It's the calm before the storm.

This time of year many people hold off on adopting a new pet until the month of December when they can unleash (no pun intended) a dual-purpose new family member and conveniently have a wiggly, furry Christmas present.  

It's also the time of year when people tend to scale "up" and get rid of their pocket pets in favor of lap pets. During this season, chinchillas, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, ferrets, etc are often pushed aside to make room for kittens and puppies.

While the choice to give up a pet is a personal one, may I remind everyone of our duty to care and protect these helpless creatures? We are ready and willing. Who would like to join us? Someone's recycled pet could be your new family treasure.

The full moon is waning, thank God! We definitely see a difference in behaviors with the full moon, not only in the chins, but in people as well. Either that or sheer volume of inquiries dictates that we receive calls and emails that are sometimes rather... interesting.

Chinnie behavior during a full moon brings out high energy and sometimes subtle aggression. Just like siblings who occasionally have tiffs, chins have their differences too. One way we manage squabbles is with a-- no kidding-- timeout cage. The chaser is placed into a small carrier within the regular cage. This keeps everyone safe, but still in communion. We find that a night in time out is enough to regain the previous harmony. 

For this reason, it is also important that groups, especially males, have a place they can retreat to. Those silly little ceramic "dusters" with the ears is a perfect solution to allow a respite. 

As for human behavior, I'm going to bring this post to a screeching halt to add my latest pet peeve: We are a home-based rescue and as such are open by appointment. We are NOT a pet store.  We do not "sell" chinchillas. Our job is to ensure that each chin(s)  goes to a home that is fully equipped to offer them a better environment than the one we currently do. 

With that being said, we have, and will deny adoption to those who do not read our adoption contract and are not completely prepared to receive them. Non emergency phone calls before 9am or after 8:00 pm will NOT be warmly received as I question the competence of anyone who will make this kind of judgement error. 

If you don't already have a suitable habitat, we offer complete cage setups available for purchase that are much, much cheaper (not to mention chin-ready) than anything available in a pet store. 

Catharsis. I'm better now. Thanks. :)

Can you imagine living out your life on your very own island? Imagine living on a beautiful tropical paradise, with plenty of food, shelter, water, the perfect temperature. All your needs are met, but you are completely alone (except for the native wildlife).

Many pet situations are just like this. In a home where all their basic needs are met, but the owners simply want "one" of whatever. We have heard the excuses; "I can only afford one," "I want to bond and spoil just one," "I didn't think they could get along with the same gender and didn't want to chance having babies," etc.

What these reasons don't take into account is the fact that chinchillas, and many other species, live their lives in groups. Much like horses, chinchillas are herd animals. In fact, chinchillas snuggle and pile together for comfort and safety. They groom one another and generally keep each other content.

We have seen and heard innumerable cases of chinchillas raised in isolation who have simply turned neurotic; they start to chew their fur, bark or call a lot, are much more hyper than usual, and can even expire prematurely. Do you blame them? Not to say that all chins stress out by being an only pet, but a truly concerned pet owner will consider the pet's needs before theirpersonal preferences.

Don't believe the myth that having two or more will cause them to bond more strongly to one another than to you. While that is true of birds, it simply is not the case with chinchillas. Actually, we have found that paired chins are more friendly and interactive since their basic comfort needs are met. 

At our rescue, we work very diligently to spread the word about chinchillas' needs, and do our best to ensure that each single chin has a snuggle buddy before they are adopted to a new home.

But it's not as easy as it sounds. Chinchillas like to choose their own friends and sometimes it's quite apparent that certain chins simply HATE each other. Group dynamics can be tricky, which is why we do all the hard work first.  ;)

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. ;)