Chinchillas!

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ALL HAIL THE SUPREME CUTENESS....
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(Paddy)
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(Cosmos)
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(Paddy)
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(Cosmos)


And this is Cosmos when he was 1 day old. (He was born in a rescue after someone housed male and female chins together then handed them in to rescue.)
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I love Chinchillas - such great characters.

How did you find the process of adopting them from a rescue?
 
Ha, yes, they are really special little things. Pretty high maintenance though: very energetic with a diet that has to be quite specific, with pretty stringent temperature requirements, because yes, they really ARE as soft as they look, I read that they have 200,000 hairs per square inch of skin, so they overheat quite easily Some can be quite shy but mine will climb all over me, Paddy in particular is very loving and gives kisses and likes to go around on my shoulder. They aren't really cuddly as such though as too much handling makes their fur really greasy so they aren't too keen on it. They've got floating rib cages too so have to be handled quite carefully. The rescues were both brilliant though, both were home run set ups run by individuals who obviously care a lot about their animals going to good homes, and if I ever have an issue both offer lifetime support, which is always reassuring. (not that I am ever intending to part with my chinnies!!)
 
Page worth following if anyone's got facebook....Danie who runs Chinchillamagic is amazing, he breeds and runs a rescue in South Africa, and posts cute baby chinchillas. (which as everyone knows is totally the most important thing lol). He's got a website too, which is pretty much my chinchilla oracle.
https://www.facebook.com/Chinchillamagic/
www.chinchillamagic.co.za

PS - no, I'm not on commission :p
 
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Aww this brings back memories, I used to have a breeding pair 20yrs ago now, loved them to bits but didn't love mummy eating a couple of litters that she had then deciding that she didn't like her partner after all and trying to kill him! I had to re-home him as didn't have enough room for a separate cage for him and then had to re-home her after a messy split with my ex.

My girl sounds the same as one of yours, she loved travelling around in my dressing gown pocket and sitting on the back of the sofa twiddling with my hair :-)

I could watch them for hours, bathing in their sand bowls and generally hairing around the place then they just sit and stare at you as if to say 'yes human, behold all that is beautiful in front of you' - LOL! So so soft and cuddly they were.

A lot of people don't realise that they can live into their 40's and expect them to be the same as small rodents with a short life expectancy.
 
Aww this brings back memories, I used to have a breeding pair 20yrs ago now, loved them to bits but didn't love mummy eating a couple of litters that she had then deciding that she didn't like her partner after all and trying to kill him! I had to re-home him as didn't have enough room for a separate cage for him and then had to re-home her after a messy split with my ex.

My girl sounds the same as one of yours, she loved travelling around in my dressing gown pocket and sitting on the back of the sofa twiddling with my hair :-)

I could watch them for hours, bathing in their sand bowls and generally hairing around the place then they just sit and stare at you as if to say 'yes human, behold all that is beautiful in front of you' - LOL! So so soft and cuddly they were.

A lot of people don't realise that they can live into their 40's and expect them to be the same as small rodents with a short life expectancy.

They aren't bloody beautiful when they wake you up at 3 am wanting to play, as my cheeky ******* did last night. I SWEAR Paddy has nightmares, he keeps barking in his sleep and waking himself (and me) up. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
He gives the best kisses ever though so it's hard to be :mad: at him for long.
 
