Here's Mama (Xochitl, and the dad's name is Sorley) being held (she's the biggest and she's about 2 yrs old), There's Dagda (our other young chinchilla he's about 8 months old and is small for his age because he was a runt too) and just for fun a pic of my daughter's rabbit (his name is Switchblade - made more sense when his sister Symphony was still alive, they were named for the band). The rabbit is about 8 yrs old, he's a rex.

crimson- awww so cute!

*hugs april* You are such a good person hun. I'm sorry that you are having such a rough time lately. How r u today?

*waves to owen* hope that you managed to sleep well and that julie is well rested for work.

*hugs taz* sorry if i just missed this (ive been trying to keep up reading but i'm starting to get ppl confused lol) but where r u packing for?

*hugs lindsay*

*hugs mark* hope that you have a good weekend at your parents place!

*hugs oliver* I'm sorry to hear that you cut a lot.. but thats great about the person you like! Those good bizarre feelings are wonderful.

*hugs helen, hannah, kat, and everyone else*

I'm back in my hometown now. Its always strange being back here, I feel distinctly different. Hopefully buying a new dress today for my sisters graduation next weekend. Ugh, i always like the idea of shopping for nice things, but i always look bad anyway.

Have a good day/evening everyone! I dont know if i'll be on until later tonight when most of you are sleeping!

Oh and I forgot to say... G MOVED OUT YESTERDAY!!! *does happy dance*

*hugs crimson* yay! Im glad that your happy about that!

Hey mark, hope you have a good weekend, I'm Hannah, a bromeliad tends to be only in pots as it's a cloud forest plant and it's leaves point upwards so that water is stored in pockets at the base of the leaves. I have everything in pots too.

I have to get ready for my housemate's birthday party, I'm loving the lovely weather. i found out today that I came second at my job interview last friday, I don't want to be second I want to be first, it would have been the greatest job for me and they only come around once in a blue moon, ah well can't do anything about it.

*hugs Oliver* glad you've met someone you like, sorry to hear you felt you had to cut

*hugs Julie* *hugs Laura* *hugs Helen* *hugs Taz* *hugs crimson (love the chinchillas so cute :))* *hugs april* *hugs Kahlia* *hugs Emma* *hugs Kat* *hugs Heather* *hugs Lindsay* gosh I really hope I haven't missed anyone out and I really would love to do individual replies but I have to go, sorry :( leaves birthday cake and champagne (totally calorie free as always)

*hugs Kitkat - how are you today? did you go and see the college nurse?*

Can't do this.
Need to self destruct. I need the release, the freedom.
I can't cope on wishful thinking anymore. *hides under a duvet and cries quietly*

*cuddles Emma* *huggles everyone*

*cuddles Emma and Crimson*

I'm not doing very well. Still feeling hurt from last night. :(

We're back home now from my parents'. We talked about a lot of things on the way home. My head is kind of reeling from it all... will post in r/v about it, or at least copy my entry from my LiveJournal into it since I don't necessarily feel like retyping it all. :(

I'm so sick of being here. And I still haven't called the res places... need to do that. :'( I am such a coward. Even Jarrod thinks so. :'(

*crawls in, sits in the middle of the floor cross legged*
forgotten your name again angelic_monster...sorry crimson (thank's april) *huggles*
*sits next to the duvet hiding emma* i'm here hunny. want to talk?

My memory and attention span is just getting so much worse.. I can't remember what I wanted to write.

EDIT: *huggles april* i wish i could remember what i wanted to say..

*hugs Kat* How are you doing today, love? I take it not that well?

*spies a Hels!!*
*cuddles her* :)

I'm so tired... and warm, ugh. I'm wearing a cami and capris and I'm STILL really warm... I think it's because the computer room is a south-facing room and is sooo warm when the sun hits it. :( Grrrr. I hate being warm.

And I think either I'm getting sick or I have allergies. :( I think it's the former as Jarrod is the same way and I just started... sniffling, congestion, etc. Fun. :'( NOT.

