Surrender Policy and Form
This is where you'll find info on our surrender policy, and our form, if you'd like to surrender.
Surrender Policy
Sometimes, we find that it's in our chins' best interest to surrender them to a rescue. It can be for any reason: health, behavior, even time or money. While Finally Home Chinchillas specializes in chins with behavioral and/or medical issues, we can temporarily take in chins. We are full here, but we can pass them on to rescues with which we have established relationships. We are very careful about who we entrust these li'l furries to.
When you surrender a chinchilla to the Finally Home rescue, you agree to the following:
1. The surrender is permanent. If you are in need of temporary boarding, that's a different situation than relinquishing your chinchilla. Surrender is handing the chinchilla over to the rescue, and leaving.
2. The chinchilla(s) and all his/her belongings will be surrendered. This includes, in part, food, hay, toys, dust, bath house, dish, water bottle, accessories and cage. We ask this in order to make as smooth a transition for the chinchilla(s) as possible.
3. Finally Home rescue will get all information you have regarding history and health to us, to ensure the best care possible.
4. We will not pay you. Finally Home Chinchillas does not pay for surrendered chins.
5. We will meet you somewhere. We'll either pick the chin(s) up at your home, or we will meet somewhere public.
6. If you wish to remain in contact with the future parents of your chin, we'll pass the info on. It will be up to the future parents whether they want to be in contact. We will strive to encourage communication between you.
What happens if I surrender my chin to you?
Several things.
*First, we keep the chin surrounded by as many of his/her belongings as possible to relieve stress.
*We reassure him/her, talk quietly, provide a tv while he/she is in quarantine, and playtimes in a special area away from the other chins. *We assess your chin's personality and then decide on a fleece pattern so that we can give him/her a hammock, fleece tunnel, house and liners, which offers comfort and security.
*We take the chin in for a wellness check at our local exotics vet.
*We assess the overall well being of the chin to determine if there's anything we should work on together (biting, spraying, doesn't like to be held/picked up, etc) or any health issues that need to be addressed (like epilepsy, dwarfism, a missing eye/blindness, etc).
*We make a point to bring in at least one new toy a week, to help establish trust.
After Quarantine, we move the chin to either the girl or boy room, and he or she is placed on the appropriate play schedules and cleaning schedules.
How do you rehab a chin?
I've taken a lot from my own culture (Dutch). They believe the key to raising a healthy, well adjusted child is to live by the four R's: routine, repetition, recreation, rest.
The first thing we do is establish a routine. We turn the lights on at the same time every day, and everyone gets an acidophilus. We fill food dishes and hay at the same time every day. We hand out toys at the same time every week. We are always home at night. We have the same tv channels on at the same times every day (we change the channels, but only at certain times). We have schedules for playtimes and cleaning, for interpersonal interactions, for holding, for just about everything.
The second thing we do is repeat. We repeat the routines over and over, day after day so that the chins know they can rely on us to have their needs met. Each chin has his or her own fleece pattern, and that pattern is his/hers alone.
The third thing we do is recreation. We have regular playtimes on scheduled days. We have regular one-on-one times, we have regular holding, we make sure to give the chins toys that they like, and we do this regularly. We emphasize the recreation so that the chins have a chance to just let loose and be chins.
The fourth thing we do is rest. We make sure to maintain a quiet, soothing environment for the chins. We sing to them, talk to them, have regular lights off times.
These four areas help us establish trust with the chins. Establishing trust is the first step towards rehabilitation. Once a chinchilla trusts us, we start to work on the specific behavior that needs fixing. I remain quiet and calm. I understand that this behavior is not personal. It's just that the chin has had difficulty communicating his/her wishes in the past, and found this behavior to be the most efficient way to communicate.
The focus is always on the fact that the chinchilla is good and wonderful, and that the behavior is bad. I never tell a chinchilla that it is bad.
We start slow, either with holding or with offering our hands to the chin to stand on. Once this is achieved, we move on towards consistency of behavior. We take the chin for playtime in a secure area, and then interact with him/her. The special playtime starts at 10 minutes. If the behavior is exhibited, we say "no," then scoop the chin up, explain how much we love him/her, but that the behavior is not acceptable, and then place him/her in a travel cage for a time out. After 5 minutes, we do it again. It is important that their regular cage not be used for this. That cage is to be their domain. It's where they're in charge of their surroundings, of their things. It's to be a place of peace, security, safety and comfort; in short, it's to be a positive place.
As the chin succeeds, the special playtimes are lengthened. We work our way up to an hour, and after 14 hour-long special playtimes have been achieved, we consider the chin to be "mainly rehabbed." After that, we work on throwing in randomness and change. I focus on basic things that would happen in a regular home setting. I have my husband stand in for me (change in caregiver), I have the special playtime in a different room (change in location), I have different toys and music (change in props), and I have the special playtimes at different times (change in routine--I only vary by about 30 minutes, just because routine is extremely important, but I know that sometimes playtimes are delayed, and so I have to prepare the chins for that).
At any time, if there is a demonstration of the old behavior, the chin is told "no," scooped up and placed in the travelling cage for a 5-minute time out.
Once the chin has mastered the randomness and change area of special playtimes, we consider him/her to be rehabbed.
The length of time this takes depends on the chin and the behavior(s) involved.