Fat Tony

Today's picture isn't being shared because of its photographic excellence; this one is for reader G-Funk, who had not seen a chinchilla before. This particular fella was my pet chinchilla, Fat Tony: fearless mobster boss extraordinaire. This little dude came into my life, scared and un-pettable. Within weeks he was climbing me like a jungle gym, even sitting atop my head when I wore a ball cap like I was wearing a seat made for him, but he still wasn't a fan of letting me touch him.

The day he discovered he liked pettins was a great day. He ventured close enough to me, and I reached out to scritch his chin. At first he started to scamper, like always, but then... he realized he liked it. His little face went from "AAAAACK" to "ahhhh..." and next thing I knew, he was making angry squeaks at me when I stopped petting him. He also liked to get on my shoulder and nibble at the side of my face, and if I was wearing my glasses, he would steal them and run away. Kind of hard to catch the culprit when you can't see!

When my roommate's miniature yorkie came in my room and followed Fat Tony around, fascinated, he wasn't having it. No paparazzi! He made an angry squeak and leapt onto the yorkie's back! Poor pup didn't come back in my room for weeks. When the other roommate's border collie came in and laid quietly on the floor, inches from Tony's cage, just to watch him, Tony didn't hide. He sat on the shelf of his cage and stared right back.

After I moved into my own place, Tony had fairly free reign most of the time. He quickly learned how fun it was to hide behind furniture... and LEAP out at my poor cat, scaring him witless, and Tony would chase him off. Little dude had attitude and a sense of humor!