For the month of August, six (6) chinchillas were brought in and a whopping sixteen (16) were adopted!  That breaks our previous high adoption record of fifteen (15). Once again we're back to having plenty of spare room and several empty cages. 

If you've been following us on Facebook, you'll see nearly up to the minute details of our daily news. One fun thing we've been posting has been the quickly climbing goal to reach $3000 for an emergency standby generator. As of the time of this post, we have already brought in $360 toward our goal! Thanks to all our new and old friends we have come to know through this endeavor. Your support is, and continues to be, amazing! Cyber hugs to you all.

Our positive reputation has spread with word of mouth recommendations for adoptions, surrenders, advice, and items from our store. And speaking of items....

We had another brainstorm of an idea. Our new "Chill Out Hang Out" came as a result of a request for a daybed-like accessory (thanks for the motivation, Laura!). Bucky was the first to try our beta version.

Whimsy had been toying with a chiller topped hidey house with varying degrees of success, but the stone cold, chiller ledge is a winner for sure! These sturdy cage additions come with TWO (2) stone chillers; one to place in the ledge, and one to keep handy in your freezer, ready to swap outin seconds. Check out the cage accessories page for more details. :)

For the month of July, fourteen (14) chinchillas were surrendered and eleven (11) were adopted. Four (4) kits were also born this month from two different rescue mommies who were on maternity watch. Green stripe, one of the chins mentioned in an earlier post, proved pregnant as suspected.

We’re beginning to feel the strain of a positive inflow, but will not compromise our standards. We are committed to the welfare of the chins in our care AND our promise to the former owners to find good and loving homes for the chinchillas they surrender. Whimsy’s personal motto is that anyone seeking to adopt from us should be able to provide a better home than we can. While we provide excellent, individualized care and attention, an adopter who wants to devote all of their attention to building and developing a relationship with their new pet(s) is in an even better position to provide it.

This past weekend was our trip to Pennsylvania to the Keystone Grange 2 Fair. It was our first experience with setting up a “booth” and we were rather pleased with the results. While it was much too hot to bring any live animals, we did bring along a computer that played a neat slideshow of some of our chinnies. *Waves* to those of you from Pennsylvania who took a business card and are reading this right now.

I was chatting with the local guinea pig and rabbit rescue lady recently where she was lamenting the summer as "dumping season" for rescue animals. Summer is generally when people lose interest of their Christmas pets, go on vacation, and unload the animals beforehand. Because our incoming and outgoing numbers are fairly consistent, I found this statement curious, until the actual numbers for June hit like a ton of bricks. For the month of June, we received seventeen (17) new surrenders and found homes for nine (9) chinchillas. 

At this time we have a plethora of chinchillas available for adoption. We will be working on updating the adoptions page with some of the new additions.

We WILL be open for the 4th of July weekend.

We will NOT be open the following weekend.

We are open by appointment during the days and some evenings.  Please schedule early. Weekend time slots fill quickly!

We're beginning to gear up for the summertime here at Whimsy's Menagerie & Chinchilla Rescue. Now is the time when people move, go on vacation, and we generally have lots of inquiries into surrendering, boarding, and adopting chinchillas. We currently have approximately thirty (30) chinchillas who are available (or will soon be) for adoption with at least four (4) of them on hold. For the month of May, six (6) chinchillas were surrendered and seven (7) were adopted.

I'm sorry to say that one of the very sick chinchillas that came from North Carolina didn't make it. His nasal infection cleared up, his hair ring was taken care of, but he had malocclusion that was too far advanced to continue. At least he passed in comfort. RIP Ziggy. You were a sweetheart. 

Doing rescue work is full of challenges and excitement. We have the pleasure of helping both chinchillas and people with a need that is customized . Because we specialize in only chinchillas, we can provide very specific care for these exotic pets. Funding the work we do here comes from adoption fees, donations, and sales of cages, accessories and supplies. Which reminds me!

We have a new chinchilla toy! We've taken the ever-popular pumice stuffed willow ball, super sized it, and made a cool new chew. This rather galactic-looking hanging toy is the first of our line with a jingle bell. When I first heard that one of the surrenders "loves his bell" I was a bit confused and skeptical. But when I actually saw the little guy ringing and pawing his tinkling toy I was amused. We've since heard of at least two other chins with the same passion for bells. Is yours one of those? Would you like to try out our new toy and support our cause at the same time? Yes, this is a shameless sales pitch. But we wouldn't do it if we didn't care. ;) 

Happy May everyone!

I just have to share the good news! For the month of April,  fifteen (15) chinchillas were adopted. That meets our current high number of fuzzbutts who found new homes in a single month. Check out the Adoptions page for pictures of the happy new and improved families.

It's been such a neat experience meeting new people and "talkin' chins." But one of the disturbing popular lines of questions revolve around the use of the giant plastic exercise ball, or as we call it... THE DEATH BALL [insert horror scream here].

I'd like to use this teachable moment to explain why you should take that plastic sphere and pulverize it. 

Take one high density furred chinchilla, and one mini greenhouse. Put them together for some fast action fun and-- voila!-- one overheated and possibly dead pet. 

Chinchillas don't regulate their body temperature well, especially when imprisoned in this chamber. (Really folks, they're not "having a lot of fun" in that ball. They're trying to get OUT.) Overheating can cause seizures, which can lead to irreparable brain damage or a surprisingly fast demise.

Don't take the chance. BAN THE DEATH BALL!