This is JJ.  JJ is a Chinchilla.  The son of two other chinchillas and an orphan.  A year last June, JJ’s mom was tragically killed by our yellow lab Bob.  Bob thought she was a toy and picked her up to carry her around the house.  This was a little much for her, and she died when Bob tossed her across the room.  It was horrible.  No blood thankfully, but it was horrible dealing with two children freaking out while Garbanzo was out of town.  But, we held a funeral and all was well.  Except we couldn’t find JJ who was 2 weeks old at the time.  Thankfully a cat gave us a clue as to where he was – and we found him.  And had to feed him with an eye dropper for a month.  (Goat’s milk, in case anyone ever gets stuck with such a task.)

It really is hard to believe that JJ is huge now. Chinchillas are neat little creatures.  We just have too many creatures.  JJ is going to go live at Derek’s school in his classroom.  We are loaning him out.  We figured this would be the least traumatic way for DJ, our 9-year-old.  She is horrified at the idea of giving pets away….but we have WAY too many.  Three chinchillas, two dogs, two cats, a guinea pig and two chickens – it is time to thin the herd.  Our hope is that we find a classroom home for the other two as well. 

Tomorrow JJ is going to visit DJ’s class.  Then Monday, I will be transporting said chinchilla to his new home for a while.  I hope he has fun.  He is a cute little guy.