bunrab | Chili Chinchilla has passed away

Chili was our oldest chin; he was 14. Average lifespan for a chin varies depending on who you believe, but the most common range is 12-15, so he was in there. We knew it was coming; for the last several weeks, he had been losing weight and sleeping more, although he had still enthusiastically been grabbing his dried cranberry in the evening. But 2 evenings ago, he wasn't even interested in a cranberry or dried apricot bit; he just sipped some water. So we knew that was it. He died peacefully in his sleep last night.

Chili had the biggest ears of any chinchilla I know, and that's saying something! He liked to sleep with his head sticking out of their wooden hidey-hut, and he looked just like a gargoyle with giant wings. (The grey color helps that effect.) He was a very active chin, and during floor time he would be everywhere, especially if there was an opportunity to tease a rabbit by leaping right over the rabbit's head. His cage-mate, Chippy, is fatter, and was a little slower when they were both younger, but Chili had slowed down a bit, and these past couple of years, it usually only took 20 minutes or so of concerted effort by two people to herd him back into his cage.

We never took very many pictures of the chins - it's difficult, since they rarely sit still except when they are asleep in their cage inside their little wooden den. The icon I have here shows Chili (light grey) and Chippy (dark grey) in a rare moment of sleeping outside their den.

Since we recently got Darwin and Lamarck, Chippy won't be all alone; while they're not in the same cage, they are right next to him, for him to crab at and tell them what's what. We'll see how he does without a cage-mate before deciding whether to get another one. There will never be a "replacement" for Chili, of course; he was one of a kind.