2007-02-24 8:33 p.m.
Chin Update
Hmmmm ...
I just realized I didn't address the chinchilla questions I got.
Well as you already know, it's dd1's. She requested it after trying in vain to get me to get her a bird. I don't know why, but I did not want any birds. Sure maybe a small one, but I dd1 didn't want a small one. The idea finally died and next thing I knew she wanted a chinchilla.
I had a friend who had a chinchilla and it was adorable. That one was quite easy to hold and very nice. So ... I said yes. We looked up chinchilla breeders and found one an hour or two away. They had a number of chins to pick from, so we drove up and dd1 bought one on the spot. We got a much better deal than we would have if we had bought one from the store. She included the chin, bedding and food. The lady was real nice. I wish they had lived closer, I bet dd1 would have been happy to volunteer with the chin care.
Once we brought our little chin home we found out the cats LOVED it. We had to chase them out of the room and even then it was hard to get back in the room without the cat coming in with you. (Picture me falling into dd1's room.) I still don't like the way the cats look at the chin so I don't like them in my daughter's room if a human isn't present. We have a better cage now and I don't think the cats can even get a paw in, but I still worry. dd1 says cat2 has been bit on the nose. In spite of that he still will sit on the cage if left alone.
dd1 can handle the chin, but it doesn't seem to like being held. It ALWAYS trys to get away which means we hold it by it's tail to this day. My friend's chin wasn't like that. You could just pick it up under the front legs and it was fine. I think, because we still hold it by its tail, it doesn't like us, but if we don't it trys to get away and it's just not an option to let it get away with the cats in the house. dd1 lets it run around in our bathrooms and used to let it run around in her bedroom but it's quite challenging to catch. It's very quick. I really thought it would be tamer by now, but it's not. I've been bit a couple of times and I'm afraid to hold it. The new cage has a smaller door so I'm not afraid to change the food and water now, but otherwise I don't spend much time with it. And to think it could live 15 or 20 years. I wonder if it will still be as quick and unfriendly then?
Ok, that completes my chin update. See ya next time.