Happy November everyone!

And Happy Anniversary to us!!!

Whimsy's Menagerie & Chinchilla rescue started on this day in 2008. 

What began as a homeschool project has now become a serious full time job!

Operating the only chinchilla-specific small animal rescue in almost a 500 mile radius means we serve those who are willing to drive several hours to adopt, or surrender chinchillas. We've had people come as far as Richmond, Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania and as far south as North Carolina, South Carolina and even Tennessee! We have found homes for more than 200 fuzzbutts to date. We take pride in the fact that we are able to help chinchillas and their owners by offering such specialized care. 

For the month of October, 13 chinchillas were surrendered and 8 were adopted. On any given month it is not unusual to have an average of 10 chinchillas in and 10 adopted. We've even received and found homes for mass surrenders from various animal control facilities, breeders who have decided to call it quits, and many, many "oops" litters. 

Our work here is fully funded by adoption fees, cage and supplies sales, and donations.  We were giddy with delight by the fact that folks literally started begging us to make our cage accessories and chew toys available for their chins. It's been a wonderful creative outlet working to determine the BEST and safest combinations and designs for the little critters. And as always, we couldn't have done it without the support from all of you who have found your way to our humble little website. So from the bottom of our hearts (humans and chinchillas alike) we say thank you. :)

We have more new toys!

As some of you already know, we've started offering rosehip-stuffed willow balls as both toss toys and, what we've been calling, our new Orb-bits Lite. These have been especially popular with the chinnies who absolutely adore the treat filled globes.

Rose hips are essential to a chinchilla's diet in that they add highly palpable, easy to digest vitamin C, which helps strengthen the connective tissue in their gums. Because chinchilla's teeth are free floating, having strong tissue to support them is most important to help ward off malocclusion. Our toys are carefully designed to accommodate your gnawing pet's unique needs and preferences. 

We also offer loose rose hips by the pound for the little beggars. ;) 

The past couple of weeks have been filled with medical questions and emergencies.

We often receive phone calls and emails from chin owners who have questions about health, hygiene, and behavior, with conflicting information gleaned from the internet, pet stores and even their veterinarians!

So we'd like to offer chinnyhealth 101: chinchillas are prey animals and as such will mask their symptoms. So how do you know when your chin needs vet care? The pet's owner is in the very best position to recognize a change in behavior, butsometimes psychological optimism keeps owners from taking action in a timely manner. Some of the things to watch for (in order of seriousness) include:

• change in behavior
• change in poops (especially if there's blood, mucus, or a foul smell)
• hunched back
• continuing loss of weight
• breathing trouble (including discharge or breathing you can "hear")
• drooling
• limping
• seizures
• lethargy

Now, not to be alarmist, but I do want to call attention to the seriousness of getting medical intervention before a treatable symptom gets out of control. For this reason it is imperative that you have a knowledgeable exotics vet already chosen. Many vets "can" see and treat exotics, but not all vets specialize in them. Please be sure your chosen veterinarian knows and understands about the special needs of chinchillas.

For the month of September, 5 chinchillas were surrendered and 11 were adopted. I'm also happy to announce that the single boy who came in was successfully paired with another single. Ricochet and Walter were lonely boys and Ricochet had actually taken to chewing his own fur. The introduction of the two was amazingly heartfelt. Walter was sooo excited to have a friend. He immediately started grooming Ricochet who at first was taken aback by the ministrations, but quickly relaxed.  Now the two are deeply bonded and Ricochet's fur is starting to grow back. :)

And speaking of growing...our homegrown loofah looks amazing! The vines have spread across the dividing fence between ours and our neighbor's yard, but is quickly trying to overtake both homes. Harvest time is starting and we're learning how to time it just right.

And also speaking of growing....our generator challenge has been a remarkable success! In only one month's time we have almost met our goal.  As of today we have just over $2500 towards our $3000 end. We did not expect to meet this endeavor so quickly, but this is all thanks to our returning and new friends. Thank you everyone for the encouraging outpouring of support!

Oftentimes when chinchillas are surrendered, they come in cages that are too small, chewed up, rusted through or otherwise entirely inadequate to house a curious chin. For this reason Whimsy's gathers and fixes cages to make available to people looking to house a newly adopted chin or to upgrade their preexisting cage. With all the cool items we have available in our store, decorating cages is one of the most enjoyable jobs here. Take a look at one of our start to finish cages. Thank you to Flowerbud and Mandolin for their untiring work putting together this stop motion video.