Welcome. Glad you found a site with lots of good information. Remember, just because something at the pet store has a picture of a chinchilla on it, does not mean it's good for a chinchilla! When you get your new baby, pictures would be appreciated.
I also love the exotic mice, including the zebra mice, none of which are allowed in California, where I live. Good luck.
I keep a large tank with 2 fancy female mice. I've had up to 5 but they pass from old age.
How scary but so lucky that she is back. That was great that you listened to your instinct. That happened to me once with a lost kitten. They aren't supposed to be outside and I had already checked 3 times but I opened the door one more time and there he was all scared and ready to give up...
Ferrets are carnivorous. I know of at least one tragic incident where the ferret reached under a closed door and fatally attacked a chinchilla that was out.
I had a chin that had the run of the chin room one night when he figured out that he could squeeze through a spot on the old cage I was using. His brother was too fat to get through. First, they were confined to their own room with no cords or anything so that was a good thing but I found him...
I hate working with hardware cloth. I had to use it when I was using a large parrot cage and the two chinchillas in it kept escaping.
It isn't a cloth at all but very stiff so you will want wire cutters and several pliers so you can bend it and shape it. I think any kind of metal, bendable...
Barb does wholesale to one place. I have ordered from them. They are in Canada but they drive down to Washington once a week to ship priority mail in the U.S.
Here's the link:
http://www.thingsforwings.ca/
Click on toy parts, then woodlands. I purchased about 8 of the scrap packs last time.
Good luck. I agree about finding the mom. I think some dust in the center of each room would be the best way to see if she's around or not.
I thought I lost a chin up a chimney one time and he finally turned up someplace completely different.
Fingers crossed.