We just inherited a chinchilla. Ask me anything.

[non sociopath skin]

One of Mrs. Skin's friends is emigrating and couldn't take Paddington the Chinchilla with her. So he's the latest addition to Skin House's petting zoo.

He's a real cutie. Very sassy and scared neither of cats nor bunnies. LOVE IT when he takes a dirt bath - very cute!!

Anyone else out there with a "chinny"?

The Skin

[Beaverhausen]

1. oh, pictures please!!!

if you can!

[rug]

2. We have two.

I'll keep feeding them raisins until they're mitten size.

[Taverner]

3. Are you going to give the chinchilla a sasparilla?

And name her Willa?

[obxhead]

4. My family in PA raised them for a while.

although they did it for their pelts. Cool little animals from what I've seen.

[WCGreen]

15. One of the many times my dad had a good idea that went wrong...

He and this guy named Wendell were gonna corner the market witht he little critters...

Oh the plots these two would hatch while hanging at the Alliance of Poles on a wednseday night...

To make a long story short, they got like twenty of them all at once and niether one had a clue as to what to do with them..

But that didn;t stop them from getting tanked and trying to feed the lot of them... They all split and there was a new species of animal introduced into the Lower West Side of Cleveland ecosystem

[Lisa]

5. we had several at a children's zoo I used to work at ...

One of my co-workers referred to them as "mice on steroids"! We would give them a pailful of fine white sand to dustbathe in, and even though there was sand all over the place at the end of the day, it was fun to watch them diving in.

[non sociopath skin]

6. Paddington has already had his first dust bath here ....

Hilarious!

The Skin

[Lisa]

7. they have such beautiful big eyes (and eyelashes!)

I recall that "George" (the eldest of our chinchillas) was a bit aloof, but his daughter "Georgette" loved to be cuddled, since she'd been handled a lot starting quite young. She would fall asleep in the crook of your arm. She didn't seem to mind the human toddlers, even though her fur would get mussed from being petted by hot, sticky hands! (Another dustbath would fix that.)

[sakabatou]

8. How soft is the chinchilla?

[matcom]

9. have you turned him into a coat yet?

winter's coming

[non sociopath skin]

10. Nope. But he says people pelts are good insulation ...

... and those TEETH, man!!!

The Skin

[driver8]

11. That is so funny. My wife and I were just at the pet store with our

kids and we were watching the chinchilla take his dirt bath. They are hilarious! (Cute, too!)

[Omphaloskepsis]

12. I used to have one...

But one day my roommate decided to rearrange the laundry room. The Chinchilla was able to chew on the cord for the washing machine from its new location. It is no longer with us (both the Chinchilla and the washing machine).

:-(

[peekaloo]

13. Two.

Boo Ratley and Ratticus Finch.

:silly:

Used to let them run the bedroom but no mas since they chew on EVERYTHING!

[Hand]

14. Don't they live a long time?

Like fifteen years normally? No chinnies here, but we've had bunnies over the past 14 years. Our longest lived was almost 9 1/2. Sadly, none are still with us. :cry:

[non sociopath skin]

19. Yes, the books say 15 years - can live up to 20.

We have bunnies too and while it's nice to know that Paddy is likely to live to a ripe old age, it's sad that he'll probably see the buns out ....

The Skin

[PassingFair]

16. Be very careful with his tail!

A friend of mine was chinchilla sitting for her sister. The chinchilla got into a hole in her floor moulding. She grabbed it by the tail, and the damn thing just snapped off!

Chinchilla survived, but those tails don't grow back.

[non sociopath skin]

20. Yes, was warned about that too!

The Skin

[lady raven]

17. I love them! But I'm allergic. Will you give yours a cuddle on my behalf?

[BikeWriter]

18. So, uh, heard any good Chinchilla jokes lately?