First, the update:

It has been a long time since I wrote on this blog. There are reasons for that & although I had originally intended to chronicle as much of  life with Monty & his chums as I could, some things are just too painful to write about at the time.

2009 was a horrible year for the inhabitants of Monty’s Manor. There were several emergencies, huge vet bills, sleepless nights treating poorly chins, difficult decisions, and a some heartbreaking losses. One thing which left me devastated was the loss of His Furriness, The Lord Montague back in May.

At that point, I must say, my heart went out of chinchilla keeping &, to be perfectly honest, it is still recovering – slowly. Monty was my first chinchilla. He was the reason & his departure marked the end of an era. I genuinely miss his massive, cute, larger-than-life presence & the chin room is just not the same without him. He taught me so much about chinchillas.

Now I don’t want to be Danny Depressing so I’m not going to wallow in the mire of last year but I am going to go back and add in some posts when I can (including a memorial to Lord Montague) – to fill in some of the gaps now that things are not quite so raw.  Although I guess one could call it cheating (back-dated blogging) I think that’s preferable to doing a massive long catch up post now – even I probably wouldn’t want to read it!

So please bear with me……… I’ll add in some links when I’ve posted.

A Fresh Start -

So life in Monty’s Manor has changed quite a bit.  Talie is no longer living in my lounge & I now have 2 chins living in my bedroom: Ebby and Gzifa.

Ebby is currently watching me from her cage on my right & Gzifa (silent “g”) is burrowed under my duvet. Every now and again she appears to check I’m still here, sits on my shoulder for a minute or two, & then disappears again. The lump in the duvet is heading towards me as I type this. She will be out again soon – I will check her over for signs of being a tad warm (red ears & hot feet) &  if she is a little warm then it’s back in the cage for her. She’s pretty good though and usually comes out of under the duvet if she is getting warm. Gzifa’s a bit of a nutter!

I’ll try and update on some of the other chin room characters during the next few posts. For now it’s nice to be back.

It’s not easy being a chinchilla. Life can be tough ………….. there’s all that important snoozing for a start.

Comfort is important – just cross your legs at the right angle…….

Then there’s the hammock dilemma……….. just how does one get comfy?

Sometimes its nice to sleep in your dustbath

And finally ………. what happens when your favourite hammock is either taken away for washing or you just can’t be bothered to hop up to it?

This pillow’s a bit hard!

Hammock? Nah, too much effort – teddy will do!

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So how much of a hard life do your chins endure?

10 years ago I visited a pet shop to get a treat for my friends’ dog. Whilst mooching around the shop I came across a cage with a big, fat, snoozing chinchilla in it. He looked so cute I could not resist talking to the manager about him – needless to say that’s how the addiction with these fascinating creatures started.

I bought a book about chinchillas, reserved Monty (as I immediately named him) and collected him the following day. The rest, as they say, is history.

Today, my home is affectionately known as Monty’s Manor and Monty is about to celebrate his 11th birthday. There are a number of chinchillas residing here now; some are quality breeding and showing animals, some are re-homes (unwanted pets usually) and several rescues (with varying degrees of poor backgrounds and/or deformities or problems).

The last 10 years have been a massive learning curve and I have amassed a considerable library of books, articles, and magazines – my chinchillas also teach me something new about them almost every day: I am continually learning.

The purpose of this blog is to share and chronicle the events which occur in a chinchilla herd (the highs, lows, and the routine) in the UK, to describe some of the issues and situations which arise, and to discuss chinchillas in general

hope that the blog proves informative and entertaining. Please feel free to add comments or ask questions and I will try my best to respond. Alternatively I can be contacted through my Davidson Chinchillas Website email.

Monty with his beloved bell which he rings for “room service”.