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.
Earnest Anselm
March 6, 2006
Earnest Anselm is our second chinchilla, whom we adopted in August 2006. He is a dwarf chinchilla, though we did not know it when we got him. We originally adopted Earnie Anselm with the intention of bonding him and Pepper. Pepper didn't like him, so they've both got their own habitats.
When we bought Earnest Anselm from a hobby breeder, he was the size of a large gerbil. He weighed about 120 grams, and he was four months old. He was a third of the weight he should have been. The breeder told us he was a runt. While we were there, we saw where the chins were kept. There was one toy for 4 males, no toys for the female. There was a wire wheel with spokes hanging from the top of the cage. There was nothing else, save the poor-quality rabbit food. We took Earnest Anselm home, where we realized he couldn't jump. Over time, we've come to determine, with vet assistance, that he has neurological issues. We have worked intensively with him every day during play time to teach him to jump, to balance, to run. He can now jump higher than our other chinchillas, reaching a height of 3 feet from a standstill.
Earnest Anselm will always have neurological issues due to being a dwarf chinchilla, and those issues were amplified by inadequate care as an infant and young chinchilla. He is doing well, and improves every day.
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.
After being here for 15 months, 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.
Johan Daniel
December 5, 2005
Johan Daniel is our fifth chinchilla. We adopted him on June 1, 2008 from a different rescue in Ohio. We were specifically looking for a dwarf chinchilla to bond with Earnest Anselm. After quarantine and intros, the two got along fabulously. Johan came to us severely overweight (he was about 500 grams, when he should be about 350), and we are working with him to lose the grams in a safe and practical way. It is important to note that Johan was overweight from a lack of exercise. He was not over eating.
A month and three weeks after he came to live with us, we noticed that Johan was having seizures. After taking him to a very good vet, getting blood work and diabetes tests and evaluating his diet and routine, we've discovered he has epilepsy. For now, he is medicine-free, because the seizures are not so frequent as to interfere with his daily life. We've modified his and Earnie Anselm's cage so that if he has a seizure, he won't get hurt.
Johan has overcome his unsocialized-ness, and now runs eagerly up to be petted or held. His favorite thing is to snuggle under my chin while getting his tummy rubbed. He loves to sleep on the daybed with Earnie Anselm.
Felix Klaas
November 5, 2002
Felix Klaas is the sixth Wunderchin. He is about 6 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.
Chaim "Hymie" Joel
July 4, 2008
Hymie Joel is the seventh chin to join our family. We actually didn't intend to get him, we had arranged to adopt a girl that had been in the same house. When our friend arrived to pick her up, the guy told her that his brother had given the girl away earlier in the day. We asked her to please take the boy, so she did. He didn't have food or hay, and came in a small cardboard box. Our friend said the guy was handling the box roughly, and she could hear Hymie hitting the sides. We're sure that had we not intervened, he would have starved to death. His owner was leaving the country that night, without the chins.
When she got Hymie home, she gave him food and hay straight away, and he's chowed down ever since. We picked him up on a day trip, and when we got home, we weighed him. He was 450 grams. The guy we got him from claimed that Hymie is a year and a half, but it's clear to us that he's younger than a year old.
Hymie is a very wonderful, friendly, energetic chinchilla. He loves attention, he loves to play, and he can jump over 4 feet into the air from a stand still!
As of April 8, Hymie weighs 500 grams, though he's very healthy and active. Judging by his energy level, we're going to continue to assume he is a young chin--under a year old. He is doing very well here and loves to flirt with the girls across the room.
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 afterwards. We realized she likes it here, and we decided to go ahead and adopt her as a Wunderchin. We were rather suprised, though pleased, and look forward to spending our lives together.
Julietta is the last Wunderchin that will be adopted into our family.