Happy December everyone!

For the month of November four (4) chinchillas were surrendered and four (4) chinchillas were adopted, including the poster boys from our Pumpkin Spice Chinchillas picture. We currently have about 16 chinchillas waiting for their furever home. We’ve practically given up on trying to keep the website current with regards to the specific chinchillas available. The numbers change so often! Plus, we really hate the thought of those who are “color shopping”. We prefer instead that the chinchilla be a good fit with the family when it comes to personality, temperament and activity level. Onwards!

The year 2018 has been a year of many changes. We moved to our new home. The chinchillas and webstore related “werk” got an upgrade with a building all its own. We’ve had a major mind shift from working out of the dining room to actually going to a separate, no kidding, office. (Even though the commute is only about 550 feet.) Keeping office hours seems to have made a big difference in productivity.

Another change we’ve seen this year has been the sad goodbyes of the two special education teachers with whom we have worked so closely. We have spent nearly a decade as Partners in Education with the local high school where the students help us craft our chew toys, cage accessories and other supplies. This year not one, but both head instructors have retired and passed their classes on to the next generation of educators. We’re still working out kinks with scheduling, but hope to be back in full swing with our student helpers soon! In the meantime Whimsy’s clan has been busy building the necessary parts and pieces to make our goodies. Ziggy, Whimsy’s son with autism, is happy to take up the slack where our student helpers would normally fill the store. He even has his very own office and assembly room!

Changes are in progress to grow and expand our orchard. We’ve been slowly claiming some of our new land to make room for our apple, pear, mulberry and pecan trees. There is a natural watershed between the house and office that slopes on three sides. The hilled terrain would be perfect for growing our delicious heirloom apples and pears. Whimsy’s oldest daughter jokingly named our proposed plot, “The Fruit Bowl.”

As we work to thin that area it is providing us with plenty of firewood with which to heat the rescue building. We’re still struggling with the HVAC system and spent nearly $1000 over the summer just to get the air conditioning working for the chinchillas. Once again the system has failed us and we’ve come to grips with the fact that we should stop paying outrageous prices for temporary patches. The system is original to the building and is 18 years old. There is a woodstove in the workshop that pumps out enough heat to keep the building a cozy 54-65 degrees. The chins are loving it! Having the woodstove will give us several months to save up for a new heat/air system before we need it again for cooling.

So as I look out my office window and admire the 12+ inches of snow, I think back over the year and consider how far we’ve come. November 1st marked the 10 year anniversary of Whimsy’s Menagerie. It’s been an unexpectedly amazing life path that no one could have possibly predicted. Operating a home based rescue has been a wild ride, not to mention an odd lifestyle. Many times it has been a rapidly shifting existence full of frustration and grief, success and joy. Even still, I have no regrets. So, many thanks to you, my chinchilla friends, for your support and good favor. My prayer is that I may be good enough to earn and keep it. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and have a blessed and happy New Year.

For the month of August, five (5) chinchillas were surrendered and eight (8) chinchillas were adopted. We had one rescue chin here for hospice who passed over the rainbow bridge. Now her cagemate is in need of a new friend.

Our summer and now continuing autumn has kept us so busy that it looks like the new standard for posts is nearly a month behind. :s We've been harvesting and processing wood to carry us through the winter. Not only have we completed the scheduled trims, we also managed to cut, harvest and process a whole pear and mulberry tree!

We've even had to catch up on some toy making at home since the student-crafters have been on summer vacation. Fortunately, school started back up this month and our schedule for working with the special needs students making our chinchilla chew toys is back on track. We have lots of new faces, names, skills and personalities to learn. It's always exciting to see how the students grow in their chew toy making skills from the beginning of the year to the end. We are fortunate enough to have some more seasoned students to help guide the newbies.

This month we also had the pleasure of having another booth at this year's Virginia Beach Pet Expo. Since this isn't our first cakewalk, we learned a few tricks to implement this time. The arm protectors went over well to protect our delicate forearms from scratchy chinnie nails. We also kept a tally count of how many times we heard people say, "It's so soft!" (385 times) or, "It's so cute!" (101 times). It certainly helped pass time. The voluntolds (AKA Whimsy's clan, not necessarily "volunteers") were all good sports about the event. Thanks kids!

We requested a corner booth near the Mega Adoption Area. Although we did not allow adoptions at the actual event, we did bring a couple of Critter Nation cages and 4 bonded pairs of chins for outreach. Our primary goal was to let our community know we exist, serving multiple states, and that we have countless chinchillas available for adoption (always). We did get a healthy handful of individuals who expressed interest in adopting, but time will tell. We also wrapped up the event having only made one enemy. One of hundreds, that's pretty good odds. The person in question made the mistake of telling an animal rescue worker that she lets her pets breed without restraint. That's akin to admitting to a police officer that you just committed murder. This confession doesn't go over well with Whimsy. 

On a more positive note, as a bonus, the people at the Pet Expo invited Whimsy to speak on stage about chinchillas! Silly Whimsy, what she thought was supposed to be a 30 second mini commercial was in actuality a 30 MINUTE allotted speech time! Piece of cake. Whimsy winged it....and nailed it. It certainly helps knowing your subject. ;)

All in all September has been quite eventful. With that being said, our apologies to those who have waited more than 24 hours for their online orders. 

(6/23/14)

We've received numerous requests for package deals. So finally, we've come up with a a few very nice assortments of wholesome chinnie foods, chews and treats. The package deals do not allow for substitutions. As we've jam packed boxes with specified dimensions, the goal was to make the most use of the space allotted. The package deals are all inclusive with shipping costs, etc. These offers are for domestic orders only.