Cosmos being cute a couple of days ago.
Love him so much :love: :love: :love:
Is he not the most beautiful thing you've EVER seen?!
Needs a dust bath though. Will try and get a video tonight ;)
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And Paddy - the world's longest chinchilla :lol:
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Just the floofs being their usual gorgeous selves :angel:
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Cosmos is priming (moulting) right now - this happens about 3 times a year if I remember rightly - so he looks very scruffy!
But I get interesting hair photos when I pull the tufts out...
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The pale bit is the bit from the top...I guess because this is dead fur that he is shedding because chinchillas themselves conform rigidly to Thayer's Law...(or at least the Std ones do, obviously the other mutations mostly don't lol, though I think you could get beige chinchillas in the wild. But they're extinct in the wild now :( )

SNUGGLES!!!
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I keep trying and failing to get a good video of Paddy dustbathing but filming a white chinchilla in white dust in white light to counteract the fact that they're most active from 10pm onwards doesn't make for great watching (sorry).
However Cosmos is always happy to oblige with a bath video.
Here you go :-) (I hope this works I am no good at getting videos to embed :eek: )
[video=youtube_share;XTYvwKEi6Qw]https://youtu.be/XTYvwKEi6Qw[/video]
 
Also the rescue Cosmos came from have a pair of lovely girl chinnies looking for a home if my boys' antics has inspired any of you...!! :)
There is 2, a mother and daughter pair: Pip is the mother and she is 8, and Poppy is the daughter and is 7 so in chinchilla terms very young still.
Pictured is Pip. (Both are standards - Cosmos' colour.)
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(I hope this isn't considered advertising!! :eek: )

The rescue (which I'm not associated with in any way): https://www.facebook.com/NottsNibblersRescue/
https://www.nottsnibblersrescue.co.uk/
 
Look how polite he is...... covering his mouth when he burps like a good boy :p
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(Just an FYI though...chins, like horses, can't actually burp. If they eat gassy food like fresh vegetables, they get gas bloat which is basically like trapped wind but they cannot pass it so can die as the pain stops them eating which then stops their gut moving... Cosmos wasn't actually burping, he was eating hay!)
 
Slo mo bathing. Still need to get one of Paddy :( Don't ask about the music. One of the cats likes classical.
[video=youtube;XTYvwKEi6Qw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTYvwKEi6Qw[/video]
 
I'm really sorry for the spam but snowed in and bored out of my brain right now so was playing with them. They've both gone back to bed now though :p
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My brother said it's so cold he was going to make the chinnies into a sock. (Just one sock 'cause they're too small for a pair).
And this was Paddy's reaction....
WJCaaD30qqjmRdF8NAXmhqJeocvrNcFRY-8mHvBQBgUi9PS6oEnxmvEyZGOMParSk3lFLtz2ULc1HFebQPNYBMjIQ4gmHuIyp3zt6rjdZt_4d6AOIvikOwDsyYq4pNabBi_wvvXHGuMqvmyl5qFp3JVTLg5L7pGZ3dBKa2qJ1jaJbwZIaIy-nnVH0tjLmvIQTd2jPXqTHqP2W7xHdxv32A-IuQh88AWZbjUNdp6eT8_5L3cxKfdf2gcB_5whO_KMY-76-Mh8l728-J1Ai--ydIWThRFfpGpv8dH5VxhNZXeupqIQJtpFILYcGOBgMFiEibVELdZfuo--IfRpIstmyk7oadD7pKJcu5_H7sKiuAoid8_GHwkbwpU-iPPUthKpN78KqLjpREqS-NiLtqzEwXNcUZQRsrInemF7I-m-lV6HN2TqmDWZpPxGR9jLognsNUaE2S9mjqvVY7VGPoDi-7IcEsWy4TxVa5ohYFCU-cXrj1Dp_DPrjRyPMc_rkuQ4AkIZCWMJBKqNNJXP3JjvWbjJ_aqVZBsC4jZw9cBxZZxMr8o2GeYSo8MxNdgsl34f9Zs6L30rFgiv35KTXBd7r3ar4dUkkeMGU72D0DzS=w1224-h918-no

The face of epic rodent displeasure.
 
[video]https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipOuNwaMDNG5AI5n1V1muPBw3suW_x6epTj3liH7[/video]
"Rosehip! We wants! NOW! Give or else, human slave!"
They don't believe in waiting; owning a chinchilla is like having a toddler for 20+ years lol :lol:
 
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