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[nemue]

I was just wondering how everyone got into their chinchillas.  Sometimes I know these stories can be pretty neat.

My story:  I didn't know what they were until a year ago.  Someone I worked with was talking about them, and I had to look them up (I look up anything I don't know) and thought they were cute, and the more I read, the more I thought they were amazing little creatures.  I grew up with pets like rats, hamsters, mice, gerbils, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats and dogs.  My mom taught me to love everything, and give lots of love, especially to those who needed it most.  My heart went out to the little guys, and I talked about them for a year.  Every time we were in a pet store I would show them to my husband, but they were always sleeping so he thought they were boring.  He admitted he would love them, as he didn't like cats when he first moved in, and now he's obsessed, but he didn't think we should have the extra work.  Finally we moved into a house where there was room for them, but he was still reluctant.  One morning we went to the pet store early, and they were still awake, and hoping around and being cute.  He thought they were really cute, and gave in!  We tried to find a breeder, but the only one we knew about had to put them all down due to disease, so we ended up getting them from a pet store.  And the rest is histroy!

What's your story?

[Sweetnessheart]

About 4 years ago, my son wanted a hamster.  My husband said that hamsters were too small so I started doing some research on the internet about small caged animals as pets.  I came across degus and then chinchillas.  Doing more looking I found out that degus weren't that friendly.  So degus were ruled out.  Next I looked up chinchillas and started reading.  They looked and sounded adorable.  I searched the internet for a breeder near us and found Jamie Huggins.  She only lived 5 miles from us.  (How convenient!)  My son and I made an appointment to go visit and, of course, I couldn't get just one.  We started out with two brothers: a tan and an ebony.  The rest is history.......25 chinchillas later.....it goes on and on! 

[mikasauntie]

I've been wondering this about everyone myself! 

At our house, my daughter LOVES animals, but I'm incredibly allergic to cats and don't have time or interest in walking a dog every day.  Hamsters and Guinea Pigs seemed boring and smelly.  I remembered that the day care center had a chin when kids were small (can you imagine a chin sitting in a cage in the middle of a class of 30 preschoolers all day, every day?!)  Did some research, spent a couple of hours at the breeder's to be sure I wouldn't be allergic, and gave daughter a christmas gift to select a chin.  It took some adjusting because we knew how to play with cats, not prey animals.  Now Ari is our chin-baby and we all love to hang out with her.   But I think we need to stick to one (ok, maybe two eventually).

[ChillinChinchillas]

I saw a chinchilla at a pet store when I was buying my son a hamster. I did a little research and found them very interesting. A little time went on and I was watching Go Diego Go! with my son and there was an episode about chinchillas. I don't know what came over me, but I took my son to the pet store and bought Petie, along with everything the store employee told me I needed (turned out she didn't know much more than I did). After doing more and more research, I started becoming more and more fascinated. I have now been working for the past two years (which I know isn't much compared to many others) trying to find the best for my chins. I know have six with two more coming next week! I love them so much. It is like having more kids! No matter what, I make sure they have the love, attention, and care that they need every day. Although my husband gets frustrated at the amount of time I invest in my chins, he has really noticed what a sense of responsibility our five year old son exhibits from helping me care for them. He has seen what a sad, scared and neglected chin is like (I rescue and re-home chins also) as well as happy, bouncing babies! We love all that they bring to our family!

[Sillychinchilly]

Before my cousin moved, she worked in an animal shelter here in the valley. One day some lady brought in a Chinchilla and said "I can't take care of it," and left. Shelly already had a chin and her husband (Being the big controlling man he thinks he is) said no more.
The chinchilla (Then called Ares, the lady said "he" was a male) sat there for a few weeks... And then a month... And then my cousin brought him to me as a good-bye present.
I had no idea what to do with him... It was the middle of summer, and our AC was out... AZ summers are nasty. So we went to stay at my aunt's house for a while. O.O
Any way, we found out a little later, when I picked "him" up and noticed "he" looked like a she, that well... she was a she. (Thanks for the help on that Jo Ann). And so we renamed her Pixel. We've had her a little over nine months.

[Jenova]

We had just moved house and we thought it was a little empty without a pet. So we trotted off to the pet shop to get a couple of geckos, but their reptile centre wasn't open yet. I dragged my boyfriend into the furry room to look at the rabbits (I love rabbits) and he looked over at a cage with a chinchilla in it. She was fast asleep, looked up, stretched and yawned and got comfortable and went back to sleep. He fell in love with her and we bought her there and then, of course we though she was a boy at the time and we've had Cheech for almost a year and a half now. 

[kneesaa]

For me it was 7 years ago. These kids I was watching asked me if I wanted a chinchilla. They were tired of taking care of him and knew that we are animal lovers that we would take good care of him. Their Mom said it was fine with her. But I told them that we were going on vacation and wouldn't be home to take care of him. Plus I thought they were joking. The day after we got back they came over with their pick up truck with poor peaka in the back with a blanket over his cage and said here he is. So, I think the next time we went into Anchorage we bought a 3 level cage, a dust house, food and dust. Oh and a book on chins and that is how we got started. I did buy another one but he died after we moved here and I looked into chinchillas in our state and bought a ebony female. Peaka has been a good learning chin. Pooka being young is teaching me all new things. But I sure do love watch them interact with each other. They are great little animals.

