Happy August everyone!

For the month of June, zero (0) chinchillas were surrendered and zero (0) chinchillas were adopted. This time of year is typically when we get bunches of requests for boarding. Fortunately, our local chinnie friends understand the very limited space we have here now. We did manage to finally get a clothes washer and dryer. Unfortunately, that means even less room to devote to the chinchillas. We are considering some pretty radical steps to reclaim some room since the option to purchase a larger home is simply out of our financial reach.

When we began our rescue venture many years ago, we erroneously believed that the occasional mass surrenders were temporary. But alas, it's become the expected norm that we hear of large groups of chins needing homes at least a couple times each year...not to mention the dozens of singles and pairs that also become unwanted. The shocking part is how many chinchilla "breeders" go out of business, or lose interest, or experience a health or family emergency and are stuck with mass amounts of animals they need to rehome. So for all you closet breeders out there, there is NO SHORTAGE of chinchillas for pets And other, more respectable, long term breeders have already "perfected" the breed.  

On a more positive note, laws are popping up all over the country regarding shutting down puppy mills. Some pet stores are also cracking down on the purchase of certain other backyard bred animals like rabbits and guinea pigs. Hedgehog breeding requires a USDA license and ferret breeding is under a pretty strict monopoly. I sincerely wish the same goes for chinchilla breeding soon. One can only hope...