NWI Chinchillas

We have a curly (locken) carrier ebony male chinchilla who’s looking for his new home. This male is MNWI H85 – he was born on 10/25/2017, which currently makes him 1 year old. He is out of some of our best curly lines, we just don’t need another male at this time, so he is available!

He comes from Ritterspach curly lines on both sides, and will come with pedigree, if desired. Awesome curly lines to work with!

This male is a curly carrier, also known as a locken carrier. He was born wavy, but as tends to happen with the carriers, his fur has straightened out, though he has a smidge of wave still on his belly. The curl / wave is due to the locken gene, which is the gene that creates curl in chinchillas.

This male is an ebony. The ebony gene wraps the color around the entire chinchilla, so instead of this little guy having a white belly like many chinchillas, his belly is the same color as the rest of his body.

As tends to be the case with the curlies, this boy is a super sweet boy. He does well with being handled and petted. He’s curious and wants to check out new things, without being overly active. Super sweet, we just love him. Doesn’t bite.

This chinchilla is currently caged alone. However, if you interested in pairing him up with your, or one of our, chinchillas, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

The fee for this ebony curly carrier chinchilla is $350

Fall Fiesta Sale!! SPECIAL!! Adopt me now for $125!

Please note: this chinchilla is fostered in Island Lake, IL.  Please read on for details regarding his adoption.

We have a standard grey male chinchilla that is looking for his new home. He came to NWI a bit ago, and we have that he was born around January 2015, which makes him right about 3.5 year old. His name is Ash.

Ash’s color is called standard grey, which is the classic color in chinchillas – a greyish color over his back, with a white belly.

Ash’s story is similar to many we hear. His original family adopted him at a trade show, where the seller convinced them that chinchillas were hypoallergenic and would not affect their allergies or asthma. Of course, that depends on the person (as far as whether someone is affected by chinchillas), but even with that said, chinchillas are definitely not hypoallergenic, and unfortunately, Ash did affect and worsen the family’s allergies and asthma. The family was also told that chinchillas were clean, as in, there would never be a mess outside of the cage for them to clean up. If you’ve ever had a chinchilla, you know that while they typically are cleaner than other small animals, there is still usually a fair amount of poos and shavings that end up outside of the cage. With anticipating no mess, the family was understandably not thrilled with the constant vacuuming and with trying to keep their other pets from eating the stray poos that ended up on the floor. Further, they were told he only needed chinchilla pellets to survive, and when they asked about other needs, they were told that was it -- never informed about dust baths, hay, chew toys, that sort of thing. Thankfully, the family did do their research later, and found out that most of what they were told was incorrect. Even if they had wanted to keep him (and they did try!), unfortunately with their allergies and asthma, they said they would hold him and immediately have to change clothes and wash up, to avoid an allergic / asthmatic reaction, which obviously isn’t practical with daily care of a chinchilla. That’s when they sought out a rescue to take him in.

Ash is actually a very sweet chinchilla. He’s not a huge fan of actually being handled, though he does enjoy getting scritches and getting pet on occasion. His original home would often hand-feed him treats and food and he’d take those no problem.

We were informed that Ash is not a fan of large dogs, and that when they were around, he would start doing his warning call and would go hide. Because of this, he should likely not go to a home that either has large dogs, OR, if the home has large dogs, he would need to be in an area where they could not come up to the cage.

To avoid the large dog issue, the family moved him to their spare room, but while there, he started fur chewing. It’s been reported that he does this on and off, but it has been somewhat alleviated by having Ash in a bigger cage and having a wheel in with him. Ash LOVES his wheel.

Ash is currently in a foster home in Island Lake, IL. He is there in his own double Critter Nation cage with his wheel and his stuff. Due to the fact that some people already have large cages and wonderful wheels / accessories, we’re not requiring that he go home with his stuff. However, if you want to adopt JUST Ash, you will need to show proof of a cage (one that is no-smaller than a double Critter Nation) and a chin-safe wheel. He is available either by himself (if you have the needed cage / accessories), or with his cage and stuff. If you are wanting to adopt him with his cage and accessories, he will need to be adopted out from the Island Lake foster home. If you are wanting to adopt just Ash, he can be adopted from our Hammond location, though please allow some time for transport to get him back here.

Ash hasn’t been in his foster home very long, but this is what they’ve had to say about him – “He definitely loves chin scratches. He did need adjustment time, and is still in it. But he is a very sweet chin if you can convince him you won’t pick him up. I attempted and he ran away.”

