Our Chinchilla Family Members
I have known about chinchillas from 1990. I still remember how they came up, who brought them up, the class the conversation started in, and the class that the conversation carried over into! However, I never adopted one as a pet until 2006. I wanted to make sure that my life was stable before bringing one of these li'l furries into it.Pepper Mordecai
May 8, 2005
My first chinchilla was adopted from the Petsmart I was working at. Within one week of being there, he came down with a protozoal infection. While in quarantine (a small, undecorated rubbermaid), he contracted a severe eye infection in one eye which was passed to his other eye by workers not paying attention to cleanliness. For the next two months, I spent every break, an hour before and 30 minutes after each shift brushing his fur, massaging him with dust, hand feeding him, and encouraging him to fight his infections. When I wasn't working, his weight would plummet. When I did work, his weight would flourish. After he finally got vet clearance, I took Pepper home.
We have tried to pair Pepper up with other male chins, but he is an extreme Alpha male. Without pause, he runs straight to the other chin and goes for the jugular. He is a true solo chin, and he is very happy and content living by himself in his cage.
Mei-Mei Miriam
August 8, 2003
Mei-Mei is our third chinchilla. We adopted Mei-Mei on May 3, 2007, from a chinchilla rescue in Ohio. Not a lot was known about her past, though the rescue suspected Mei-Mei had been abused. Mei-Mei does not like small children and she is terrified of men. She has past behavioral issues, such as spraying urine. Since living with us, she has not sprayed or bitten anyone! Mei-Mei is making great strides, and she is no longer terrified of my husband. She loves to sit on our shoulders during playtime.
Mei-Mei has made great strides in her behavior. She adores Kjell and will wag her tail at him. She loves playtime and getting chin scritches. She also loves her wooden bath house, which is now her sleeping house.
Cheel Elijah
November 5, 2001
Cheel Elijah is our fourth chinchilla. We officially adopted him on October 6, 2007, from the same rescue we adopted Mei-Mei. When he arrived to the rescue last year, he had an injury to his back right foot and had to have a toe amputated. Like Mei-Mei, he has behavioral issues, such as defensiveness and barking--both signs of sadness and fear. He does bark occasionally, when he doesn't understand our intentions, however he now eagerly awaits his daily scritches behind his ears and on his chest. He also loves to do "tricks" such as climbing onto my arm for a bit of dehydrated basil leaf. He is settling in very well, and while he still loves his fleecy tunnel, he is more often cuddled up in his fleece cup or with his fleece bear. He's quite a happy chinchilla, and I'll often catch him binkying on his toes (little jumps on his tip-toes). We are working intensively with him as we do with our other chinchillas and look forward to him becoming the best chinchilla he can be.
At the end of his first December with us, Cheel started having seizures in stressful situations. We took him in to the vet, and after blood work, discovered he had a severe liver infection. We treated him for that, and his seizures have decreased in frequency. He was having several a week, but I'm happy to report he has not had any seizures for the past several months. Cheel does have stress-induced epilepsy, and his cage has been rearranged to ensure his safety.
Felix Klaas
November 5, 2002
Felix Klaas is the sixth Wunderchin. He is about 8 years old and is an ex-ranchie. We adopted him on December 7, 2008.
Felix is a big sweetie. Felix discovered the single life and took to it whole heartedly. We did try pairing him with Cheel: we went through intros, cage swapping, mutual playtimes, etc, but to no avail. We did want to see whether this was a personal mismatch, or if Felix was a solo chin, so we tried having a mutual playtime with the most laid-back chinchilla here, Sebastian. As soon as we set them on the floor, Felix went straight for Sebastian's throat. We immediately separated them and set Felix up in his own spacious cage. We figure this is in line with the fact that on the ranch, he was the only male chin for 6 years (think runs). It is not uncommon for ranch chins to be solo chins, particularly if rescued later in life. We've discussed the matter with several other more experienced people, and they have relayed similar experiences. Felix will remain a solo chin, and because we've adopted him, he'll be with us for life.
Felix has settled in very well. He comes up for scritches, he comes to the door to be picked up and carried around, and he loves being doted on. Felix loves to watch dramas on tv while he eats his pellets, and he also thoroughly enjoys being picked up and cuddled by Marne. Felix has a ChinSpin that he loves to run on at night, and sleep on during the day.
Julietta D'vorah
January 15, 2006
Julietta was surrendered to another rescue on June 9, 2007, and she came to Finally Home Chinchillas on September 7, 2008. We met her when we picked up Cheel, and though we wanted to bring her home at the time, we had no cage for transport.
Julietta loves chin scritches, being talked to, and one on one time. She is an independent girl that likes to come out onto your hands when she's ready to be held or to play. She truly loves lazily bouncing off the door or walls during playtime. Her fur continues to get better--she had small mats before--and she lives for her baths.
We've introduced Julietta to several people, and every time she has spit and gotten very defensive. Then she'd mope for days afterward. We realized she likes it here, and we decided to go ahead and adopt her as a Wunderchin. We were rather surprised, though pleased, and look forward to spending our lives together.
Babbette Yael
September 6, 2004
I was surrendered to another rescue on April 20, 2008, and I came to Finally Home Chinchillas on September 7, 2008. The rescuer at the last place told the folks here that before coming to the first rescue, I was horribly abused. I suffered a skull fracture with a brain injury, I was blinded in my right eye and I have a large rainbow-shaped scar on my right hip. When I was first here, I panicked whenever the folks here opened the door to my cage, even if it's for food or hay.
