Sunshine Chinchillas
Our Adoption Process
First and foremost, if you have not already, please fill out our adoption questionnaire here:
Meeting and Travel
Sunshine Chinchillas is a home-based facility, we do not offer tours or allow strangers into our home. Please note that we are located in the Central Florida area, we do not offer long distance meetups. All adoptions are available upon appointment in a public meetup location of our choosing, this location can be found on our website here: Welcome to the Space Coast. Please note, if you are traveling out of state or choose to fly, chinchillas cannot be transported via airlines in Florida. Due to their loading process, any chinchilla that is shipped via airline will be outside for an extended period of time and will be subject to the Florida humidity and hot temperatures; this is deadly for chinchillas. Chinchillas are not a pet that is allowed on board flights, they are transported via cargo. We do not ship chinchillas nor recommend traveling with them on flights from Florida.
Animal Availability
To begin the adoption process, we do require all potential adopters to fill out our Adoption Questionnaire as well as review our Sales Policy. Once these have been completed and reviewed, please inform us of which animal you are interested in. We currently do not offer wait lists for any chinchillas, all animals are found homes on a first-come, first-served basis. If you wish to inquire about our availability for a certain age/gender/color, feel free to send us a message. All available animals will be on our Chinchillas for Sale or Rescues for Adoption pages; these are updated frequently as animals become available.
Deposits
Once a chinchilla is chosen for adoption, we do require a $50 non-refundable deposit via PayPal to place the animal(s) on hold. This deposit goes towards the full adoption price, with the remainder being due on adoption day in cash only. If you are ready to place a deposit on an animal, please let us know your preferred email for us to send the invoice to. Please remember, we will respond to ALL interested parties regarding a certain animal UNTIL the deposit is paid and the animal is on hold; we do not do verbal holds. The chinchilla will remain up for adoption and will not be placed on hold until the deposit is paid; if the deposit is not paid within 24 hours of being sent, we will move on to the next person looking to adopt. Once paid, the chinchilla(s) will be on hold for up to two weeks until an adoption appointment is made. No-shows or anyone that decides not to adopt after the deposit is paid will forfeit the fee, no refunds.
Appointments
Please note, we are not a pet store. We do work and setup appointments based on our availability, typically we have Sundays available from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Once the appointment is set, we will send you the meetup location to map out as well as our business phone number (for texting only). We will contact you 24 hours prior to the appointment to reconfirm that we are still meeting. On the morning of the adoption, we will once again contact you to reconfirm and provide parking instructions. Please remember, you must respond in a timely manner to our contact attempts. If no response is received within two hours of the adoption appointment, we will cancel the appointment and the deposit will be forfeit. If you need to change the appointment date for any reason, please let us know 24 hours in advance. We do understand that life happens and emergencies pop up. However, if the adoption appointment has been rescheduled more than two times, we reserve the right to cancel the adoption all-together with no refund.
Adoption
All kits come with a sample of food, hay cubes, and an information care packet; rescue chinchillas come with just an information care packet. Every so often, we do include other supplies as well; however, this is based on what we have on hand and is not guaranteed (these supplies may be new or used). We do ask that the remainder of the fee be paid in full in cash only, a receipt will be provided in the care packet. We then require the adopter to sign a copy of our sales policy (a copy is also provided within the information care packet). You will need to bring a travel carrier, plastic cat carriers or small metal animal transport cages with proper airflow are sufficient. Occasionally we do have used carriers available for purchase, however this is only on a case-by-case basis.
Bringing Your Chinchilla Home
Sunshine Chinchillas will provide each adopter with an information care packet. This care packet must be reviewed by the adopter as there is pertinent information regarding proper chinchilla care. If the care packet is not followed and the animal is injured or passes away, Sunshine Chinchillas is not responsible for replacing the animal. Please review our Sales Policy regarding this. If at any time you need to reach us, please email us, send a Facebook/Instagram message, or text us. We will happily answer any questions and help you to the best of our ability. Our priority is the well-being of any chinchillas we adopt out.
Helpful Information for New Owners
We try to add as much information to our website as possible to help all new and existing chin owners. Below are a few pages we like to refer most of our adopters to, these outline basic care needs and supplies your chinchilla will require:
Our Public Meetup Location:
Other Helpful Links:
Bringing Home Your New Chinchilla