For the month of December, three (3) chinchillas were surrendered and three (3) chinchillas were adopted. For the entire year of 2015 that brings us to 32 chinchillas surrendered with 36 chinchillas adopted. We do have 4 chinchillas expected in this month, but we finally have carved out enough space for that elusive clothes washer and dryer.

After the holidays we've spent as much time as we can muster toward fixing up the secondary chin (laundry) room. We'll still have space in there for four triple stacked cages, but now we're going to take back one wall for combined use. ;) The primary chin room holds 12 triple stacked cages.

In our space saving venture, we've had some wonderful success with pairbonding and larger group bonding with our own chins as well as with those who seek to find a friend for their own fur baby. Which has really helped consolidate the little space we have. The latest success story came with a male who had spent his life with a female cagemate who accepted a male friend with no issues. *cue all kinds of social agenda jokes*

But the point is, just because a male and female chinchilla "love each other" is no reason to keep them in a situation that could lead to the procreation of more chinchillas... who will eventually need more homes.

We have paired mothers with daughters, fathers with sons in an effort to keep the snuggle factor, without the risk of pregnancy. Of course the bonding has everything to do with compatibility. We have also pairbonded chins who have never been in the company of another chin since weaning. We've pairbonded a 17 year old chin with a 10 year old, breeding chins with same gender chins, babies with unrelated adults, so there is really no "magic" age or indicator that a single chin will or will not accept a friend. (Although pairbonding weanlings is by far the easiest).

The degree of friendliness a chin has for humans or even the family dog or cat is NOT an indicator of whether or not a chin will pairbond. The only way to know for sure is how they react to other chinchillas. Keep in mind, chinchillas do like to choose their own friends, so just because a chinchilla hates another chin does not necessarily mean they will hate all chins.

We do, however, know how to recognize an alpha. Those are the ones who are simply too aggressive to pairbond and have proven aggressive towards their own kind as a general rule, not as a single episode. We have on occasion met with chins who were too aggressive to pairbond. Our own mascot, Titus, is one of those. So while we will always push for keeping chins in pairs or groups, realistically speaking, it's just not always possible.

We could only hope that if this is your situation, it's with the chins best interest in mind that he or she is single and not simply for convenience or cost.