Who we are

Animals have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember: my mom had a Pekingese when I was young, and we always had a goldfish tank. From there, we had another dog, then rats, a hamster, a rabbit, more dogs, ferrets, soft shell turtles, still more fish…

Now? Chinchillas. Plus a handful of degus, and two sassy pigeons.

My oldest child wanted a pet of their own, and that is how the chinchillas found a foothold in our home. The initial request was for a tarantula, which I was fine with, but we would have needed several state issued permits to own one at the time, and I was not wanting to deal with red tape, plus it was a “Nope” from the other adult in the house. Side note, I almost named my brand “Taran Chillas”, but there were more than a few “No, please no” for that one.

After reading through approved mammals, a chinchilla was decided on, and we wound up doing a lot of pre-reading, then a lot of learning from the Maine Chinchilla Shelter after we applied to adopt. The day we went to the shelter, we wound up adopting Muffin and Donut, and things snowballed from there.

I am now Cygnus Chinchilla, and the secondary location for the Maine Chinchilla, plus their biologist, adoption coordinator, and I provide educational outreach plus chinchilla owner education. Additionally, I am a National At-Large Board Member for Empress Chinchilla (ECBC), President of the Southeast Atlantic Branch of ECBC, a member of the Mutation Chinchilla Breeders Association (though I have yet to show with them), and the Global Chinchilla Alliance.