My strangest purchase, and most definitely unexpected and expensive, would have to be a new refrigerator.
Ive mentioned it a few times before on this site, but i had taken in a female chin as a companion for my male. When i went to pick her up i found out she was still actively living in a cage with another male. So when i got her home i kept her separate for a much longer period of time in case she was pregnant.
And during that time she showed several symptoms of pregnancy. She looked a little bigger and she was making little nests with the litter. (She was only about a year or so old. At least thats what i was told form the owner, who was told her age from petsmart when she got her. Yea, i know..) I watched closely over the months, but after 3-6 months, nothing ever came of it.
Eventually intros were made between chico (male) and Sophie (female). And they ended up living together. I watched for any mating activity, but never saw any. (To my discredit, i was not as well informed as i should have been.) After a long enough period of time, i started paying a little less attention to it. She also never showed a single sign of pregnancy at all.
Until one day when i had my ferrets out to play...
When they come out, they get a large area to freely roam. The refrigerator was as old if not older then i was. Around 20+ years or so. So the bottom front cover had long since came off. And there was an opening down there. My ferrets would often go under it. I didn't like it, but there was no way to block it off at the time.
One day when i had them out, i suddenly heard a very loud squealing from under the refrigerator. My ferrets never make that kinda sound, so i was in a sudden panic. Realizing my girl Zoey was under the fridge, i hit the power breaker to shut everything off. (And since i had no idea which one the fridge was on, it was a guessing game till i hit the right one.) Once it was hit, the fridge shut off.
I got down on my knees in front of the fridge to go see what was wrong, when i saw Zoey walk out the other side. She looked completely fine and unaffected. Just kept going along with her business. I was just about to get back up when i figured 'heck, I'm already down here. Mine as well take a look.'
Now after so many years, its fairly dirty under there. And very dark. So you couldn't rly see much. But i laid there looking (which considering my back injury, was quite painful.) But after my eyes started to adjust a little i could just barley make out what looked like a little face and whiskers...
First thought was maybe its a mouse. Since that wasn't completely uncommon around here. But it was not acting like a mouse. And it was staying put, not running away. Part of me thought it looked to be the same color as Chico, my male chin. But it was so dark, i couldn't come close to being sure. But the more i stared at it the more it started to slightly resemble a mini chin face. Then it did the famous chin movement. He lifted his hand and swiped it across his nose, in a fashion that only a chin ever does. 0.0
I freaked out a bit. I also noticed that both my chins in the cage (which was only a few feet away) where extremely worked up and paying attention to my every single move i made. The trouble was, there was no way i could get him out. And with my injury, no way i could move the fridge. I was also home alone at the time, and it was like 9-10pm or so.
Fortunately my friend was able to come over and help me. He got the fridge out a bit, and was able to tap on various metal parts to coax the little guy out. He was so unbelievably small. And i had no idea what to do with him. (Being in a panic didn't help my thought process either.) I grabbed a towel and made a bed in a small animal carrier i had. With a little bit of food and water, tho i didn't think he would touch it. He stayed in there for a few minutes while i calmed down and stopped shaking lol. Then i watched him walk right through the bar spacing on the front like they wernt there. Then it all started coming into focus... lol
I put him back with his mom a few minutes later. Figured he needed her and was probably hungry, seeing as i have no idea how long he was out of the cage. But i hadn't seen him all day (or ever for that matter) so i figured it was quite a while.
I took him to the vet the next morning. Everything checked out, and he seemed healthy. Unfortunately the same could not be said for my refrigerator. When the breaker was turned back on the fridge started up. But it never functioned properly again. There was no real cold coming from it at all. My fridge gave its last ounce of life in saving my baby chinchilla. :'( So i decided that if the chin was a female i would give her the name Amana after the fridge that saved him. But he was a male. And given the very fitting name Houdini. Which he lived up to many many times after that. And his sister several months later, who was almost his identical twin, was named Ameena. (A variation of the fridge name. But thats a whole nother story on how that came to be lol)
Needless to say I had to by another refrigerator. So that was about $1k. Definitely the most expensive purchase regarding a chinchilla i ever made. But i grantee you it was the first time one of those salesmen ever had a story quite like that! The look on there face was quite amusing as they stared in disbelief lol.
If it doesn't count as a strange purchase, it was most definitely a strange experience. And a mistake i never ever made again!
Why am I getting a dozens of metal trays? 
