Introducing Ella!

In addition to rearranging bedrooms, the other thing we had talked about doing after Kendra left for school was allowing Camille to finally get a pet chinchilla.  She'd been BEGGING for one for over a year now, but I wanted to wait until we had an extra bedroom to put it in.  Mostly because they're nocturnal, and despite Camille's insistence that she wanted her pet in her own room, I was quite certain that that wouldn't work.

But the joke's on me, because it turns out that chinchillas also have VERY specific temperature needs, and none of our bedrooms have very good climate control.  So she has to stay in our living room.  Which was where we used to keep Oreo.  My living room is the designated rodent habitat.  🤦

Here's the cage, while it was still pristine!  Chinchillas like to jump and climb, so they recommend getting a cage with lots of levels to it.

It was all well and good telling Camille she could finally get a chinchilla, but then they proved harder to find than I had imagined.  I found a rescue place in Maryland and eagerly emailed them explaining that my daughter would take great care of her pet chinchilla, only to get a form letter email back telling me that they will not adopt their chinchillas out to children.  Um, okay?  Do we seriously live in a world now where pets are only for grown ups????  I can't even.

I didn't want to have to drive to Maryland anyway.

I found another place in North Carolina but they had "prize" chinchillas, some of which were selling for $2000!!!!

I didn't want to drive to North Carolina, either.

Finally in desperation I just called our local PetSmart even though I've never seen a chinchilla at their store.  They told me that they don't get chinchillas, but the ones out by Target and in Waynesboro occasionally get them.  The one north of town said they thought they'd be getting one next week.  I can't even tell you how many times I called them to make sure they had in fact gotten a chinchilla (one.  They had ONE chinchilla)?  Was it a female?  What color was she?  Was she available to purchase or was she still being quarantined?

The second she was available, we dashed across town to go get her.  I've never seen Camille so happy.  

You can barely see Ella peering over the PetSmart worker's shoulder there!

Ready to take her home with us!

So we are now the proud owners of a chinchilla named Elephant (between the wrinkly grey skin and the large ears, she does kind of resemble an elephant!), but called Ella for short!

I was actually surprised by how big Ella is!  She looks so fat for having such dainty little paws!

Chinchillas, we are learning, are very fun.  They're kind of like a cross between a bunny and a squirrel-- big tails, but not as big as a squirrel.  They kind of hop, skip, and run along.  And at night, she likes to run on her big wheel and sound like someone is trying to break into the house.  I was right not to put her in Camille's bedroom!