They love me here, and know I can't help being terrified. They don't push me hard at all, just expect me to come get my acidophilus tablet and my rosehip from their hands. The other day, I decided to be really brave and jumped right onto Marne's hands. Then I got scared and jumped off, but turned right back around and jumped again! We were so happy with that, I got lots of snuggles and love and even a gentle scritch behind my ear.
Babbette has not chewed her fur since arriving. She has settled in as much as can be expected and now eagerly accepts scritches from Marne. We have adopted her and she now has a Chin Spin to run on, which helps tremendously with her moments of psychosis.
Piet Moishe
May 5, 2002
Piet, July 2009. Piet was so aggressive and bit so hard, we had to wear leather work gloves just to handle him, give him toys and clean his cage.
Piet, March 16, 2010. Piet has worked very hard with Kjell, and he will now allow Kjell to give him scritches, clean his cage, give him toys without any gloves. He also loves to play with Kjell during playtimes. Piet is still afraid of Marne, but his accomplishments are so far beyond our wildest dreams that it's ok. Just the fact he can lovingly interact with anyone is a major thing.
Piet is approximately 9 years old. He has severe behavioral problems related to brain damage he received at some point in his past. It's clear he was severely abused; every time he sees hands he goes into attack mode. He grabs the bars of the cage with his mouth and violently shakes the cage in an attempt to attack the hands he sees. Piet is very much like an overly-aggressive dog. He was taken in off FreeCycle by a caring family that tried for a year to work with him, but his behavior did not change. They surrendered him to a rescue that guaranteed him a forever home if his behavior could not be altered. That rescue tried to work with him for about a year, where it became clear that the behavior was unpredictable and compulsive. When the financial crisis hit that state, we took in Piet, so that the rescue would have one more space for an adoptable chin.
We exist for chins like Piet. He's very friendly as long as he doesn't see any hands. He loves to watch cartoons on tv, and he loves his fleece hammock. Piet is very possessive and gets threatened if we have to remove anything from his cage. He also refuses to leave his cage. Piet does bite to draw blood; he does bite excessively hard. Kjell wasn't aware of this, and on Piet's first night here, Kjell got bit so hard that he was bit clean to the bone. We must wear leather gloves and long, thick sleeves to clean out his cage.
Piet has overcome his fear of men, though not his fear of women. He will visit Marne through the bars without trying to immediately attack, but he will not let her pet him. On the other hand, Piet seeks out scritches from Kjell, and adores him. In spite of all this, we feel he's a great chin. Piet can't help his behavior, we know this. We're glad that he's found his place here.
Sophia Loren
March 23, 2007
Sophia was born near the end of March 2007. She is here because she's got moderate behavioral issues. She is a very friendly chin until we try to touch her. In her last home, Sophia sprayed the people nearly every day, and hated to be picked up. Here, she has been startled (she sleeps with her eyes open, which we didn't realize at first), and so she has nipped. The last time Marne had to pick her up, Sophia was so afraid that she peed on herself. These aren't overly offensive behaviors by themselves, but they are related to her unsocialized nature.
Sophia hates to leave her cage--even for playtime--and she often hides from people. We feel she'll come around in time to make a wonderful pet, but for now she cannot be placed in a home. She came from the same place as Piet, and we took her in because that rescue was being inundated with surrender requests. We also took her in because of her sassy nature. We're suckers for chins with attitude, and we love to work with them to help them blossom into the wonderful chins we know they can be.
Sophia has gained well over 100 grams. She's got a great appetite for hay and she loves rosehips. Sophia's favorite two things are her fleece tunnel and her Chin Spin (which she came with). Her favorite toy is the Rosehip Surprise, though she'd never turn down mulberry sticks.
As you can see by her picture above, Sophia just LOVES to be photographed, hence her name (Sofia Loren Wikipedia article, pictures).
November 2009: Sophia was not pregnant, for which we are relieved. She's doing really well, letting us pet her hands and scritch her tummy.
Zaki David
January 19, 2008
Zaki came to us March 17, 2010 as an owner surrender. The place where he, his dad and his sisters and mom were being boarded was starving them to death. Unfortunately, his father Snape, who was his buddy, died.
Zaki is a very sweet chin who appreciates the comforts of fleece. He does have some tendency to hoard pellets/hay/treats, but he is slowly overcoming this. I think that, in time, this behavior should go away completely. Zaki does not appear to be food aggressive.
Zaki likes to chew on almost anything, preferring willow and sticks. Since Joep died, Zaki was looking for a friend. Since Steven attacked Jeffrey Noah, he was also looking for a friend. After quarantine was up, we decided to do intros with the two boys. They went very well and Zaki and Jeffrey Noah are now living together happily in their 2-level.
Jeffrey Noah
July 11, 2009
Jeffrey Noah
Noah arrived on January 8, 2011 from Louisville, KY, with Steven, Talia, Rafi, Joony and Laney. They came via long-haul truck through the program Operation Roger (link is on our links page). Jeffrey is about 1 year old. They were very loved in their last home. They came to us due to the horrible economy.
So far, Noah loves to hang out in the dust house and to eat piles of hay. He occasionally chew on their toys and sits and watches us as we go about our days. He is sweet, but skittish. He'll need a little time to settle in.
April 2011: Steven was not happy sharing his cage with Jeffrey Noah, so we separated the boys. Zaki (our pet) had been very lonely since the death of his friend Joep, and so we paired the boys. They get along very well, so we have adopted Noah as our pet.