Talie and I are sitting on the sofa watching TV – Talie is doing her teaching blog and I’m on here – we’re both being stared at: it’s most dosconcerting!

Otto’s cage is on top of Talie’s boys’ cage and he’s currently sitting in the lower half boring holes into us with his eyes half closed. We’re not quite sure what we’ve done to deserve being stared at but clearly something is bothering Mr Otto.

It could be that he is not happy with the TV choice this evening – Talie has encouraged him to watch trash TV and apparenty he has a liking for Sex & the City. We’re watching Law & Order – Criminal Intent. I wonder if it’s because this episode is a repeat.

Mog (another of Talie’s chins) is also boring holes into me – but for a different reason to Otto – she is waiting for her 2nd lot of syringe food. She does not actually need syringe feeding but she loves it … and I do means loves it! It all started when I was feeding dear Maya – I occasionally give a tiny amount of syringe food (literally a taste) to some of the chins so that they get used to the taste – with the hope that if they ever need it they will already have tried it – but Mog went mad for the stuff. She’d grab the syringe and literally throw herself at the front of the cage. So she got what was left after I had fed Maya – usually about a syringe full.

Now she’s somewhat addicted

Bailey (Talie’s big, soft beige chinny) is also staring at us – he’s sitting chomping his way through his food bowl at the moment. I guess he’s protecting his interests, just in case we decide to steal his dinner.

So, that’s 3 chins staring at us while we watch TV – it’s most disconcerting, I can tell you. I’m sure they are plotting our downfall. I do wish they could talk!

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?

My usual routine first thing in the morning is to pop into the chin room when I get up to check on all the chinchillas, make sure they are all ok, have water, and have not misbehaved too much during the night.

This morning when I wandered into the room I stopped dead and chuckled ………. Barney lived with Harry for 8 years and when I sadly had to have Harry put to sleep with tooth problems I thought Barney would really miss his little pal. I gave Barney a new cage (for a change of scenery) and a square of fleece to snuggle up to. He loves his fleece and can often be found snuggled under it in the bottom of the cage. Last night though, he had a dustbath in his cage and he had obviously been a busy boy. He’d decided to be very clever and creative…………

This is what I saw when I went into the chin room this morning

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Bear in mind that the “duvet” piece of fleece is quite large in comparison to Barney and it is completely tucked into the dust bath – clever little furry