Has anyone ever gotten a "free" chinchilla?

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ReneeM

ReneeM

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Joined
Sep 3, 2011
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614
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MD
I have seen ads on craigslist in the past couple of weeks by people looking for " free" or low adoption fee chins.

I just wonder what happens if those people actually end up getting a free chin!

Has anyone here ever taken in a free chinchilla? If so, what was the actual cost to you after bringing the chin home?

My chin Mira was free from craigslist. Heck because she was pregnant I got four free chins!

Well then I had to order a baby safe cage ( the cage she came with was crap). That was around $250. Then chew sticks and other supplies for the kits were at least another $150.

So my free chinchilla was about $400-500 after coming home.

But on the plus side, I ended up with my little lovebug Marika :D
 
I actually got Maddy free with her complete cage set up and supplies and was paid 40.00 to take Scooter with his complete cage set up and supplies. Customers dropped them off at my shop looking for a good home.
 
My Sniffles was "free" off of craigslist, although not advertised as such. We actually didn't know until the day we brought him home what kind of adoption fee we would be looking at (but, after meeting us and deciding that we were a good home, his previous owner told us just to take whatever we would pay her and put it towards food/supplies for the chin).

So far, the cost of bringing him in has been pretty low. He came with his cage, some bedding, a little hay, dust, and some good quality chin food. We already had that stuff for Crouton, though, so it was just extra supply. We bought him a chew-proof water bottle, and a couple toys and chew sticks for now.

After the introduction process, when Crouton and Sniffles are ready to live together (or when it's clear they're not going to), THEN the costs are going to shoot up. FN cage (to share or divide), plus new wood shelves, fleece hammocks, tubes, etc. And Sniffles is a wheel-runner, but his last family had him with a 12" plastic one, so a chin-safe wheel would be nice, too. Just holding off on buying the new stuff so that I can avoid the territorial problems.
 
my fiance' got me a chin off craigslist over 4 years ago. Stitch came with a cage and all his "stuff". The family was giving him away because their son went to college and they felt Stitch needed more attention.
Most of my chins were rescues in some way or another. But the gas & time I put in to get them all was not free. Nor is the 50lbs of hay and 50lbs of food and wood and treats and fleece and new cages. Not to mention vet bills, medicine and miscellaneous other things I have purchased.
but i knew all this before taking them in and i wouldnt trade any of them! they are my little loves. :heart3:
 
chinchic dropped into my house out of the blue from
my dad was like his friend doesn't want it and we aren't keeping it and he was going to help give it away?

I'm not sure if that was just an excuse to see if I liked it

well... chinchin stayed with me for the next 6 years
he only got sick once
so one vet bill and usual food/hay + bedding + bath dust cost

he came with everything
massive cage potty food dish hay rack house etcec
 
No animal is free. Gotten plenty of "free" bunnies to rehome in the past. Between vet bills, feed, bedding, equipment to send them with, it can end up costing a small fortune.
 
both of my chins came to me free.

Rhino came with a free cage that was perfectly suitable for a single chin, although i upgraded his cage to a much bigger one that both my boys live in now. spent less than buying a brand new cage because i bought the cage part used and built the base and all the shelves myself.

Guss came free because i convinced his former owner that giving Guss to me and selling the supplies (all crud except the cage) separately would be better. i really didn't want to see Guss go to a new un-educated home and continue living in his plastic filled cage with crap food and kaytee hay :(

looking back, i didn't spend any more than what i would have, as all my chin money has gone towards supplies, feed, cage materials, etc. i have not had to pay anything towards vets (yet! knock on wood!), and neither of my boys have had to receive any special care (hand feeding, etc).

i'll go toss salt over my shoulder and rub my lucky rabbit's foot now......... lol.
 
All of my chins were "free". I got Rufus as a birthday present from my friend that accidentally had some kits. I already had a cage from when I had rats, but I still had to get all the chinchilla stuff, hay, food, dust, wood etc. Then my same friend had a baby of her own and couldn't keep her chins anymore so she gave them to my cousin, who about a year later moved and gave them to me. I had to help my cousin move to get the chins and their cages and supplies. Ha, now that I think back to it, we lived in an apartment that was less than 500 sq ft and we had 3 chinchilla cages set up, how did we live in that small of a space?! Anyway, my "free" chinchillas have cost me plenty for supplies and now that we just have the 2 boys they are extremely spoiled!
 
I have gotten a couple that were free. However, the care I needed to put back in to them to get them to health was not cheap, so in the end they were some of the most expensive ones. I had 2 that came to me free, and with their supplies, but smelled so bad, it made me want to vomit. They were small, and under weight and both missing a limb. So in the end, free was not free (but I had known that, I seen their pictures and HAD to rescue them from where they were)
 
I got my second chinchilla from the pound for free. They told me a breeder had surrendered her because she was sterile and she had supposedly been fixed. I thought she would make a great buddy for my male.

Nine babies later the CnQ forum started and I finally found someone who knew enough about chins to figure out why she kept having babies. (Playtime together, lol)

Total cost: 15 years of chinchilla addiction.
 
Lady was free, got her from the Texas hoarding incident a few years ago. 2 1/2 years later I've spent $1000 on medical bills, she eat's beaphar so that's $60 every few months. I bought her a friend (Latte) that was another $100ish. Lady bit latte's toe off (more medical bills), FN cage to give them separate but equal living space $250.... etc....

My free chin has turned into my most spoiled, most fickle, and most expensive pet yet.
 
Chipper was "free to good home" thru a co-worker. He came with a decent cage, small wheel, good food, hay, chew toy, dishes. I made minor changes that weren't even worth tallying in the first couple months. Then $75 in materials for a bigger cage and the snowball built from there. Beware of pets being advertised as free. :)

Half my house is free pets that came to me because they didn't have anywhere else to go. I had to pay for at least their food at first. My ultimate "free" pet is my fantail, Sam. I threw my coat over him one October day and had to get him everything when I got him home. Now that's "free"!
 
Ah one of mine was 10 bucks at a yard sale, but magyk is right.. No animal is free, ESP when you have to pay a butt ton to nurse it back to health
 
I have never gotten a free chinchilla but my cindy and chi chi had babies before i knew better and I gave the babies away to people I knew personnaly that would take good care of them. :)


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