For the month of September, two (2) chinchillas were surrendered and two (2) chinchillas were adopted. The number of chins adopted has significantly decreased lately. Fortunately, so have the number of surrenders.

Someone asked us recently if we are a no-kill shelter. The answer: not quite. On occasion we do receive a chinchilla with severe medical issues that are not treatable. Malocclusion affecting the tooth roots is one of the more common ailments. People also bring chins to us on the verge of death. A vet visit early on could have saved those, but when an animal is lethargic and showing signs of agonal respiration, there is really nothing more that can be done to save them. But for those who are treatable, we treat.

As a rescue shelter we also take in chinchillas with varying degrees of behavioral issues. Sadly, many of the behavior issues are human induced. One chinchilla came in recently whose former owner clearly did not know how to handle the poor thing. It became so cage aggressive that it actually learned to strike out at the hand that was feeding it-- literally! With many of our potential adopters being families with children or first time chinchilla owners, we make it our policy to NOT rehome aggressive biters unless someone is specifically willing and able to take on a huge challenge. 

Like toddlers, chinchillas are natural nibblers, and we understand that an exploratory nibble is not a bite. However, there are some chins that have learned to use their teeth in a way that is more than one of curiosity. We do our best to rehabilitate and allow even the most extreme cases to stay as long as we have space for them. We have, however, expanded our chin room to two rooms and long ago gave up our clothes washer and dryer to accommodate the rescues. Sending chinchillas over the rainbow bridge is not something we regularly do. Rather, it's an act of desperation. Ours and other rescues constantly battle for space and resources to care for waves of unwanted animals.

Our support store has been our primary means of operating the chinchilla rescue. Unfortunately, we have seen a rise in unscrupulous, copy-cat vendors making our original products for their gain. Some have even started fake "rescues" as a false pretense. Many try, but few succeed in the long term. Know who you support and support who you know. For those of you who have remained loyal customers: Thank you! For those of you who are new to our website: Welcome! How may we serve you and your fur babies?  

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. 

This summer is just flying by! Already it's more than half past the beginning of the month and my update is very, very late. :s

Anywho....for the month of July, nine (9) chinchillas were surrendered and eight (8) chinchillas were adopted.

We had one situation where the surrendering family was obviously distraught about the decision to give up their chinchillas. After a heart to heart chat, we discovered the root cause was one more of guilt than anything else. Guilt over not spending the "time and attention they deserve". The raw truth of the matter is, if a chinchilla has a cage buddy with whom to snuggle, plenty of food, water, appropriate shelter and a clean cage then spending one on one time with them is icing on the cake. Yes, interacting with your pet will serve to enrich theirs and your life, but life is not always absolutely stable.

Even our human friendships suffer when going through a major (or minor) life change. Just because we have little time for our human friends does not mean we ditch them altogether. A good friendship will resume where left off. This is very similar with our relationships with our pets. Unless yours is a situation where there is abuse or damaging neglect, please do not fall victim to the mentality that you are somehow not a good chinchilla owner if you can't play with them every day.

This guilt inflicting mindset has been circulating around the forums for years now and has caused more damage than good. The results are people who come to resent their pets rather than cherish them. While I do agree that having a pet means having a relationship, the guilt involved in spending time with them is counterproductive. Chinchillas do not absolutely positively have to have a specified amount of out of cage time each day. It is ideal, but not a diehard rule. Unless your chin is caged in a shoe box, they should have enough space and environmental stimulation provided in their habitat (cage) to keep them secure and content.

We received a promising email from the people with the change of heart. The following message sent me sailing happily through this post:

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Hello again! :)

First, I want to thank you again for changing my mind about surrendering my little ones: now that we are settled into the new house, my schedule really has allowed more time to spend with them and they seem much, much happier. They transitioned very well through the move, and even seem much more relaxed than before. The new cage setup has been fabulous, and I'm looking forward to being able to open the two levels now that I work with an exotics vet who is willing to neuter Cashew. They have LOVED the new diet and all of the different treats they've gotten to play with, but now I am almost out! That must mean it's time for an order! ;)

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So it looks like a happy ending, or a new beginning for all.

For the month of June, seven (7) chinchillas were surrendered and two (2) chinchillas were adopted. *sigh* Surrenders are high again with people on a surrender waiting list.

