LingLing, Bam, and Knoxville.

[APBTLove]

LingLing is my first chinchilla from a bad situation.

I just adopted Bam and Knox today and hopefully can get them all to like each other and be buddies. If not, well then I'll have another huge chin cage in my house.

LingLing in all of his slightly unbalanced glory.


Right - Left: Bam and Knoxville.



I never planned on chinchillas, and Lingy was supposed to be a foster.. but he won me over.
Anyone else here have Chinchillas?

[lorihd@comcast.net]

they look very fluffy, cute little buggars!

[Ronda]

I do! We got Chin-tastic aka Bruce in July. He was born in May.

He's about 3 months old in these pictures.


Checking out all his cool new chin cage stuff. My kid's guinea pigs live on the first floor.


He's been super tame since he came home since my brother (the "breeder") and his family handled him constantly since birth. Chinchillas are pretty cool but a lot more work than the guinea pigs. Plus he drove my electric bill through the roof in the summer trying to keep the house cool enough for him.
I really like him and he loves me best in the family. He's curious like a cat and loves to climb all over me and inspect my hair, my ears, my eyebrows.

[APBTLove]

Oh he's really cute.. I've never had a young chin.

I just keep him near where the AC is, and keep ice blocks in his cage during summer. I think they make chew-proof slabs that you can freeze for them that they can lay on if they want to keep cool.


I've heard they have very, very unique and complicated personalities, almost like a human. Which is why it's nigh impossible to introduce two and have them get along if they just don't like each other.

I'd felt nothing else like their fur, it's like holding a little cloud.

[Wild Wolf]

They are so adorable! They make lovely pets! My ex-friend owned one that lived in a kid's room and ended up chewing it's tail off from stress. He was still a really nice chinnie, despite the stress he endured.

[Gharrissc]

I love their ears.

[msvette2u]

We rescued a few from a meth lab, but eventually sent them to a shelter that found them a home.
Our house is too small and they didn't get along together so had to live separately which took up a lot of space.
I enjoyed their personalities. Very cute little guys

[APBTLove]

Wth were chinchillas doing at a meth lab?? LOL

That's great of you to help them. They're a bit more complicated than rats or most other rodents.

[msvette2u]

We got a call from a guy who said his kids had gotten these and dragged them home.
It was, gosh, at least a year - 18mos. ago.
We JUST found out this guy had a meth lab, in this last few weeks. So it wasn't as obvious back then although it was very obvious something was wrong!

Anyway, back then, I get this call, and it was discombobulated but the kids weren't there, nobody was really taking care of the critters, blahblahblah.
I knew we had to help.
We went over there, and this guy was feeding them cat food and peanuts!! And not good cat food either...I mean, meow mix or whatever. Friskies.
Which was probably better since they are herbivores...but anyway, we took the Chins.
We had them up for adoption but only a few inquiries from breeders so we declined.

They wound up in a good home but man that guy was whacked even back then, and the house was...to say a "mess" would be putting it mildly.
The Chins were in a front room so we didn't venture into the main part of the house, but when I learned there was a meth bust there, I was like, "Oh, YEAH...Okay, now it makes sense!"

[Ronda]

Originally Posted by APBTLove

Oh he's really cute.. I've never had a young chin.

I just keep him near where the AC is, and keep ice blocks in his cage during summer. I think they make chew-proof slabs that you can freeze for them that they can lay on if they want to keep cool.


I've heard they have very, very unique and complicated personalities, almost like a human. Which is why it's nigh impossible to introduce two and have them get along if they just don't like each other.

I'd felt nothing else like their fur, it's like holding a little cloud.

Chintastic does have the marble slab to lay on but I still ran the ac because I was afraid of killing him on accident. We have since moved the cage downstairs and I bet it will be easier to keep it cool since my first floor is completely tiled and is generally cooler anyways.

Oh yeah, chinchillas will tear each other up if they don't get along! Plus I've talked to people who kept 2 chinchillas together for years with no problem and then one day they decided they hated each other and that was that...they had to be separeted. Chintastic has a "buddy" chinchilla toy made out of fleece so he has something to cuddle with and occasionally "love" for his own mental well being since he's alone.

I love their fur! A little cloud is a great description for it. I love to watch him take a dust bath too, its so cute the way he rubs his nose afterwards. Chintastic is super entertaining...I tell people he's like having a cat/ferret/mouse/flying squirrel cross that looks like a cartoon version of a Christmas mouse or something with those big ears! Very curious and bold, silly and sweet, mischievous and full of trouble when he wants to be!