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What should i do about this chinchilla2007-11-24 22:17:24

For the summer I am watching my science teacher's chinchilla because he was unable to take it home. In my personal opinion I don't think he takes very good care of her. When we got her, she was terrified of people. She refused to be picked up and would bite HARD. Now she has gotten better, but still a little scared.

Also, her cage had not been cleaned in atleast 3 months and stunk really bad. Her water bottle had algea growing in it.

I don't want to give her back to him when school starts again. I think she is happier here. What should I do?!?!

Answers:

Chinchillas are nocturnal animals and sleep during the day, a classroom is NO place for a chin!! And if you didn't get anysleep you would be nasty too I think, lol. As for not cleaning the cage and the water bottle issue, this is unexpectable. I too would be worried about taking the chinchilla back to him. This is what I would do. I would research chins, I know of a very nice lady who is extremely knowledgable about chinchillas here is her email and yahoo messanger ID, clachins@yahoo.com, please talk to her. She can set you up with alot of information that will help to educate the teacher and do a good thing for the animal. I would also say to him, that you would like to keep the animal and give it a nice home and that it make you uncomfortable to think about placing it back in the classroom considering what you now about them and what their care requires. If he declines, then you need to talk to the principal about what this teaches the students about the care of animals, and if nothing else you could report it as animal abuse if it comes to that. To bad you didn't have pictures of the condition of the cage and bottle to use if you needed too. Good luck, I have 5 chins and they are my girls! I love them.

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Well, you can talk to the school principal, but technically he owns it.

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Tell your principal about the conditions that the chinchilla lives in and her behavior. It could eventually kill her if she isn't taken care of properly. Plus, its just not right! Make your argument, and then ask him to consider giving or selling the chinchilla to you.

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I would have a sincere talk about the science teacher first to express your concern, without escalating to the principal first, because people often react adversely when their apparent authority/hierachy is challenged. Perhaps the teacher would be often to your suggestion, if not, then escalate the case to the principal.

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Just an FYI on the nature of chinchillas - unless they are hand raised and time is taken with them every dayto get them used to being held and touched - by nature, they are NOT social creatures.and are notorious biters.