Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[calidani]

Hi All...  My name's Dani, and I live in San Jose, CA.  My chinchilla journey started about three years ago when I got my first chin Chica (my bf couldn't remember what they were called.. he thought they were called 'chickawas', so that's what we started calling her, Chica for short)... it's still an affectionate term we use with all of them.  Anyway... she was a standard female about a year old when I got her.  I started getting more and more information on chins after I got her and learned that they love companionship so I started the search for Chica's mate.  After a couple of months I came across a beautiful Mosaic boy that I named Milo.  The two clicked almost immediately.  I introduced them in Febuary of 2005 and in October I went to Pennsylvania for a weekend to attend my brother's wedding.  As I sat in the airport waiting to come home, my boyfriend called me and said "You'll never guess what I found today!"... he said he walked into the chinchilla room and found a little wobbly chin kit running around the bottom of the cage!  I was so shocked!  We had no idea she was even pregnant!  I had done a little research on the subject so I quickly told him that he had to take all of the shelves out of the cage and attach some chicken wire to the outside until I could get home and assess the situation.  I also told him to remove Milo, although I wasn't sure it would make a difference at this point, it couldn't hurt!  I came home and found Chickpea, a sweet little wiggly female mosaic kit.  She was so beautiful!!!  Anyway... fast forward to a few months later, we did a ton of research and built another big cage for mom and pop when it came time to separate Chickpea from her daddy.  I felt bad that chickpea was all alone, and I just happened to have a mini rex rabbit female who was also alone.  I introduced them slowly and they eventually were caged together.  Their bonding was like nothing I'd ever seen before.  Pearl (the mini-rex) was like an adoptive mom to Chickpea.  They cuddled all the time!  Unfortunately, rabbit's don't have the lifespan that chins do, and a few months later Pearl passed away.  I was again confronted with what to do with poor Chickpea.  After seeing how chins bond, I knew I didn't want her to live life alone.  I was unable to afford another chin for her, so I ended up adopting her out to a friend who had another lonely chin.  That was very hard to do but I knew she'd have a happier life with a companion.    I had another hard blow in July of last year when Chica died suddenly of heat stroke.  We don't have air conditioning but we did have lots of ceramic slabs that we were freezing and putting in the cage for them.  Aparently it wasn't enough...     (We're getting a window air conditioner for this room this summer!)  I didn't wait long to get another mate for Milo, since he got very depressed very quickly.  I got lucky and found a hobby breeder who needed to get rid of a few chins.  From him I got Molly, another standard female who has a couple of litters under her belt.  She's about 3, and she is the friendliest chin I have ever met.  She counterbalances Milo's shy personality so well.. I can tell she brings him out of his shell a bit.  As soon as the cage door opens she's there to investigate.  She never runs from my hand.. she just hops on instead.  She and Milo have been together now for about 6 months and I'm just noticing now that she's starting to lay on her side more and seems to be eating more as well... I'm tracking her weight and her 'starting weight' on March 8th was 780g (she's naturally a big girl), so I'll keep everyone up to date on her progress!!!

I saw that there is a seperate picture thread so I'll post some pics of them there!  I used to have pics of Chickpea but I think they were on my hard drive when it crashed and I lost them!!!!!     Blast technology!! 

Look forward to getting to know all of you... I love my chins so much and it's nice to have a support group that feels the same way!!

Dani   

[Misskitz]

Welcome Dani! Nice long intro to yourself! you'll absolutely love it here!

[Summer]

Hi and Welcome 

[jmrothermel]

Hello and Welcome!  I'm sure you will love it here, the people are very friendly and helpful.  Lots of good information.

[Sweetnessheart]

Welcome Dani,
Glad to have you here! 

When do you think Molly is expecting?
You will definitely have to keep us posted....we just love chinchilla babies!   

Janice

[calidani]

When do you think Molly is expecting?

I'm not sure that she's even pregnant... even though I've been through a chin pregnancy before, I didn't even know she was pregnant until she had her kit so... I don't have much to compare it to.  She has gained 10g since Thursday... and lays on her side, but that's about it.  If she is pregnant, I'd predict that she isn't far along, so I'll continue to keep track and only time will tell!  But I know that both of em are capable cuz they're both produced before!   

Dani

[Debbie.nl.ca]

So nice to meet you Dani.
Great intro, addictive aren't they.
Yes we'll be waiting to see of she is pregnant too.