"Animal Of The Week" - Chin Up!

Many years ago I used to have a gorgeous pet Chinchilla called Squingey. Unfortunately this was before the electronic age so I have no digital photos of him.

Squingey was  Lance and mine's first pet so I have always loved Chins. When we had him they were quite unusual and not a lot was known about them. Now this has totally changed and we have six Chinchillas at the college.

As mentioned in the last post I run a series of school groups and also handling sessions for both L1s and L2s. So any excuse for me to get an animal out.

Over the last week I have been running sessions with the L2s where we have been observing the behaviour of group living species so the Chins have been in the class having fun.

At the college we  have four grey Chinchillas Ash, Frankie, Angelica and Tufty live together and Max (white) and Alfie (grey) who live as a pair.

Today's feature are Max and Alfie

"Of course I am well behaved :)" - Max  

"You can put me down now!" - Alfie



Anyone who knows anything about Chins will know that they are very fast and will do what they can do out run you. Not funny when you get a Chin on the floor.  Max seems to have a rather unfair reputation as the bitey one however if he is handled correctly he will not bite and is actually quite placid at times. You will see in the photos placing one had under their chins (pardon the pun) and one under their back end this helps to make them feel secure and they cannot reach your fingers.

"Ok who called me the bitey one?!"

Max was originally paired with Angelica many years ago and they had a son Ozzy but since then we have had a few changes around and Max was paired with Alfie some time ago. Chins are group living animals and usually live quite happily together with the odd falling out. Max and Alfie get on very well so I only ever bring them out together. Alfie I find is naughtier then Max and has an obsession with trying to get on the floor - yes he has succeeded on occasion!

"Who could say such things about us? - We are way too cute"   

Chins are from the Andes which is a mountainous region in South America. One of my jokes is that they are from Chinchile as they are actually from Chile and Peru. They are known to live up to 20 years and are thought to have the softest fur in the animal kingdom.

Ash is our oldest Chin at around 16 years and I think the youngest is Tufty but he must be at least 5 or so. Chins are Crepuscular meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk so do not like being disturbed in the day when I am usually getting them out much to their disgust.

Chins still remain one of my favourite animals they are so amazing to watch and make funny little noises.