An Alphabet Of Things I Like: C

~ beetleypete

Chinchillas.

These nocturnal rodents from South America are often kept as pets. They are also farmed for the use of their fur. I don’t really agree with either, as fur should stay on the animals where it belongs, and Chinchillas can live for up to fifteen years, and become depressed in captivity. So I do not advocate ever being tempted to own one.

However, I used to know someone who had four of these as pets. They lived together in a very large cage, which had been adapted as well as possible for their habitat. They can grow to be quite large, and some varieties are as big as cats.

The reason they are mentioned here though, is because of their fur. I was given one to hold by my friend, and it had the softest most luxurious fur of any animal I have ever encountered. No dog, cat, rabbit, or other furry animal can compare to touching a Chinchilla. It is softer than velvet, almost impossible to describe just how wonderful it feels to cuddle and stroke those little creatures.

If you ever get the opportunity, I recommend it.

61 thoughts on “An Alphabet Of Things I Like: C”

    1. They are easy to feed, Arlene.
      ’80-90% of a chinchilla’s diet should be high quality grass hay, such as timothy hay or orchard grass hay. Your chinchilla should always have hay available. Pellets should be plain, hay-based pellets, with no seeds, nuts, or dried fruit.’
      They live wild i many South American countries, and are popular as pets all over the world.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  10. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Chinchilla up close before and certainly have never petted one. If I get the opportunity I will take it!

    Until then I will continue to pet my 2 cats – especially Benji who has the softest fur. You might imagine my favorite letter C word is Cats, and you would be right! 🙂

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    1. I bet you my house that a chinchilla’s fur is softer than Benji’s. 🙂
      (That’s around $300,000 at today’s rate)
      I have had cats as pets, but not since the late 1970s. It’s not that I dislike them, they are just doing their own thing, most of the time. My stepdaughter has two cats, and they always sit on me when I visit.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I have wanted to get one ever since I held my friend’s pet. But you have to have at least two, or they get lonely and withdrawn. And they need a really big cage! Then they are active at night, so noisy when we are sleeping. Best to let them enjoy life in the wilds of South America I think.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. And my two eldest children attended a nursery school called Chinchilla, way back in time, in Cape Town. An excellent school it was too! No fur involved though the logo was the animal 🙂

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  16. Thank you for appreciating them alive, Pete. I can only imagine how they must feel.

    Sadly minks, chinchillas and other fur bearing animals are farmed and killed annually for their pelts. The mink farm animals are suffering due to Covid and are being destroyed at an alarming rate.

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  21. I totally agree with regard to the use of animal fur, and I am ambivalent about keeping any animal caged, however good the conditions; I absorbed my grand uncle Wilfred Risdon’s abhorrence of animal testing & vivisection while I was writing his biography, so I am happy to campaign for better treatment for all animals. Cheers, Jon.

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