Whimsy strongly believes that a major part of surrendering excuses revolve around simply not understanding chinchilla behavior and body language. Rarely do we meet a person who is horribly heartbroken over the decision to surrender. Most often we see relief or guilt.When a person has a less than ideal relationship with their pet, it's that much easier to give them up. Training your pet chinchilla is a mutually beneficial way to bond with your furry friend. Pet chinchillas can learn certain tricks and other trained behaviors.

The majority of trained animal actions are based on the natural tendencies of the critter involved. For example, cats naturally gravitate to defecate and urinate in a sandy spot where they can easily cover the evidence. A chinchilla that habitually urinates in one corner of their cage can be “trained” to use a litter box (assuming you put it in the same corner).

Some people don’t realize that they are training their chinchilla without even knowing it! A chinchilla who bites when he no longer wants to be held has learned this very, very bad behavior. If your chinnie struggles or nips while holding them, do NOT give in to the animal by releasing them. This causes a vicious cycle of behavior where the chinchilla learns that with some struggle or teeth, they can be released to play, or put back into the peace and security of their cage. (More on the proper way to catch and hold a chinchilla later).

Another common badly learned behavior are those well-intentioned chinchilla owners who throw open the chin’s cage door to allow them out to play. I can’t stress this enough: never allow your chin free roam out their cage doors. This teaches your chinnie to bolt, which makes cage cleaning, feeding and other simple tasks very difficult. It is frustrating when you have to fight to keep your chin in their cage when you want them there, especially if you have to leave your chin in the care of someone who may not be able to handle them safely. With a training technique referred to successive approximation, you can teach your chinnie to step politely onto your hands when it’s time to come out and play. This trained behavior works especially well if you have a chinchilla that is already friendly and inquisitive.

Chinchillas are very smart. They learn to recognize tone of voice and some can even recognize their names! Yes, we know of chinchillas that will actually come when called. There are even chinchillas who can perform simple tricks like jumping through a hoop on command, standing pretty for a treat, giving a high five, hopping onto a shoulder and other seemingly dog-like tricks. Youtube is full of videos with trained chinchilla clips. Interestingly enough, some of those video makers claim their chinchillas are not trained. In actuality, if a chinchilla performs a certain behavior as expected and on command, you can be sure it’s “trained” or learned behavior. Some people are just talented enough to not realize that is what they have inadvertently done. ;)

Training your chinchilla does take a lot of time and patience. The process, however, can be a rewarding and enriching experience for the owner and the chin as they learn to fine-tune their interactions. Chinchilla training is another creative way to enjoy your pet. And just think; if more people spent that much more time with their chinchillas, how many fewer surrenders we’d have due to loss of interest!

This is Whimsy, wishful dreaming, and I approve this message.

Happy June everyone!

For the month of May, four (4) chinchillas were surrendered and eleven (11) chinchillas were adopted. It would have been ideal if three of those surrendered hadn’t come from a legal intervention breach of contract case.

Folks, we take our adoptions and contract very seriously. Whimsy believes that people in general are basically good, honest individuals. The contract is there to deter those who otherwise have less than stellar ideas for becoming a rescue mom or dad. To date we have won 100% of the cases involving breach of contract with our chinchilla adoptions. 

The latest legal round caused us to revamp the contract. In the words of our lawyer, “To give it more bite”. The updated version of the contract includes the usual promises to care for and not neglect the chinchillas, keep bonded pairs together unless a fight occurs, to refrain from breeding and the specification regarding keeping a single gender chinchilla home, and other no-brainer items one would find in any rescue contract. But now we have included the provision that all attorney fees, court costs and other related costs are payable entirely by the individual adopting if Whimsy has to take legal action.  It’s truly a shame that this has become necessary.

The adoption contract is a pre-screening device. It is viewable to all and we require potential adopters to review it prior to arranging an appointment. Those who do not agree with our terms are welcome to find a chinnie friend elsewhere. Those who do choose to adopt from us get the assurance of lifelong support, including expert advice, comprehensive history and behavior information for every individual chinchilla and access to wholesome, comparatively inexpensive care products.

The majority of our adoptive families are wonderful, caring people, many of whom we are happy to call our fellow chinnie friends. Some adoptions do not take root as we hope, and the individuals or families find that chinchilla ownership is just not for them. We understand. Chins aren’t the perfect pet for everyone. And not every chin is a perfect pet even for long term owners! We are obligated to accept the return of any animal adopted from us, therefore providing assurance that no one is left with an animal they may otherwise neglect. We like to think of our adoption contract as a safety net for all involved.