Ever since I was a teenager I have admired the adorable little rodent called a chinchilla. I would see them in pet stores and
wish I could take one home. I was lucky enough to have a boyfriend give me my first chinchilla in 1999.
It was a heterozygous beige pink white male named Roosevelt. After a couple of years of falling in love with his
personality and antics, I decided that I'd like to breed chinchillas as well as my rabbits. It took me a few years, but I finally
purchased a mate for him in October of 2004. I chose a beautiful heterozygous beige female so I could get some babies the same
color as my precious Roosevelt. I drove about 5 hours round trip to pick her up in Northern Ohio. In June 2005 I opened the gate
between the double cage I made for Butternut and Roosevelt and they lived happily together. Roosevelt died unexpectedly
on July 16, 2007 at the age of 11 1/2. He got some bad dental problems and had a badly infected abcess on his tooth that caused
some other problems. Sadly, Butternut never had any babies after close to 2 years of living with Roosevelt. Even though
they never had babies I'm so glad to have bought Butternut and to have given Roosevelt a friend. He loved her dearly! Butternut
loved him, too and got very depressed after he died. She lost around 100 grams in about 3 weeks. She has
gained all of the weight back and she has become very good friends with her newer friend, Acorn. I
brought Acorn home on August 17, 2007.
I decided to add another pair of chins to my home in 2009. I brought Starla (violet) and Rocko (grey)
home July 17, 2009. I am so excited to welcome them to my family! They are a proven bonded breeding
pair and I am hoping to have some wee baby chins from them soon!
After 5 years of hoping Butternut would produce some babies for me her 1st
litter arrived early in the morning on January 18, 2010. She had twin girls, 1 beige and 1 tan. She has had 2
more litters since then and has been a terrific momma. Starla also had a healthy litter in 2010. She had 2
violets, 1 male and 1 female. I kept Breeze, a homo beige female, and Haze, a violet male to add to my
breeding program. I have not bonded them yet but hope to get babies from them in late 2011 or in 2012.