linda...he's cute. I love the curly tails.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

I have said it once and I will say it again..There is a special place for all of you who put your time, effort, money and most of all your love into rescuing these poor animals who are in desperate need of a good loving home.

Bravo Zulu to all of you!

 

[3CsMommy]

I agree that a new name in a better situation seems appropriate. This guy might need something associated with bravery, courage, hope, etc. Maybe Martin (like Martin the Warrior from the Redwall books) or Samwise (from the Lord of the Rings books).

 

[AZChins]

Oooo..I like Martin!

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

I agree that a new name in a better situation seems appropriate. This guy might need something associated with bravery, courage, hope, etc. Maybe Martin (like Martin the Warrior from the Redwall books) or Samwise (from the Lord of the Rings books).

I love Martin the Warrior. First Jacques book I read...I'm glad I started with that one. Lovely. First book that made me cry. I love when I get emotional from a book.
Anyway, I'm way :topic:, so...

 

[ChunkyChins]

Update on Bernard, the beige boy

Once I put Bernard in the dust bath, he stayed there. The past few days, I haven't seen him anywhere else until just now! It appears that he actually took a bath too! I saw him running in the wheel today. I tried holding him but once he saw me come reaching for him he darted to the cage floor and under the wheel. I guess he really isn't comfortable with humans. For being 2 years old he sure is a compact little thing. I've seen him eat a lot of hay. He still gives me a glare every single time I offer him a treat.. lol He is doing well though!

 

[cindyv3737]

He really is cute. I love his stink eye in the last picture. He really has the best tail ever!

 

[ChunkyChins]

Meet "Sweetie"

A woman just left my house.. she contacted me this morning and really wanted to drop off her Chinchilla today.. so I let her come by. He is a standard male and approximately 3 years old. She has had him for 2 years but she has 5 children and does puppy rescue so he's not able to ever get out of cage play time. She thought it would be best to find him a new home. His name is "Sweetie".. not really a boys name, but it suits him well. He is very mellow and loves human attention. He literally will lay down and let you hold him like a baby. He will let you handle him however you please, and loves getting his head pet. Unfortunately he is not only small, but he is ALL fur. He is way too skinny in my opinion. I picked him up and it worried me.. I felt like he was going to break! You will see in the pictures, he makes my hands look huge! The second we got home I gave him a handful of hay and he went to town. I know they took really good care of him, to the best of their knowledge. She was such a nice lady and I thought she was going to cry leaving him with me.

 

[naturegirl240]

Wow he looks VERY gentle by the pictures! Bernard looks like he's doing great as well.

 

[3CsMommy]

Wow! Little is right. He looks like Crash did at 6 mo. old! Are his teeth all right? If he's that thin, I'd be worried about him not eating properly even if he was given all the right foods.

 

[AZChins]

Awww...Linda, Sweetie is cute. He's a lucky little chin!

 

[Chub_Chub]

And, Ro...I am glad that you went to CL to rescue those boys. All the chins here are taken care of...they get good food, they get playtime, but the ones on CL may not be getting very good care at all. They probably all come with the standard petstore food, toys and garbage treats. If their owners did a quick search, they could find me and I would take the chins. Unfortunately people want to recover some of their "investment." (I've heard people call it that...like the animals are going to be worth more after they forget to feed them and never dust them?)

Yes, I really overpaid for my little standard troublemakers Their former owners really did give them junk. Both boys had those plastic igloos in their cages, one had a honey treat log thingy. Both had nasty food, Kaytee Fiesta, and poor little Ziggy had SAND bath.. no wonder he was chewing his fur :hair: All of it got thrown out asap.

 

[AZChins]

But, Ro...you love them! And, they're worth all the trouble in the long run. Hopefully they are...

You're such a good chinnie mommy! They're unbelievably lucky that you went on CL and found them. (I know I have already said that, but it bears repeating.) Bowie and Ziggy have a life that they could never have dreamed of... hehehe Even if they do keep you up at night...

 

[tunes]

Since this is apparently going to be an ongoing thing, there might be a better place to put it than here on forum. This isn't really a place for blogging. It takes a up a lot of bandwidth and really bogs things down for our forum members who use dial up. Maybe consider putting it in a blog spot and then providing a link to it here on forum. That way people can still enjoy the story (although, not real sure what the "experiment" is that's going on) and the pictures, but it will be in a more appropriate venue.