EOD graduation

EOD graduation
Oct. 20, 2011

Monday, August 16, 2010

"It was hot today. If I was a chinchilla, my ears would be red!"

I've decided I just have to blog about some of the Allen QOD's (quote of the day). These people who are my family say some pretty funny--odd--interesting things, and I think it's a good idea to preserve their words WITH WITNESSES. That way, down the road, they can never deny what they said! Besides, I could never make up this stuff!

So about the chinchilla thing. We've been hearing a lot about chinchillas lately from Ben. Keep in mind, he's an animal lover. That's why at the tender young age of 14 he is happily working at Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. Since he's only 14 and this is his first year, his working options are limited to the souvenir shop and the petting zoo, but that's ok with him. He is on a first-name basis with the guinea pigs and is a self-proclaimed baby goat protector when the little kids get too aggressive with their attempts to pet the animals gently!

Since a guinea pig can be obtained at Lake Tobias for the low low price of $5, we figured Ben would start asking for one his first week of work. Amazingly, it has taken 4 months before he's asked--but last week he did mention that he has his eye on a guinea pig with black feet. However, this request was short-lived because he started thinking about chinchillas again. He said this week it's either a chinchilla or a monkey. Since I don't like the price tags attached to monkeys OR the care they require, I'm opting for the chinchilla. So let's review what Ben has learned about chinchillas.

  • can live to their 20's
  • multi colors
  • need a fellow chinchilla so they don't get lonely
  • hypoallergenic
  • dust baths rather than water baths
  • can't have the environment overly hot
  • need a place in the cage to hide
  • eat chinchilla chow
  • like to gnaw and have to do it to keep teeth short

We have also viewed Youtube clips of chinchillas getting massages. Then Ben explored Craig's List and found a pair that have to find a new home together--can't be separated. They are five years old. One's a male and one's a female. Makes me wonder how many little chinchillas they've created over the years.

I was looking forward to getting this huge dog kennel out of our front hall now that Lexi has stopped chewing our shoes when we're away, but it looks like it's inevitable--I will have to replace the kennel with a chinchilla habitat. I just hope the chinchillas, being a little bigger, fare better than the hamster we had that got stepped on by accident and was renamed PopEye. Or the hamster that was accidentally left outside in its glass cage and got baked in the sun (that was very sad!) Or the white hamster that disappeared in the drain pipe in the backyard and never came back out (I hope his fate was less traumatic than the sun thing!) Of course, those mishaps occurred ages ago when everyone was a little less responsible. I think the chinchillas will be happy here as long as they can handle the German shepherd drooling at them through their cage bars. That could be a little intimidating day in and day out if you're a fuzzy little fella.

At least Ben hasn't developed a love for reptiles. They do have alligators at Lake Tobias...

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