We have a lovely cherry blossom tree in front of our new place, along with some other pretty little flowers that have come into bloom this spring. Over the weekend, we decided to have a little fun photoshoot with Diesel. Here are my favorites!
Quite the photogenic one, isn’t he? Excuse my oya baka moment, but I had to share… π
Due to the recent move, we had a lot of cardboard boxes lying around, so Dan decided on a project for himself — to create a play castle for our chinchillas Diesel and Piper. I was at first skeptical about the idea, but it turned out surprisingly sturdy with three floors accompanied by internal staircases leading up to each. The chinchillas seem to be having a lot of fun with it, too! We found a way to coax them to them to the top by hanging one of their favorite treats on the pinnacle.
Dan and I recently got a new chinchilla buddy for Diesel. We actually got him a few weeks ago, on Superbowl Sunday, from the chinchilla rescue center down in the South Bay. Since Indy died in early June of last year, it’s taken me a while to get over the loss since he was one of my first pets (along with Diesel), and it was my first time losing a pet. Chinchillas are very social animals, so we’d been considering getting another chinchilla to keep Diesel company for a while now, but kept putting it off since it’s significantly more work to take care of chinchillas (twice as much feed, twice as much shedding, twice as much poo, you get the idea) and thins were busy at the end of the year with holidays and traveling.
Diesel was looking particularly bored lately though, so we decided to go for it and pay the chinchilla rescue center a visit. The ladies that take in these chinchillas are amazing women and they are really dedicated to taking in and caring for orphaned chinchillas and finding new “forever homes” for them. Both Diesel and Indy had come from the chinchilla rescue. If you live in the Bay Area and are considering a chinchilla as a pet, please consider going to a rescue center instead of buying chinchillas at pet stores. There are several chinchillas whose owners were unable to care for them anymore, or were found abandoned — sometimes in really awful circumstances — and it’s important that they find a permanent home with loving owners. To learn more or to see available chinchillas for adoption, please visit ChinchillaRescue.org.
After having Diesel “meet” and run around with some of the other chinchillas at the rescue center, there was one in particular that seemed to be pretty compatible with him. Only a year old, he was pretty big — almost as large as Diesel! Usually the chinchillas at the rescue centers have names that were given to them by their previous owners (Diesel was Booshie when we adopted him, and Indy had been Petey), but this new chinchilla had not been given a name, so the rescue center had labeled his cage “No-Name.” So we decided to adopt “No-Name” and bring him home with us. We threw around some names for him (among them were Oreo, Pepper, Bullet) for about a week or so, but the name that seemed to stick was Piper. There’s no really story or reasoning behind the name — Dan just thought it was a cute name for the new guy, and it just sort of rolled off our tongues without even thinking after a while.
Chinchillas are supposed to be kept in separate cages for the first couple weeks, and you let them spend more and more time together as they gradually get used to one another. It’s already been well over two weeks since we brought Piper into our home, and he and Diesel have been getting along great! There were some minor squabbles here and there as they’ve tried to show their dominance to each other (very common among chinchillas), but they are now happily living together in the same cage and seem like best friends! It’s especially adorable when they groom each other and give each other scratches. It seems like Piper is even more compatible with Diesel than Indy was. (Although of course, we still miss Indy a lot.) We actually haven’t taken too many photos yet since Piper rarely sits still, but here are a couple photos that we took last week.
That’s all for now, but you can be sure to see more photos and videos posted of these two cuties in the months to come! π
We have a pet chinchilla named Diesel, and although he has a somewhat grumpy disposition, I still think he is the cutest four-legged creature to walk the face of the earth. He is a bit overweight for a chinchilla, weighing in at just over two pounds, and he often just looks like a ball of fur with ears and a tail. He brings out the Elmyra Duff (remember Animaniacs?) in me, and I just want to squeeze him and love him forever and ever and ever. Even friends who normally hate rodents like mice and hamsters are often won over when they see our Diesel.
Diesel is so adorable, in fact, that it would be a pity for his cuteness to go on unnoticed in the world. Recently, I’ve been plotting ways to make Diesel a YouTube celebrity, with his own channel full of viral videos and a fan base of loyal followers. We just have to come across the right ideas at the right time, and Diesel will soon be following in the footsteps of Panda Dog, Heart-kun, and Susan Boyle.
Here are some videos we’ve recorded over the past to test the waters….
Stay tuned for more from tomorrow’s YouTube superstar, Diesel!
On June 2nd, 2009 our beloved chinchilla passed away. Indy was a spunky and playful chinchilla that was initially a great burden to us. The first night heΓΒ screamed and squeaked, keeping us both up until it was reunited with his newfound friend, Diesel. He was the happiest chinchilla when alongside the grouch Diesel. We slowly started to love him for his rowdy and adventurous personality which far differed from his slow and lazy companion.
Rest in peace Indy, I only regret not letting you run freely in the backyard grass; and possibly testing fate by taunting nearby cats. You will be missed…
Please watch this video/slideshow with all of Indy’s moments. Please share your thoughts.