If you have or know of a chinchilla in need of a home, please contact us for information and assistance.

There are no fees required for surrendering a chinchilla to our group. If possible, it is helpful if you can arrange to bring your chinchillas to one of our foster homes. If not, we can arrange for someone to pick them up. Upon giving your chinchillas to us you will be asked to sign a document in which you relinquish all rights to your chinchilla.

In addition to giving us the chinchilla, you may also donate the cage and other accessories. By staying in the same cage, chinchillas can feel more secure and comfortable making the change of environment and caretaker less stressful for them. We also appreciate getting a supply of the brand of food your chinchilla has been eating. Chinchillas have delicate digestive systems and we try to ensure that we do a gradual transition, from their old brand of food to the new brand, if needed.

As the "owner" of the chinchilla, you can express your preferences about the future adoption. Some of the requests we get include:

- Keeping chinchillas together. If you have more than one chinchilla, you can request that your chins be adopted together.

- Adult-only adopters. You can request that your chinchilla be adopted by an adult-only family. Some chinchillas are not suitable for a family with young children.

- Cage and accessories are provided to adoptive family. If you have supplied a cage, you can request that your chinchilla be adopted with the cage and any accessories that you provided with it.

- Have contact with adoptive family. You can request to have contact with the adoptive family so that you feel comfortable that your chin is happy and healthy.

 

Foster Care and Adoption

All new chinchillas are put into isolation or quarantine upon arrival in our foster homes. The new chins can usually see and talk to other chins, but the cages are far enough apart so that fur and poops cannot reach other cages. The biggest contagious health problems we see in chinchillas are Giardia and ringworm. All incoming chinchillas have a routine health check-up with our veterinarian and receive medical treatment as needed.

Once any medical issues are addressed, we focus on the social and emotional needs of the chinchilla. This includes an evaluation of the temperament to help us learn more about the chin and what type of adoptive family might be best. All of the chinchillas in our care receive lots of attention and TLC, as well as high quality food, hay, bottled water, chew toys, etc. Since both of our current foster homes also have a dog or two as members of the family, we also get the opportunity to socialize the chins with canines.

The next step in the process is to start the search for the right adoptive families for the chinchillas. You can visit our adoption page to see our adoption policy.

If, for some reason, we cannot find a home for a chinchilla in our care, it will have a forever home with us.