These two little girls are available for adoption from the Humane Society for Seattle and King County and are my newest fosters. Lyla went back to the HS for the Tuxes and Tails event - but sadly she didn't get adopted, so she is also still available.
These two Chinchillas are rather unsocialized - that is what we are working on - and they do something called "Fur Chewing". Basically they chew each other's fur so it is really short in places. There isn't much we can do about that, so they just have funny looking coats.
One of the interesting things about Chinchillas is that they take "dust baths". About every other day I give them special "chinchilla dust" and they roll around and clean themselves in it....and simultaneously throw dust all over the room... But despite the mess, I must admit it is pretty cute to watch them go at it.
This is Prancer:
Prancer is, ironically, the less prancy of the two and prefers to hide in their little house when she gets stressed.
This is Chatterbox
It was quickly apparent why her name is chatterbox, she chatters! Actually the sound they make is more like a chirp. Chatterbox is really active and likes bouncing off the walls - literally.
My plan is to try and get them used to people. They are very happy unless you try to touch them, then they run and hide. They don't mind people being close to their cage, or people talking to them, they just don't like being touched.
I made a cage for them because the one they came in wasn't appropriate for Chinchillas (they need room to climb). It may not be the prettiest thing, but it works. They were very happy to have a "shelf" to sit on in their new cage:
Can you tell them apart yet?
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So these little girls are my newest challenge. The main goal is hopefully to get them used to being stroked and not freaking out when you clean their cage - if we can get that then we will work to try and get them used to being picked up!
