Why Chinchillas?

[oxchincerelyxo]

ahhhhh chinnie love....

I did 4-h at the zoo back home and did weekend volunteer work with my dads gf who worked at the same zoo. One of the animals that I worked with were chinchillas-Bubbles and Squeaks. I was in love from then on (then being 8 yrs. old and then on being 18). I learned all I could from their handlers and soon was showing them at the zoo myself. A few years later my boyfriend at the time got me two as a christmas gift. Chubbs and Zucko were my babies<3...but after a messy breakup my ex took them back and I was broken hearted. So when I moved out on my own to CA I soon found a rescue and took him in. 9 months and 6 rescues later, four of which have become my pets...I am still as in love as I ever have been. I just remember being blow away from their large personalities and soft fur. Maybe it was just meant to be

 

[Midwest Exotics]

I got into chinchillas when i was a wee tot of like 7 or 8. =]

I had seen one in the pet store for months & months. After talking about it nonstop & playing with them every time we were in the store, she finally caved one summer after begging her! (or i shouldnt say caved as much as it was she wanted one too & didnt care what i my dad said any longer.) haha

After owning my first for a few years my friend then got one! She had gotten the cutest male then soon after lost interest. She decided to give him up & i took him in. I had both of those two for a few years & then found a breeder local & bought my first pedigreed male. A year or so after that i of course had to have another, so i got a female with a pedigree. I started to show them at the fair(yes the fair.) I talked with the breeder i had gotten my pedigreed firsts from & got some info on breeding.. which now looking back certainly wasnt the best.

Then the rest is history really, i started to breed them, got addicted, & then wanted to experience the mutations. And so i did..

They are such fun pets & its hard to understand people that think they are scary or a boring pet! Totally one of the coolest small animal type pets out there!

 

[Carol~Anne]

Oh man I feel like a broken record here so I'll be really quick. My husband found my first chinchilla outside under his van in our townhouse complex in a hot day in May. After much chasing he finally captured the rodent, no one claimed him so I kept him. I fell in love with him in about three seconds.

About three and a half years later a breeder friend of mine who also rescues chinchillas had two standard boys (not brothers) that she'd taken in from a fur farm that got shut down b/c of deplorable conditions. I was in the process of moving to a much bigger place so I decided to adopt them.

The fourth chinchilla came from the same breeder/rescuer. He was a four-year-old extreme mosaic and she had him listed on her website for sale and I saw the pic of him and thought he was really neat so I asked about him. She said his woman (cage mate) was giving him a hard time and thought he would fit in nicely with my other three boys b/c he was extremely mellow so I decided to take him in and give the guy a nice retirement.

That is it.

 

[Chinmama]

Chris had a chinchilla when he was a teenager. He always taked about them and we'd go to the pet store and look at them. I ran across an ad in the classifieds one Sunday and called on it. A family had ZZ and their daughter had allergies to his dust and hay. He was so sweet, I fell in love instantly.

I wasn't ever allowed to have "rodents" as pets when I was a kid, so it was very new to me in the beginning. I have always been the type to learn as much as I can about my pets or anything I am interested in, so I immediately went online and found a forum, joined (Chinstation), and became an addict...lol. Thank goodness I have Chris to stop me, or I'd have a house full of chins.

 

[greychins]

I always saw chins in the pet store when I was young, and my parents would never let me get one, too expensive they said. When I got in college, I had the money and I bought one. And like potato chips, I had to have another one, and another one, and so on and so forth... and so I got a "pal" for my first one, and then my mom wanted one, and then I got another one after that... lol... they're addicting.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

the story of my fuzzies...

I had seen chinchillas on tv before and always stopped to look at them in the petstore. Well one day my husband and I decided to get Samson. I loved him even though he was scared. Then after a few months he came around. Then the other 7 came along in spurts after I decided I wanted to breed, but Samson and Lilah remain as our pets.

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

I got a seasonal job working at my local zoo when i was 16 - lucky me! I started off having nothing to do with the animals but eventually I was working in the education center looking after loads of species from insects, to a parrot, chipmunks, rats, mice, frogs, salamanders and of course, Chinchillas.

Well, the Chinchillas totally won me over and i was completely in love with them. More importantly, it made me realise that I could look after some myself. One particular /chin was the greatest Chin I have ever known. He loved cuddles and if you put your hand in front of him, he would step onto your hand in a very peaceful, dignified manner. He was a lovely Black Velvet called Tarzan; he sadly died in an accident whilst i was woking there and I will never forget him.
From that time on, I knew I had to have some Chins of my own! My parents on the other hand, weren't too sure.
I spent 7 years researching Chins and sold most of my things to convince my parents to give in. Finally, for my 25th birthday, they gave in.
I got my boys from a local show breeder and finally, own the Black Velvet I always dreamed off. And my other standard boy is an utter sweet heart who will tolerate lengthy cuddles.

