Family Pet Chinchilla Playing, Eating and Bathing

It's always nice having new additions to the family - especially when they're cute and fluffy ;) Recently Audrey's sister added a Chinchilla to the mix of family pets which already includes a dog, a fish and two cats. Meeting it for the first time I was honestly quite skeptical. I've always had the idea that rodents were more or less devoid of personality and behaved quite unpredictably without showing much affection. Well, I was certainly wrong. Tuvia, the pet Chinchilla, has loads of personality and is now very comfortable around all of us. She'll bounce around, play, roll and even hop on your lap if you let her. In this video it is all about her. We show her playing, eating and bathing. The most fascinating part, at least for me, is showing her take a volcanic powder blue cloud dust bath where she rolls around gleefully from side to side inside of a special bathing tray. Domestic chinchillas can live upwards to 20 years, so we've got a fun new pet to play with whenever we come back home to Canada to visit family.
Family Pet Chinchilla Playing, Eating and Bathing Video Transcript:
Okay, so today I'm going to introduce you to my sister's new pet. This is a Chinchilla and her name is Tuvia and she has been left alone for the weekend. So we're going to be playing with her and doing a bit of babysitting. And she is really cute and she is trying to bite her way through the cage. So let's let her out so you can meet her.
Tuvi. Hi Tuvia. Come. Oh, she is thirsty.
Woah, you're a cute one. You got her. Hi, Tuvi. Hi.
This here is one very smart Chinchilla. When it sees the bag of oats and someone shakes it, it knows exactly where to go. It's lunchtime again Tuvi.
Oh, how exciting. How exciting. Do you want to show the camera how you eat oats? Show the camera how you eat oats.
This is the best time to pet her because she is so distracted by the oats that she doesn't even mind. And she is so soft. Aren't you Tuvia? Look at you.
So, my favorite thing about this Chinchilla is when it takes its bath. She takes a dry bath and some special volcanic powder. She just knocked it. I scared her. In a blue cloud dust. Let's see that. Wow.
So, it is not ready yet Tuvia. It is not ready. Oh, Tuvia is excited for her bath. There is no powder in there yet Tuvia. You need to get out.
Let's get this ready. She seems a little bit impatient. Wait. Wait. One thing that we were researching before was that Chinchillas can live up to 15 or 20 years.
Oh, look at her. Look at you go. Come on, do your rollie rollies. Do your rolly rollies. Come on. Roll-y roll-y.
Okay, Tuvia this is the first time I've caught you in my hands. You're always running away. Say, bye to the camera. Bye, Tuvia. Bye, Tuvi.
This is part of our Travel in Canada series. We're making a series of videos showcasing Canadian culture, Canadian arts, Canadian foods, Canadian religion, Canadian cuisine and Canadian people.
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All photos and video taken by Samuel Jeffery (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey Bergner (That Backpacker).
Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network