Maisie's kits have been weaned, and the two standards grays are available for adoption, bringing our number of available chins up to 12. We've decided to keep the beige girl and name her Miriam. The little ones are so friendly and have had a nice smooth transition from their doting mother to the community cage where all their new "aunts" have taught them well how to play nice with others. Our little utopia is getting rather crowded and after much deliberation, we have decided to pair off some of the girls to go to pet homes.

The adoptions page is going through a major overhaul. The new layout features clickable thumbnail pictures of the available chins, and we hope to have video introductions too!

It's been a long time since our last update and so much has happened! We have moved the chins into their very own room and no longer fill our dining room. Instead, they now reside in our converted garage! This new space is ideal to provide a living environment and play space for the chins. With the new spread, the "chin room" looks a lot like a pet shop! We currently have 10 cages that house 21 chinchillas total.

Yesterday, our numbers were reduced by one when three lovely young ladies came to meet the menagerie and possibly adopt. I'm thrilled to announce that Timothy went home with Katelyn. What a perfect pair! It always helps to know that the fuzz bottoms are going to a home that will cherish them.

Another exciting event that took place this month was our "official membership" to the MCBA (Mutation Chinchilla Breeder's Association). With this membership we promise to improve and strengthen the newer color mutations. Now we just need to decide which mutation to focus on. We have not started the breeding endeavor quite yet. Our own high quality females are still much too young. We are slowly building our herd from superb animals from all over the country and are even working toward a partnership with a Canadian breeder!  We are eagerly looking forward to adding our offspring to the show ring in the near future. We'll let you know how it goes.

Please welcome our new arrivals... Maisie had triplets! There are two standards (male and female) and a beige (female). At birth, they weighed 62, 52, and 44 grams (respectively). Mom and babies are all doing very well.

Maisie's kits aren't the only new chins around. We also took in another rescue. He's a black velvet with pale ears and a sweet personality. We're calling him Mordecai. He and Petra look very similar except for the difference in ear color.

We also added another chin to our Menagerie. She came to us from Shelli (Chinchildren) of North Carolina. She's a white violet, but there are no markings on her at all, so she almost looks like a pink white. We've named her Davi, which is Hebrew for "beloved" and the feminine form of David. We plan on entering her in the show ring in the future. A big thank you to Shelli for our darling little girl!

So about those new additions...

Two weeks ago we took a trip to Ohio to take part in another chinchilla show. This time we brought along a couple of our own to show off. Silly us. We had NO IDEA what it takes to show our own chins and ours looked rather scruffy after the extremely long ride. Fortunately for us, this particular show was supposed to be a "field day" for newbies like us. A very kind woman named Hope taught us how to groom our chins. Groom chins? You mean there's more to it than just offering a dust bath? Yes! And the difference is amazing. We're now proud owners of two professional grade grooming combs and are much more prepared for the next show. By the way, one of our chins (Dove) took a second place ribbon in her class. The judge said she'd have gotten a first place if it weren't for some fur slip on her backside.

While we were in Ohio at the nationally known Ryersons' Chinchilla Ranch, we were determined to find a new color mutation called "sapphire" to add to our herd. We found the sweetest little girl. She's just about the same age as Bubbles and the two of them get along like best friends. Picture coming soon!

Also, while we were at the Ryersons' Ranch, I was supposed to meet up with JAGS for a violet male that had won Color Phase Champion at the York Show. He was formerly known as "T33". We now call him Aaron. Surprisingly, he gets along very well with Petra, the other champ from the York Show.

Now, originally, I wrote about new additions. This update wouldn't be complete without mentioning Bindi. The kids have been asking for a kitten, but Whimsy really doesn't like cats. She's waiting for Paisley to pass over the rainbow bridge. Whimsy stupidly made a seemingly impossible opening by stating that she'd only consider getting another cat if it were a munchkin cat. So here's my testimony that ANYTHING can be found on craigslist.

It's been quite an eventful month here at the Menagerie. We've had some exciting new additions and some sad losses as well. First the bad news. A handful of the chins began slowly losing weight. It's not always easy to tell when a chin is on a self imposed diet. All that lofty plushy fur hides it well. We do make it a habit here, however, to regularly check the chin's weights and record them. With the weight loss, we first figured it must have something to do with the feed. Many other chin friends across the nation had reported weight loss on the same feed we were using, so we tried switching to another high quality show formula. When that made no effect, I thought perhaps we had gotten a bad bale of hay. With that change, there was still no positive effect. When two cagemates passed away within a week of each other, even while seemingly enjoying the new feed, I knew it was not an isolated case. We quickly started supplement/syringe feeding Oxbow Critical Care for herbivores to the skinny chins to keep their strength up and brought in one little guy for blood and fecal tests. Dr. Peake, a highly recommended local exotics veterinarian prescribed a wide spectrum antibiotic for the herd while we waited for the results to come back from the lab. Unfortunately it was too late for two more chins. The poor little test chin passed within hours of his vet visit, while another fought hard for another three days. The antibiotic seemed to be working, but she was just too weak to make it through.

Now for the good news... The antibiotics and regular syringe feedings paid off! The skinny chinnies are rapidly gaining weight and the poos are nice and firm again. Hooray! Everyone is enjoying their pellets and fresh dried Timothy and botanical hay. Now the hard part will be to get those spoiled chins to give up their syringe feedings!