I'd like more, but until i can leave home, there's no more room here!

 

[Molly]

I'm still on my first Chinchilla! I got him 3 years ago from the Humane Society for $20. (That means he's about 6 1/2 now...wow...I don't want him to grow old!) He was completely an impulse decision and I had never seen a chinchilla before. When I received him, he was in a small wire cage with a plastic wheel he never liked and came with a half-used bag of Charlie Chinchilla.

I immediately began researching and stumbled upon the Chins & Quills forum. What a lifesaver! Out went the plastic and the candy-food and in came the Oxbow hay and Mazuri pellets. The first home I built him was a banquet table surrounded by a pine & 1/4 inch chicken wire frame with lots of ledges. That gave him room to bounce, but one year later we bought a FN 142 and furnished it with even more fun stuff sold by forum members, bass pans, and a ChinSpin.

Jump forward to today and I'm sick of looking at the FN! We're building Gus a new home which I'm super excited about. I've taken ideas from many members' postings and am having fun deciding exactly how to do everything.

Finally, I got really lucky in that Gus has always been super-friendly. He loves being scratched behind the ears and has given us a lot of joy. If I had to do it again, (and I assume I will someday...6 1/2 years old, poor guy!) I would buy a bonded pair from a breeder. I know people say one chin is fine if given lots of attention, but I just imagine it can get lonely bouncing around in a big cage all by yourself. I'm too scared to introduce another chin because I'm not willing to have two separate cages if they never bond, so Gus makes do with several snugglies!

The only other bad thing about getting Gus is that now I get sad every time I see Chins in our pet store. They're always standard gray's priced at $149; they have to stand on wire all day with no room to bounce around, and their fur is desperately in need of a dust bath! If I hadn't gotten Gus and learned about them, I would've walked on by and assumed they were just fine. Live and learn, huh? Btw, I just want to reiterate that each member on here is a wonderful resource. I've learned so much from all of you!

 

[SusieJJ]

I got my first chinchilla because one time, when I was younger I saw a chinchilla in a pet store and loved it! I wasn't allowed to get it because I was too young, my mother didn't want anymore pets, it was expensive, etc.. So I was passing some time at my second internship during college by browsing the internet. The memory of the chinchilla popped in my head and I decided to look up breeders. I came across a couple in MA, but none had chins at the time. So I finally found one that a breeder in RI had and fell in love with her picture--she was a cute little mosaic. I made arrangements to get her, but he was having some divorce issues and I think his ex wife wanted the little girl I had put a deposit on. I can see how something like that could happen, so I really didn't mind too much; he had another little girl ready to go around the same time--a black velvet! I went and picked her up after a nice drive down to RI. We drove back with her new cage I bought from the breeder, some food, hay, dust and ledges. She destroyed the inside of the soft carrier I had.. (mistake #1), but didn't ingest any of the parts of it. I got home, introduced her to my mom--who didn't want any more animals in the house still, but now has come to love and miss them since I moved out and who will be watching them if I go to Vegas, set up her cage and put her in. Then I realized she could fit through the corners of the cage which happened to be about 1/10000 of an inch bigger than the rest of the cage holes.. ::sigh:: I sat up the whole night telling her to stay in her cage The next night I wrapped jewelry wire around the corner holes to make them smaller and she couldn't get out Hathor is full of personality. She doesn't like scritches, love any treats that come near her, steals treats left and right and throws a fit if she can't come out for playtime. When she does get out for playtime, it's never over for her. She'd explore for the rest of her life. She loves the bathroom the most, and behind the tv--but access to behind the tv has been cut off, so she spends a few minutes trying to get through the block I usually get her home by putting out the dust bath. She's getting quicker than me tho, and will jump in, bathe and jump out before I can cover the opening!

I knew I wanted two chinchillas from the start, and the first breeder only had 1 girl ready to go when I got her, so I got my second chinchilla a couple weeks later from a breeder in CT. Anubis is a sweetie, but still a bit timid. I think it's just her personality and she'll always be a bit skittish. She enjoys scritches when there aren't any loud or scary noises, she'll take an occasional treat, but mostly lets Hathor steal them from her. She lets Hathor sit on top of her and push her around, to a point--then she'll kack at her and Hathor leaves her alone. She loves to sleep on top of the fleece house, will come out for playtime, but likes to check and make sure the cage is still there and she can get back inside--so she goes home on her own like a good little chinnie. She loves dust and is the first one in it!