*hides in a hole away from everyone, where no one can find her*

april: I'm actually split down the middle.
on the one side i'm okay, happy as we brought a rabbit and the girls are really excited about it, i'm feeling supportive and friendly, i'm feeling grown up and steady.
On the other side, my head hurts, I can't focus, my memory is playing tricks on me, I'm spacing out, and feeling swings between bitter/hurt/angry and just numb.

*uses april seeking techniques to find her and give her a cuddle before letting her continue to hide*

updated r/v... :'(

*hides again after thanking kat for the cuddle*

*curls up*

Why do I talk to people IRL? Now I'm all anxious. My former coworker friend ish person and I had lunch together today and she used to breed chinchillas... she said she think from the pictures that both parents have velvet genes. that can cause "the lethal factor". meaning to many mutated genes (for the color factor) that caused problems with the other genes and it kills the kits. Now I'm worried about it. What if I work hard to save Houdini just for his genetics to kill him? And I can't house mom and dad separately because then the get depressed and stop eating so then they'd die but if they do produce lethal gene kits I can't have them having kits again.... the kids'd be devastated *cries*
*tries to calm down* I'm having people I know online that are more experienced breeders look at pictures of her to see what they think... I'm just really anxious about it right now.

Why can I never seem to have a time when something isn't going wrong?

She might be wrong sweetheart? Could you speak to a vet about it? See how much truth is in that?

Yeah I'm asking people on a chinchilla forum while I'm at work then we'll see from there. But if she's right I really don't know what I'm gonna do to keep them separate but not depressed. The hard part with vets though is out of 2 places in the area that handle exotic pets only one handles chinchillas and only one vet in the office has the experience with chinchillas so everyone with a chinchilla goes there... makes for a long wait in "non emergency" instances.

Ah okay honey, hopefully people on the forum can help :)

But really I have no idea the genetics of the parents. I got them as rescues from someone who had them for 6 months and they had given birth there but the lady didn't or wouldn't tell me what happened to it/them. I think judging by the cage the kit either fell out and died when it landed on the cement floor or their dogs got it but i don't know if I'm right and she's standard and it was a horrible situation so the kit died or if i'm wrong and she has a velvet parent and the kit had lethal genes. I hope she is a standard and that they'll be ok. They seem fine (excepting Houdini's size) but the lethal genes have been compared to CF where it takes a bit to kill the otherwise healthy kit. *tries positive thinking* Jackie's been wrong before. More experienced breeders told me to feed Houdini goat milk and she told me to water down evaporated milk for him. He's drinking it and less lethargic. She also doesn't think that anyone without breeding experience should house a male and female together no matter the reason and that they won't get depressed enough for it to kill them... Also wrong and even if I didn't know someone who lost one that way I won't risk that if I don't have to.

okay I don't know about chinchillas but I know about genetics and she hasn't got a clue about what she's talking about. Mutations random changes in gene structure - note random - also there is no telling whether the mutations that occur will lead to good changes in gene structure or bad changes. Note we all developed from random mutations that were good changes and thrived. I think what she's talking about is inbreeding so that the colour comes out, this probably means that the velvet gene is recessive, however I have not heard of colour genes ever negatively affecting other genes, it really doesn't make any biological sense, there are gene linkages where if genes are close together on a chromosome they are likely to be transferred with the same gene, however all chinchillas have the same genes just different alleles (I know getting complicated now) but basically whatever the colour of chinchilla the gene linkages would be the same so I would be really surprised if what your colleague said was true. I'd be interested to hear what the chinchilla breeders forum says. The next thing I want to say though is that Houdini is the runt of the litter and in the wild to be honest the runt does not usually survive, however, if he is well looked after and being additionally fed then there is no reason why he should not survive. The only thing to definitely make sure about is that goat's milk has all the nutrients he needs in it and is what chinchilla breeders really do suggest you feed him, if it is then I would really say that he has every chance of surviving.

dunno why i didn't think of this earlier... my fault i'm not relaying it correctly. here's a quote about it thats prolly more your speed than mine on the genetic mutation mountain bike. ;)

but then from what i've been reading since then a majority of the time if the lethal factor is there it results in a miscarriage rather than the kit being born and dying.
*huggles and thanks* Does make me feel better though. :D