Ash has never bitten anyone.

This chinchilla is currently living alone, and we do not know if he gets along with other chinchillas. Due to the fact that he is easily stressed out, we wouldn’t recommend trying to pair him with another chinchilla. However, should you desire to do so, we would recommend a super slow introduction process, so as to not stress him out.

Ash is currently being fostered in Island Lake, IL. He can be adopted straight from his foster home, or possibly transported back to our Hammond location depending on the adoption (see above). Sorry, we cannot ship.

The adoption fee for Ash himself is $75

OR

To adopt Ash, his cage, wheel, and accessories (everything in the cage pic), the adoption fee would be $225. That means you’re getting a double critter nation cage, chin-safe wheel, hidey house, all new (as of summer 2018) wood shelves, some toys, food bowl / water bottle, and more for $150! The cage alone is $250 new and in awesome condition, so this is your chance to get a chin with a great set-up for a reasonable price!

Fall Fiesta Sale!!  Adopt me now for $65

OR me and all my stuff for $215!!

We have a 3 year old standard grey female chinchilla that is looking for her new home. She came to NWI a bit ago, and she was born in August 2015. She originally came to the rescue from another rescue that was closing down. 

Please note:  She found a home, but unfortunately it didn’t work out with that home. While we had her listed as a very sweet girl, she apparently did not like her new home, as they returned her to us, saying that she would bite and spray. When she came back, we let her settle in for a bit, and then started handling and interacting with her again… she does not show any of these behaviors here.  In her pictures, you can see her fur looks a bit patchy and uneven, which appears to be the result of fur slips.  Best guess is that she was handled roughly and was not happy about this, hence the biting, spraying, and fur slipping.  As a result, she can now only be adopted out to a home that has no kids under 18.  Read on for more about her personality.

Update 10/18 -- we now learned that her previous home had been abusing her, and later killed two other chinchillas (death by severe trauma -- super sad).  We don't believe that she actually is a "bad" chinchilla, but that she acted out to save herself.  She was "lucky" to get out with her life.  She really deserves a great loving home!

This girl’s color is called standard grey, which is the classic color in chinchillas – a greyish color over her back, with a white belly.

Both now and the previous time that this girl was here, she has been evaluated as doing well with being handled and petted. She is relatively chill in your arms, though she does have her curious moments when she wants to check everything out. Here, she has not bitten anyone, she has not sprayed at anyone, heck, she has not even barked at anyone! We think the previous adoptive home was just not a good fit for this gal. Of course, if she does turn into the devil-chin at her next home, she can be returned and swapped out for another chin, but we hope without kids, this will not happen again.

This chinchilla is currently living alone, and we do not know if she gets along with other chinchillas. If you are curious as to whether she might get along with your, or one of our, chinchillas, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

We have a standard grey male chinchilla who’s looking for his new home. His name is Luke. Luke came to the rescue not long ago, with another chinchilla. The two chins were adopted out to their previous owners by a different rescue that swore they would get along (while never trying to introduce them or anything). Unfortunately, the two never did get along, despite the family’s best efforts. The family had wanted two chinchillas to keep each other company, and since the chins had to live alone, they felt that the chins weren’t getting enough time and attention, so they brought them to our rescue. They would have surrendered them back to the same rescue, however, that rescue would not take them in without their new cage also being dropped off. As we don’t require cages with surrenders, the family brought them here instead.

We have down that Luke was born around 2013-2014, which makes him 4-5 years old.

Luke is a sweet boy. He’s pretty easy to catch and chills nicely in your hands when you’re holding him. He’s super sweet and on the calmer side and tends to sit nicely when you’re petting him and loving on him. He’s curious and would likely enjoy playtime. Super sweet. Doesn’t bite.

In the pics, you can see that Luke has a watery eye. He has been cleared for teeth issue and has no eye infection… just a watery eye that comes and goes. This is possibly allergies or a tear duct issue, but does not seem to affect him in the slightest, other than how the fur looks around his one eye. He is a healthy boy and has actually gained weight since being here.

This male is a standard grey chinchilla. That means he is the typical salt and pepper greyish color over his back, with a white belly.

He would make a great “first chinchilla” for someone who’s never had one before.

This chinchilla is currently caged alone, due to the fact that he didn’t get along with the other chinchilla in the past. We were told that Luke was the bully of the two, so we would not recommend attempting to pair him up with another chinchilla.