 

[jessica]

My story

When I was around 10-11 years old I really enjoyed keeping gerbils as pets and then hamsters. One day when My mom and I were at a pet store for food and there were chinchillas there for sale there was a white fat one in particular that I thought was really cute I showed it to my mom and she thought it was really cute too but the price was not so cute however. The friendly pet shop employee took the chinnie out so i could pet it. He was the softest animal I ever touched and the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I really wanted it but it was too expensive and I had enough to do with my other pets. Time went on and I grew up and moved out. At one point I got a pt. job at Petco and I had wanted something small and furry back in my life. I had wanted a ferret at first because I liked how playful they were but after cleaning up after them at Petco and experiencing their smell :yuck: I decided against a ferret. Then around winter time a chinchilla came to the store. I fell in love with him and took care of him happily in hopes that nobody would buy him. Then he got sick with an eye infection and fungus and we were told that chins could not be in glass enclosures. So my buddy was going to sent back to the place where he came from. I asked the manager to sell him to me and he did for a good deal which included a free cage and food of my choice. So I named him Guvava and he lived with me for three happy years and then I got Marble last spring. Guvava passed away soon after Marble's arrival due to some unknown injury he inflicted on himself in his cage. This was sad for me but having Marble around has helped in many ways. He is social and loves being out of his cage more so than Guvava ever did.

 

[MyFuzzies]

I was shopping in Petsmart for bedding for my sons' Gerbils. I always walked past the small animals just to check them out...and there was the most adorable, fluffy, but scared little fella I did some research on chinchillas. At the time I couldn't afford to purchase him and everything he needed, so I came in to visit him a few times a week...I just fell in love with him! After this went on for a month, I finally had to bring him home. Cheeko is now 1 year old and lives a very comfortable life...probably more comfortable than my own LOL.

After bringing Cheeko home I realized I just "HAD" to get him a cagemate...so I got my second chin...then my 3rd & 4th...then my 5th. I honestly would get more if I had the room and the budget for them.

All five of my boys play wonderfully together and they bring so much joy to my life. I love watching them play and how curious they are...not to mention they are TOTALLY CUTE! So, I'm proud to say I'm a chin-addicted nut, but I wouldn't have it any other way

 

[Diva Chins]

WOO!
I first wanted a pet when my uncle died. I knew I didn't want a hamster because of the whole 'average life span being 2 years' thing, I really needed something to love and care for, and I knew I wanted something that no one else had. At first I wanted a small breed of squid (Yeah, haha) and couldn't find one. Found sugar gliders next and my friend Sarah said they had a short life span too. Then, low and behold, I saw a chinchilla. I thought they were uber adorable, so I started doing research. As soon as I saw how much of a commitment they were, how long they lived, etc, I knew it was the right pet for me. I continued doing research while buying supplies in between (Glass water bottles, ceramic food bowls, etc) got put on the waiting list for some hobbyist breeders, then one day my baby was ready to come home. She was such a trip, I loved her and we lived happily just the two of us for almost a year, then I wanted to get her another girl to play with, and I found my rescues, etc. In closing, I'm a chin addict now.

 

[Norse]

My brothers girlfriend got kiwi while she was at college and I got to hold her. When she came home for collge she gave her to me because her cat was stalking it.

 

[Kendra n Charlie]

My boyfriend talked me into adopting a chinchilla. He was working at petco and someone had dropped it off stating that they couldnt care for it any longer. He told me how cute he was and how he just loved when he would bring him wood chews. He would take them from him and run to the back of the cage and chew and just look at him. He came home and told me a girl from work had taken him home. About 2 weeks later she brought him back saying "he chews everything, he chewed a hole in my bathroom door." I went to take a look at him and see what I thought, and boy was he cute. I held him and he seemed scared but stayed still. I said ok, lets do it, and we brought him home. He was in a tiny little cage with 1 shallow level. Looked like a guinea pig cage. The ramp and ledge were chewed up (and plastic). I made sure to get him something better (well bigger). It wasn't better because I didn't know they shouldnt chew on plastic and I had gotten him a superpet cage. He is still in that cage but there isn't any plastic ramps/ledges anymore.

Supposedly he is around 9 years old. I can't imagine him living 8 years in that tiny cage. I am glad I rescued him. I just recently bought an FN 142 but I want to make modifications before I put him in it (he has a slight handicap)