The $90, Happy Chinchilla Care Package contains the following: 

• 1 gallon bag pellets (Purina, Blue Seal or mixed bag)
• 1 gallon bag hay cubes 
• 1lb whole rose hips
• 1lb probiotic cookies
• 1lb prepared mixed wood
• pack goji berries
• pack seagrass knots
• 1 chinchilada
• 1 orb-bits
• 5 assorted toss toys

We also offer a more economical option for those who are looking for monthly staple combo in a tidy package.  The $60, Economy Care Basics includes the following:

•  1 gallon bag pellets (Purina, Blue Seal or mixed bag)
• 1lb prepared wood chews (mixed variety only)
• 1lb rose hips
• 1lb hay cubes
• 1 chinchilada
• 5 assorted toss toys 

And finally, for those who want to spoil their chinnie into oblivion with chew toys and nothing but chew toys, we offer the $125, Ultimate Chew Toy Bundle. This is our most generous package deal where you'll find some extra freebies. ;) This package is not only excellent for your chinnie's teeth and digestive system, but it also supports the cognitive and motor skills of the special needs students who help us make them. We're told the actual chew toys are much larger in real life than they look in pictures. 

• Herbal bunny
• Spider!
• Natural Noms Wreath
• Pumice & Willowball Wreath
• Chinchilada
• Jacob's ladder
• Superchew Softie
• Pinata
• Orb-bits
• Fruitwood kabob
• Chinchworm
• 5 Assorted Toss Toys
• Hugs & Kisses Garland
• Random vine thingies
• Natural wood perch

So...for ordering information, see our store Food & Health and Chinchilla Chew Toys pages for details.

Happy Shopping!

For the month of March, three (3) chinchillas were surrendered and eleven (11) chinchillas were adopted. Life is good.

We’ve been doing a major overhaul of the primary and secondary rescue rooms at the Menagerie, but that is fodder for another post. We’ll have lots of before and after pictures to show later in the month.

Right now, though, we need to talk about the importance of chew toys.

Whimsy often says that chew toys are necessities, not luxury items. Because chinnie teeth grow constantly, we need to make sure that our house beavers have plenty of opportunity to wear down those choppers before they overgrow and develop into malocclusion. As mentioned before, hay is wonderful for the digestive system and for wearing down the cheek teeth. But even the incisors can grow into tusks if your chinnie doesn’t have nibbling and gnawing opportunities. 

Wooden ledges offer a safe chewing alternate to plastic shelves, but our real claim to fame is in our extensive assortment of chew toys. We’ve actually spent years trying to come up with perfect combinations of textures, flavors and densities. One thing we will not do, however, is adulterate a perfectly healthy chew toy with added flavorings or excessive dyes. While we do like the splash of color the wooden beads afford, soaking loofah and other natural items into unnatural shades is just not our thing. When we hear of people who put added flavor on their products it’s not difficult to imagine the same people putting soda pop in their infant’s bottle. This practice actually causes chins to expect stronger flavors and inhibits their natural need for bland, high fiber foods. 

Whimsy takes it as a challenge to come up with interesting chews to stimulate chinnie curiosity. Since a chinchilla explores their environment with their teeth, we want to encourage that destruction in a healthy way.

Some people go halfway on the idea of chew toys: they want a toy that will last a long time. In actuality, the best chew toys are those that are most salient. In other words, the toys that your chin demolishes the fastest are the best ones. This means your chinnie is actively engaged in their toy and is getting the most benefit from it. 

A chew toy is not supposed to be a permanent cage decoration. If your c hinnie has lost interest in their chews, you can often renew the interest by moving it to a different location. (You know how it is when cleaning a closet and things packed away are suddenly exciting again?) If moving the toy around doesn’t help, you can restring and combine old parts with some new parts to generate more attention. (Check out our selection of vine thingies, loose wood and pumice!)

Keep in mind that chinnie teeth go through growth spurts. There will be occasions when an ignored toy will suddenly get much more attention. This frequently happens with pumice toys. They sit in a cage for months and then…Bam! It’s as if the chinchilla suddenly discovers it, and all you find in the cage the next morning is a pile of rubble and dust.

With that being said, our student helpers and we work diligently to keep a steady supply of assorted chews for your furbaby. Offering a few toys in a variety of textures is a wonderful way to meet their chewing needs.  Plus, when you order our Whimsy Original chew toys you help sustain our rescue efforts and support the cognitive and motor skills of the special needs students who help assemble them. 

For the month of November, three (3) chinchillas were surrendered and ten (10) chinchillas were adopted. We're hoping that this Christmas, more chinnies will find their way to permanent homes.

Christmas is actually a very good reason to hold out to adopt. With the start-up cost of owning exotic pet being as high as it is, sometimes it just makes sense to wait until a major holiday. ;) We have had several families get a jump start on adoptions for Christmas. But remember, we do not allow chinchillas to go as surprise gifts. The new owner(s) must come in for the chinchilla education session during the adoption meet and greet.

And speaking of Christmas, the special needs students who help us make our store itemshave been working quietly on holiday themed toys for the critters. Many of our "regular" store items were originally designed as themed toys...but stuck around. Even our limited edition Spider! has become a permanent item. (Partly because the students just love making them so much). But I digress...

For the holiday season we have released our vine twist candycanes, Christmas Arbor-eatems, overstuffed snowmen, edible ornaments, mini candycanes, wreaths, and whatever else can spark our imagination. Watch our store for new releases on individual items.

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