Reflections of a chinchilla keeper (part 1)

Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining (for now), the birds are singing & I am reflecting on the last 14 years (how scary is that?!) of keeping chinchillas. Today I am missing my beloved Monty; not so much in a negative way but in a ‘my goodness, he taught me so much & look how far I have come because of him” sort of way. He was the first & the one who taught me most about chins – I miss his unique character, his cheekiness & his intelligence. He was one of a kind.
When I first had Monty, all I had to go on were a couple of pet chinchilla books. I still have them but reading them now makes me cringe. Some of the information in them was so off – it’s ok to feed nuts, seeds, mixed foods, veggies; chins need to have variety to keep them healthy; a fan will keep a chinchilla cool, chins won’t over-exercise ………
Monty had a wonderful couple of years being fed all sorts of nonsense. He had raisins, a couple of cornflakes, peanuts, sunflower seeds, & various pet treats. He was allowed the freedom of my maisonette & he’d follow me around everywhere but, being Monty, he never really wore himself out. He’d take himself back to his cage when he was tired or he’d perch on the arm of the sofa & watch TV until his eyes closed & he was sound asleep. Then he’d be off again, exploring his domain & making sure everything was in it’s rightful place. He was, indeed, Lord of all he surveyed. As the Bagpuss voiceover used to say, “…… & Emily loved him.”

Then I found the forums. At that time the only UK forum was Chinchillas Unlimited which was a real eye-opener. I discovered that chinchillas should not really have fresh veggies (sorry, Monty, that’s your teeny bit of broccoli & cauliflower off the menu) due to the risks of bloat, seeds & nuts caused fatty liver problems (umm….. sorry Monty, no more sunflower seeds or peanuts for you, my boy), & raisins were full of sugar so should be limited ….. poor Monty, suddenly his diet was turned upside down & he was being restricted to ‘healthy foods’.
I discovered so many things that the books had said were ok but actually were probably more harmful than good & I was upset that I might have put my beloved boy at risk of developing problems. I certainly didn’t want to kill him with kindness.

So ……. with a determination which bordered on obsessive I began to research more about chinchilla behaviour, welfare & husbandry. I found a US forum which blew my mind (Chins & Quills – now Chins-n-Hedgies) because the US had chins for a lot longer than the UK & they had lots of history which fascinated me. They also had experienced ranchers with hundreds of chins who had a wealth of knowledge & experience that I could tap into. I lurked & absorbed information. I found old rancher books & magazines on eBay & through the forums & I bought them so I could have reference materials. I spent hours reading, writing notes, & discovering as much as I could about my furry friend; I wanted to get things right for him.

I decided I wanted to get a friend for Monty so I approached the RSPCA & discovered that there was a chin which needed rescuing locally to me. Poor lad was kept in a wooden garage in amongst a load of rubbish, tools etc. No hay, green water bottle, foul-smelling cage, a poor little old beige boy sitting with his ears down, looking forlorn – that was Barty. I brought him home, popped the terrified creature into a carrier, & blitzed his cage in the garden. I don’t think the newspaper had been changed for months, let alone weeks.
Once the cage was clean I took Barty inside & popped his cage in the spare room. Monty was still in my lounge at this time so I ‘accidentally’ quarantined, which was probably just as well. Barty settled in well & was soon looking much perkier & an awful lot cleaner – he smelled a lot better too!

So, now I had 2 chinchillas & the real fun began. Suddenly I had a new chin who did not behave like Monty at all. He was aggressive, nervous, dominant, skittish; all the things Monty was not. So I had a massive learning curve – when I introduced them during their out of cage play time I did it in a neutral setting & actually it went fairly well. Monty was so laid back he just let Barty be the dominant male. Monty just carried on being Monty while Barty settled into the top chin position.
Once Barty had settled in, however, things took a turn for the worse. He started attacking Monty when they were out of their cages & I decided to re-home him with someone who had no other chins. If I let them out separately Barty would go wild inside his cage & would try to attack Monty in his cage when it was his turn to be out. He went to someone at work who wanted a chin for their kids – Barty loved being on his own & apparently used to sit on the kids’ backs as they watched TV, lying on the floor. He was in his element & the family who adopted him loved him.

So it was back to just Monty & me again…………………………………… (to be continued)