We stumbled upon our first chinchilla at a mom & pop pet store. My husband and daughter saw him when they were checking out the new store in town and he said "absolutely not." I went back a few days later to take a look and was smitten. We brought him home, a beautiful hetero beige and my daughter fell asleep on the couch with him. I didn't realize she had him out of the cage. He just sat there with her for about 2 hours lounging. He was so calm. Shortly after, my husband came home with another one from Petsmart. A beautiful standard. They were the best chins in the world. We read the basic stuff -- nothing about breeding though we weren't planning on breeding. Famous last words. Several months later, we found a baby in the cage. Before we could learn enough about the process, she ended up pregnant again. We had one beautiful, amazing beige male kit with the first litter and two females the 2nd litter. Unfortunately, they got a chill and the little beige girl stopped breathing 3 times. We cleared her lungs and brought her back with CPR all 3 times. The 2nd girl, a standard, developed pneumonia and passed away. Sometime after the baby was weaned, our mama chin managed to open her cage and got out while the dog was inside. I won't go into details, but we were heartbroken. Last year, our dad got an upper respitory infection and after a week at the vet, succumbed to the illness. Again, devestation. The baby girl managed to live for 2 years, but always had problems with URI. Losing a chin isn't like losing a hamster or a mouse. They're like dogs; I felt like my dog had died with each one.
So here we are, almost 5 years after our very first chin. We got a crash course in what to do and what not to do but paid attention to all the details. We did things the right way after that; we got two beautiful chins from a breeder and we recently had two beautiful baby girls that are healthy and thriving. In my 5 short years with chinchillas, I have witnessed birth, death, have hand fed babies, suctioned noses, given medicine injections and oxygen and spent many sleepless nights with sick chins -- just about anything you can imagine. We now have a total of 5 -- we added another Petsmart chin that I had to have -- actually, I felt I needed to rescue her. She looked terrified and was cowering in the cage, so she went home with me. We've had her for about a year now -- she's still a little skiddish, but she's come a long way. When we got her, she wouldn't let anybody touch her. She was so stressed out, fur would fly all over the place. She was a little mean, probably because she was so scared. Now, she actually comes up to the cage to greet us, will try to climb out when we open the door and isn't mean anymore.
With all that has happened, I wouldn't change my decision to buy that first chin. They have given me happiness, LOL, have definitely educated me and provided me with love and companionship. As I recall, I once read some literature suggesting that chins didn't have personalities and they were incapable of really "knowing" their owners or behaving like a cat or a dog ("real" pets, LOL). I don't remember where I read it because I know that it was hogwash. When I leave for work in the morning, my chins are standing on their hind legs to greet me when I come over to their cages, noses sticking out through the slats for a scratch.
So the burning question is, is it worth it? Was I expecting all of this? Would I do it again? YES it is worth it, No, I wasn't expecting everything that has happened, but we took everything one day at a time. Each time we learned what to do and what not to do. I would totally do it again -- in a heartbeat. And actually, I plan on it!
