Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Adventures In Babysitting

Daughter's boyfriend is off in Portland (OR), visiting his dad for the holidays, and I've been drafted to babysit his two chinchillas. I don't mind. He's a good kid, a promising young man, and, well... he also volunteered to sit my cats while I was away last November.
So hear I am. Chinchilla-sitting.

I've always heard that Chinchillas have the softest fur of any mammal. Just how soft is it? So soft that my fingers, evidently worn down through years of labor, can't even feel it. The fur texture doesn't even register with my nerve endings. How soft is that? It's a lot like feeling nothing.
So, I've got a large cage occupied by two creatures the eye can see, but the senses can't recognize. Are they really there? Is this all a mirage? Nah, they're real. And need specific care. Cool climate. Daily vitamins. Whatapainintheass!

Interesting creatures. Cute as babes. Eat like pigs. Poop like geese. Luckily, it's a dry pellet poop.
Did I mention they're a pain in the ass!
Am tempted to leave the door to their safe room open so the cats can play with them.

7 comments:

W.B. Picklesworth said...

I bet they'd make a nice pair of gloves.

Gino said...

i was thinkin wrist sweaters.

kingdavid said...

If you really wanted to get their blood pressures up, don't use the cats, find somebody with a Jack Russell Terrier and let one of those bad boys take a look. I use to have a hedge-hog, and I took it down one time to show my sister; man, her two Jack Russells, which I think are ratters, nearly shred her apart trying to get at that animal. I'm with you on the pooping; what little rodents like these lack in volume at individual poops, they more than make up for it in how often they drop a load.

Anonymous said...

Jeez man you forgot COOL.
Anything named after me has to be cool .......:o)

Chills

Andy said...

That thing looks evil.

Gino said...

kingdavid:you should see the cats camping out in front of their door. they want 'in' so bad...

chills: of course!

andy: but in person, so sweet. a look that defies the maintenance level required.

Anonymous said...

My dead hamster scared off our cats. She repeatedly escaped but established early on with them that she was the boss. They trembled in her presence.