Hello friends.

We need your help.

For anyone who feels so inclined, we have a rescue chin who needs a tail amputation. She has nerve damage that has not resolved. We would like to schedule her for surgery and have her spayed at the same time so that we may introduce her to Bucky, an unneutered male. This is elective at the moment, but we have noticed that she is starting to fuss with her tail. The vet says we should be concerned if she starts to chew it. Well... she's starting to chew.

Donations can be made via our PayPal button (on the Donations page), OR to Banfield Veterinary Clinic with Dr. Peake in Virginia Beach. Please notate any donations made to the vet as "for help with Whimsy's Menagerie & Chinchilla Rescue".

On a more positive note, I want to thank Kelly and her family for coming to visit the Menagerie! It was a pleasure meeting them and "talkin' chinchillas". We had a wonderful time finally meeting in person after several emails and phone calls about concerns with her chinchilla named Doll Face. Thanks again Kelly for the bale of hay and the huge bag of pine bedding! Folks like you make rescue work a pleasure. :)

Things sure have been "hoppin'" here at the menagerie. We've had our first litter of Z babies born in our effort to work with variations of the violet mutation. As members of the Mutation Chinchilla Breeder's Association, we're very careful about breeding selection. Please keep in mind, we are NOT breeding chins to sell. Our goal is to work toward show quality/breed standard mutations in cooperation with our fellow members. With that in mind, occasionally there will be chins born who do not quite measure up in quality. Those are generally the tiny runts or those who do not have the characteristics we are working toward. While some chins will not meet certain "quality" standards, they are still deserving of love! If any babies born here are placed for adoption, they will only go in same gender pairs or as a proven buddy for another same gender chin. Ok, now that I'm off my soapbox, wanna see the new babies? :)

We had a very interesting case come to the Menagerie this past weekend. Another owner, concerned with her chin's fur chewing, contacted us. Stephanie and her vet tried everything they could think of to make this little guy happy. The vet determined his fur chewing was caused by stress, so he perscribed Prozac! Obviously, it didn't work. :P Anyway, he's joined our little sanctuary and seems to be very interested in the activity here. He's shown a good, healthy, non-aggressive curiosity toward the chins in adjoining enclosures. We're hoping to introduce him to Bucky once the quarantine period is over. As an aside, we've been referring to him as "Buffalo Bill". Can you guess why?

We have had such an exciting couple of weeks here at the Menagerie!

About a year ago, one of our hamsters, Oreo, had a litter of babies, who were eventually all adopted out to loving homes. One of Oreo's babies, dubbed Moomoo, was adopted by Sammie. Due to life circumstances, Sammie contacted us about returning Moomoo to the Menagerie, along with a Campbell's Russian dwarf hamster named Hammy. Both of the little guys receive plenty of attention by the Menagerie's youngest helper, Flowerbud, and are doing swimmingly. See if you can identify Moomoo's younger self at the bottom of the Adoptions page. ;)

Last Sunday, we were contacted by Elena, who was looking to surrender her two chins, Doby and Chip. She was very relieved to have found our rescue. The two boys have now settled into their new home. Sometimes, when we have two male cagemates come into the Menagerie, it is necessary to separate them because of the scent of so many females in the same room. Doby (Mosaic) and Chip (Standard), despite a minor early scuffle, do not have that problem, and are still best buds as ever. Once their quarantine/evaluation period is passed, these guys will make a wonderful pet pair for someone.

A while back, we heard from Holly, who had concerns about Bucky. Holly said that he had developed a fur problem. It was a while before Holly was ready to give Bucky up, but he eventually made it to our little chin-sanctuary. Bucky came to us along with his huge cage and toys, and we immediately put together the entire setup as to allow Bucky the easiest transition into his new home. As it turns out, thankfully, Bucky does not have fungus as Holly suspected. Instead, he had been chewing on his fur as a sign of stress.  We have put a fun chinchilla wheel in his cage, and treated him to tasty apple branch sticks and chinchilla cookies so that he will not chew on his fur. So far, our efforts seem to be working. After his quarantine period, we're hoping to introduce him to a new same gender cagemate. 

Bucky has the absolute sweetest personality of any chin we have ever met. He loves skritches under the chin and behind the ears, and he even smiles when his tummy is scratched. It is obvious that Holly took wonderful care of him. He is quite the spoiled little boy. ;)

It's amazing just how many different positions the chins can strike during their nap times. Raisin here has shown us some of the wackiest poses; from folding herself completely over inside her tube, to reaching for an invisible treat she dropped on the cage floor in her sleep. 

Raisin is not the only one with these interesting sleeping habits. For example, Kismet likes to sleep up next to the side of the cage, holding a bar in between her teeth! Many times we nearly have a heart attack, because a chinchilla will appear dead, rather than simply sleeping (which is especially true when they sleep with their eyes open).

As a side note, we are having another open house today. See our Craigslist posting for more info:

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/pet/1566418976.html