[ChillinChinchillas]

We had Petie for a while before we got Roxxy at two months old. It was so fun to discover how playful she was because she was more like a little kid. As our chinchilla family has grown, it is fun to see how diverse their personalities are.

[Leslie]

I am allergic to cats and dogs, and my mother has never let me have a pet other than goldfish.  Funny that she let my brothers have newts and frogs and turtles....   After living on my own for many years, I decided to go buy a hamster.  The store I went to was sold out, so I waited for a few weeks.  During this time a friend of mine talked to me about chinchillas and suggested I get one instead of a  hamster.  Her words were "They're a lot harder to forget about than hamsters...." which I didn't really understand at the time (but do now).  I looked them up on the internet because I had never seen or heard of them either and I thought they looked kind of freaky but also cute....like a cute freaky mix?     I finally found a pet store selling hamsters and I went there with a friend and was told that the hamsters were in quarantine and not for sale yet.....  We took a walk around the store and saw a glass aquarium  with two chinnies in it, and my friend asked if we could see one.  They put him in my arms and I looked down at him and said "I'm not leaving here without him."

The pet store morons almost sold me a rabbit cage to house him in, and didn't even tell me he needed hay or chew toys.  I can't believe they let me buy him, even though I knew nothing about him at all.  Boy do I ever hate pet stores.

Regardless, I brought home this giant cage with my little Ninja in it, and my boyfriend took one look and said "What did you buy???" and from that moment on, although he loves Ninja too, he uses the "It's your pet, I didn't have a say in it" excuse to get out of cleaning, etc.  I fell in love with the chinchilla instantly and spent every waking hour thinking about him and researching how to take care of him.  I was so horrified that the pet store let me just buy such a complicated animal on a whim....imagine how many other people get them and change their minds, or don't bother to learn about proper care? 

My life changed that day in the pet store, for the better.  I don't even know who I was before I was a chinchilla owner.  We bought a second guy, TBone, from a breeder, and what a different experience that has been.

[Asikovsek]

I have always been intrigued by these little creatures.  I actually learned about them from my mother when I was young.  She told me about how she used to own a chinchilla, and I had no idea what one was so she took to a pet store and showed me one.  She got a book and showed me one I was so amazed, I have always been a big animal lover.  Later on when I was 9 I went to my uncles in north carolina and his wife owned one.  I was so excited I actually got to hold one.  My mom let me buy one and ever since that I have been in love and my numbers began to grow and I have been obsessed ever since

[Summer]

I saw one on tv show (emergency vets on animal planet) and fell in love with them. But I forgot about them for a about a year or so. Then I happened to see them at a petco. It got thinking a about them again. I begged my husband to let me have one, but we did not have enough money. So I saved and saved for one. At the time I did not use the computer a lot of at all. (lol) So I did very little research on them. So when it was time get I went to petco and saw one chinchilla sitting there. The lady picked him up and handed him to me with a brokering thumb and all. And from that moment on I was in love. He was missing a toe on one of his back feet, it looked like he was making the peace sign. That was how I got Chinpo a little standard. Then a month or so later a just had to get a friend. Now have almost 50 of the little guys! That was two years ago.

[Deanna]

OK, I begged my parents for a pet. My mom offered to get a dog or cat, but then we found out that my dad is severely allergic to cats and I am afraid of dogs. I wanted something I could cuddle with. So I looked up small caged pets on Wikipedia. A hamster, a guinea pig, and a chinchilla. I had no clue what the last one was, so I clicked it. He was adorable, and he fit my standards. So I called local pet shops around my home since I didn't know any breeders, and PetSmart was the only one that had males. My parents wouldn't let me have a female. PetSmart had one that was a bit, how I say, plumper and older than the smaller and younger one. I wanted a pet I could basically raise, so I asked to hold the smaller one. It felt great! He squirmed and kicked me in the stomach, but it felt so nice to hold a small animal. The only other pets I had ever had in my life were goldfish. My parents gave in to letting me buy him, but we originally went to the pet shop to look at them and find out more about them. None of us had any idea we would come home with Otis that day!

[Jessica]

I've loved chinchillas since I was in high school, I just never thought my mom would let me have one. At the time I had a bearded dragon and my mom isn't into lizards an all so she said if I got rid of the beardy, I could get a chinchilla. I ended up giving the bearded dragon to a friend that worked at the pet store and was really into reptiles. I got my first chinchilla, Cody at that pet store. I remember leaving my husband's house (he was my boyfriend at the time), to go home and spend time with Cody. I did that every night for a long time. Because I spent so much time with him. He's the only chin I can pick up and hold for long periods of time. I had a huge room for him to run around in. Cody is now 7 yrs old and he's joined by 8 other chins. I even have a tattoo of Cody.

[ChillinChinchillas]

That's awesome about the tatoo. If I decide to ever get another one, I will most def have to get a chin. That is great!

[Leslie]

A tattoo!  That's awesome!  You should post a picture of it, I would love to see it (and I'm sure other people would too!)