Chinchilla Chateau

06/29/2025

That wonderful aroma of… cuteness and dust? 😆

Cheeky Chins episode 150 - “Aroma”

06/01/2025

It’s literally in their name! 😂

I put the CHILL in chinCHILLa 😎🐭🐾😂

06/01/2025

Did these chinchillas deserve to “do time” in a rescue for their offenses? We say these offenses were problems with us humans, not chinchilla problems.

06/01/2025

Cheeky Chins episode 148 - “Ultimate Comfort”

05/30/2025

For California Adopt-a-Pet Day, won’t you consider adopting a chinchilla in need of a home?

05/24/2025

In case you needed a little reminder 🐾🫶🏼

A little reminder from my little paws 🥹🐭🐾

05/23/2025

This is 100% our stance on wheels as well. A wheel in the cage is NOT necessary for your chin to live a healthy and happy life. In most cases, a chinchilla is better off WITHOUT a wheel, but if you choose to provide one, please make sure it is safe and appropriate - large enough to prevent unnatural back arching and back injury, with a wide solid floor and no crossbars to prevent feet/leg injuries, sturdy enough to support a chinchilla’s weight and bouncing movements, and of a safe chew-proof material.

Without a wheel, you can allow your chin to exercise by providing safe hopping ledges and we all know chins will “wall-surf,” ricocheting off cage walls like parkour! 💨

05/18/2025

*sigh* 😂😂

Cheeky Chins episode 147 - “Moisturise”

05/16/2025

05/11/2025

Happy Mother’s Day to all the human moms and chinnie-moms out there! 💐

04/28/2025

These springs are a preciousssssss commodity 😆

Me whenever we find or receive springs for the chinchillas water bottles.

04/25/2025

Imagine resenting the very people who work tirelessly to produce generations of healthy, well-bred animals that we welcome into our homes and love for decades.

The chinchillas we own are domestically bred. In fact, every chinchilla in the pet trade, educational facilities, zoos, and rescues is domestically raised.

Responsible breeders invest hundreds—often thousands—of dollars into each breeding animal. A quality standard grey might cost $500–800, while a high-end angora could be $2,500 or more. These breeders carefully pair animals based on ideal body conformation, structure, quality, color clarity, and mutation combinations. They also prioritize lineage to avoid genetic diseases like malocclusion and defects such as heart murmurs.

So why target the people working to create stronger, healthier, longer-lived animals?

The overpopulation problem isn’t caused by ethical breeders—it's fueled by commercial breeding mills that supply pet stores, and by the consumers who support them. Mill-bred animals are not the same as those from small, independent breeders who raise animals in nurturing, controlled environments.

I don’t blame responsible breeders for full rescues—I blame irresponsible pet ownership. It’s rare for a good breeder to produce an animal they don’t know how to help or to refuse taking one back. That level of responsibility matters.

Backyard breeders aren’t true breeders. They're opportunists—often more interested in novelty or a quick buck than in ethics, health, or long-term care. They don’t follow breeding standards or invest in the future of the animals they produce. When it is no longer beneficial, those animals come to us.

I personally wish to enjoy chinchillas for decades more, and hope others will too. I want to show people how wonderful it is to have chinchillas as pets but that can't happen if people think we should ban breeders. The ultimate goal of a rescue is to no longer need to exist, when mills and backyard breeders are placed in check, we won't be needed as much.

Before calling for bans, take time to learn about the breeding community and the stark differences between those who exploit animals and those who elevate them.