About 15 years ago, I think ...
I've been lucky ... being retired, I've been able to put allot of time into learning. I did research for about 18 months before I got the girls. I'd spend 8 to 15 hours a day on the computer looking up everything I could find on chinchillas. I found out who knew what they were talking about and who didn't. I found the reference books I needed to learn from. Then, I opened up my site to questions from anyone about their chinchillas ... if I could not find the answer, I knew who I could go to and ask.
By doing this, it allowed me to know other people's mistakes and/or problems they ran into with their chins ... by finding the answers for them, I also found answers for myself ... should I ever have the same or a similar problem and/or help the next person with the same problem without having to wait to get an answer. I am still constantly learning ... there's something new all the time.
My first chinchilla, that I wanted to get, died in the pet store (different pet store than the one where I the girls came from) before I could take her home. As a matter of fact ... that's the reason I got into chinchillas. My first one was suppose to be Misty, a white mosaic kit ... she was born at the store ... I got to see her almost every day from birth. I had been visiting her brother and parents for along time. Once I learned how they should be housed and the things they needed, I realized the pet store had them set up all wrong. I tried my best to get them to change it, but they would not ... so ... over the next 5 months I watched each one die one by one ... they just would not listen. What killed my Misty was an employee or customer not handling her properly ... they broke her rib and it pierced her lung ... it took her about 24 to 36 hours to die.
That's why I became a breeder ... to bring chinchillas into this world in the right environment and find good homes for them, teaching each new human-chin-parents how to take care of them properly. To breed them properly and to give them the best chance at a good life that I could.
OK ... Off my soapbox ... sometimes I get started and don't know when to stop.
Jo Ann
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