We bought a chinchilla a few weeks ago. She was dead this morning, so we were pretty upset. Now PetSmart replaced her for us, even though it was 6 days past their 14 day policy. (WTG on the Customer Service at PetSmart BTW!!!) Now, the kids keep calling the new chinchilla Shimmer, which was the one that died. We keep correcting them, and telling them that Shimmer had gotten sick, but we have a new pet. We let them help clean and set up the cage, but it's REALLY hard to try and explain to 2 year olds what death is. Any suggestions for telling them where Shimmer went? Should we have just replaced her and not told them the difference? I didn't want to do that, because I really didn't want to lie, so we took them with us to the store to get the new one.

By Missmudd on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 05:54 pm:

Your children are really too little to understand what dead is. That concept takes a while to grasp. They may be calling the new chinchilla Shimmer because they are using that name as a generic name for any chinchilla. They probably do understand that it is a different one but they just really arent that concerned. I would just let it go, i think it would be fine to call the new one Shimmer too. Sorry about Shimmer 1, GL

By Tink on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 06:14 pm:

Crystal, I'm so sorry that Shimmer died. I agree with Kristin, that they probably don't get it. I'd probably keep telling them that Shimmer died and correct what they call the new chinchilla. Honestly, I don't know if I'd continue to tell them that Shimmer got sick because they may think that people go away when they get sick, too. Logical to a two year old. Lots of hugs and I'm glad that Petsmart was so cool about replacing her. TTFN

By Amy~moderator on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 06:43 pm:

I agree with the others in that 2 year olds cannot grasp the concept of death. I would just say Shimmer went bye-bye and now we have a new pet named ...

I wouldn't keep bringing up the "got sick" part. It really isn't necessary, not to mention that it may cause them stress when they hear that you are sick or they are sick or grandma is sick, etc. Make sense?

Btw, what is a chinchilla? I'm drawing a blank...

By Boxzgrl on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 06:55 pm:

Amy, Heres a pic of a Chinchilla:


I just call them Mexican rats... LOL! They come from Mexico.

By Anonymous on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 08:08 pm:

Thanks everyone... we named the new one Sparkle. (They are all shimmery when they take their dust baths, thus the names!!) And the kids really haven't been too concerned! Amy, they are actually from the Andes Mountains, and are widely popular for pelts, but they are really neat pets. They are rodents, but look like a rabbit and a squirrel combined. They roll in pumice dust to bathe, and hate water, easy animals to have as pets!!

By Palmbchprincess on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 08:09 pm:

Sorry, I have no idea why that posted anon, it's ME!!!

By Boxzgrl on Monday, October 25, 2004 - 08:14 pm:

I knew they were of something with a hispanic decent, lol!

By Christylee on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 11:22 am:

I'd keep it very simple, just say he is gone and that you got a new one. Be careful about saying sick and died and don't go into to much. My DS saw our neighbor take thier dog to the vet to be put to sleep and he still asks when "boots is coming home" he even dreams about him sometimes. So my thinking on this is least you can get away with is probably better.

By Kristie on Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 10:16 pm:

When my DS was 3 his Goldfish "Denis" died. I noticed after he went to bed. So I got rid of the fish. The next morning I told Russell that Denis was sick and had to go to the dr but would be home when he was better. Well he wanted to talk to the dr, so I called my best friend and she pretended to be the dr. Then when we finally found a gold fish we brought it home and Russell didn't know the diffrence. This was the same year that I lost our baby, our next door neighbor who Russell was very close to died, and I just didn't want to tell him that someone else he loved died. When Denis the 2nd died I told him that he went to Heaven and he was sad but we got a parakeet soon after so he ended up fine. I wouldn't have lied to him at first but I don't think I had a choice!