After Zeus died and we moved in with Mark, I was looking for another chinchilla to live with Odin because everyone says chinnies get lonely when they live alone. I put a couple ads up in pet stores and received a call from a local woman about her chinchilla, Po. She said it was male, that she had been rescuing animals for awhile and had several dogs, cats, the chinchilla, and a bird. The problem was she was about to have a baby and really had to find homes for all the animals. Po's name was a sign to me because Po Bronson is one of my favorite authors, and we met another Po that used to run Archetypus (an awesome café in Edgewater) and he was a very cool guy. It's not a common name tho, and things do tend to come in threes, so I figured this Po was my number 3. I agreed to take him in, so we set up a time to meet.
The minute I saw Po I knew "he" was a "she." She was twice the size of my other fuzzies (girls in this species are always bigger than boys) and her face had a longer, more pointed nose. I wasn't sure how that would work out in our little zoo with the things I'd heard, but I couldn't turn her away, and I retained a slight hope that maybe I was wrong about her sex. I wasn't.
The lady that relinquished Po was very nice, but obviously a chaotic sort. Her description of her house confirmed my thoughts. When I tried to pick Po up she flew around the cage in excitement and squirmed uncontrollably. The lady explained that Po was nervous because her dogs would bark at the cage and frighten her, and the bird made a lot of noise in the same room as well. When you have satellite dishes for ears and the hearing to match, I can imagine all that noise does not create a peaceful existence. With cats (read: predators) roaming free, I'll bet that wasn't too comfortable for her either. I figured at worst I'd have to find Po another home, but at least it might be a calmer one.
We changed Po's name to Hopi because 1) it was more girly and we figured "Hopi" still had a similar sound to "Po" so as not to confuse her too much, 2) the Hopi tribe were a very calm, peaceful people and I hoped some of that energy would even out her former circumstances, and 3) we always said if we had any girl chinnies they would be named Hopi and Zuni. So it all worked out nicely and she didn't seem to mind.
Hopi came with a trash bag full of accoutrements, including a box of bird seed that I was told was her diet. Yes, bird seed. When I asked the lady about this she said Po loved it and she figured it was about the same as chinnie food anyway. (For those of you just starting your chinchilla education, it is definitely NOT the same, or anywhere close.) The good news is Hopi was getting hay, as evidenced by the large bag included, she had a bathhouse with dust, and a red blanket tube for a hiding place. This is more than I can say for many rescues I've helped with. The large wire hamster wheel looked unused (unchewed even) so I'm not sure what that was about, but it found a more appropriate owner that I hope is enjoying it.
The lady was obviously trying to do the right thing, and I hold nothing against her, but she just didn't seem to have the time or inclination to properly research what this species needs to survive in captivity.
We changed Hopi's food over to Mazuri pellets and Animax supplement right away, cold turkey. This is normally a big no-no and can cause digestive problems, but I figured it had to be better than the birdseed wreaking havoc on her GI tract. Hopi's coat was very coarse and not pleasant to feel when she came to live with us, but changing her diet alone made it soft and beautiful within a couple weeks. She's now arguably one of the softest chinnies we have.
Hopi's personality has calmed down considerably, but she's still cocky and more than a little pushy when she wants her way. If she wants out of the cage and the door is open, or if she's in your arms, she is not above biting you to get free. It's never a malicious bite meant to hurt, but her commanding nibble will startle an unsuspecting person into perhaps fumbling her, which she will take full advantage of. We may call her our fat chinnie girl, but she's fast, and smart too, and it usually takes two of us to catch her when she gets out.
The best thing about Hopi is she truly loves attention. She will sit and enjoy a good scratch for as long as you're willing to keep doing it. Behind the ears is good, but if you scratch her under the chin (no pun intended), she will "bliss out," tilting her head to the side and sometimes lifting her arm as if to say "Oh yeah, right thereŠ a little to the left!" I'd heard this term on the boards before, but didn't understand what it meant until I saw her do it. I haven't found a person yet that doesn't go "awwwwww!" when she does that.
Hopi does have her pet peeves. She doesn't like to be touched on the hindquarters at all (not even to be petted nicely), and if you want to pick her up, you have to let her climb onto you as she will grumble at you loudly if you lift her with your hands. I've always thought there might be something wrong with her spine or hind end because of this, but then I see her sleeping bent in half, with her butt tucked under and her tail sticking straight out in front from underneath. (Odin sleeps like that too sometimes.) I imagine if her back was causing her problems, she wouldn't be able to do this comfortably. Or perhaps her sleeping positions are the cause of her discomfort. Who knows.
Obviously, since she did turn out to be a girl (confirmed by our vet) and none of the chins are fixed, she has to live alone in her cage, however, I've come to the conclusion that as long as the chins are all in the same room, they still feel a sense of community and therefore are not lonely.