I fostered a chinchilla named Holmes for ARC back in 2017, with absolutely no intention of keeping him: he had come from a very loving owner in Manchester who, sadly, couldn’t look after him any more. It was clear from the moment he arrived that he was a diva, rattling his cage and glaring at me (“Who are you? I demand attention!”). It only took a couple of weeks of fostering for me to realise that I just wasn’t going to be able to give him up to a new owner – I loved him almost immediately. After fostering everything from cats to rats for ARC, that was a surprise!
Holmes was renamed Charlie Chaplin and now absolutely rules my life. He has a lovely cage, an enormous playpen, gets all the time to play that he wants (supervised, of course) and even has his own air-conditioner for the summer to help him cope with his thick fur. In fact, Charlie is so pampered that sometimes I wonder who is the boss in my house! (Eh, I already know: it’s him.)
He’s always been quite grumpy and hates being handled, but after three years together we’ve bonded so much that I can now blow raspberries on his head and he licks food off my fingers. I can’t imagine life without him now, even though he still won’t let me cuddle him. Maybe in another ten years…