Hilarious Chinchillas Delight on Instagram — in Homemade Costumes — and Shed Light on Less Common Pets (Exclusive)

Shelby Alfredson shares her pets' hilarious antics on a variety of social media platforms

Growing up, Shelby Alfredson always wanted a room full of animals. Now a bedroom in her Atlanta home is dedicated to her five pet chinchillas.

“I wanted to have as many as I could,” says Alfredson, 31-year-old content creator and bassoonist for the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Alfredson started making funny videos of her pets for friends and family. She now shares them on TikTok @chinpals, which has garnered 235.2 million likes and 6.9 million followers. The "Chinfluencers" have 867,000 followers on Instagram and recently hit 932,000 followers on YouTube.

“It just started to blow up,” Alfredson says.

The chinchillas have recreated movies including Titanic, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and The Lion King, among other hilarious antics.

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“People are like, 'How do you get the chins to do all this? How’d you train them?' And the answer is, I didn’t. I planned everything out so meticulously,” says Alfredson. However, “after 60 seconds, the chins just want to run around because they’re chinchillas.”

Alfredson adopted her first chinchilla, Henry, 11 years ago; one year later she adopted Chip. Linus and Knox followed in 2018, with Finn joining the brood last summer.

“Their personalities are really unique,” Alfredson says. “They’re a lot of fun.”

In addition to cute videos of chinchillas drumming, or holding adorable mini-Stanley water bottles, for example, she also uses her platform to be brutally honest about how much work pet chinchillas can be — and to make sure people are informed about whether they really are a good pet for them before adopting.

“Most people probably won’t like having chinchillas as pets,” she admits.

Chinchillas live 15 to 20 years, they’re skittish, and can be loud, messy pets, she says.

“They poop hundreds of times a day, literally,” Alfredson says. “They chew on everything.” They also require cool temperatures, a special diet, and specialized veterinary and dental care that can be expensive.

“I ask, 'Are you okay with all this stuff for 20 years with a pet that really is indifferent about you?' " she says. “There’s just so many things that the pet stores don’t tell you.”

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She adds: “It can take over a year for your chinchilla to even be comfortable around you. They'll kack and bark. And the females can spray urine, and they do often,” she says.

Still, the best part of her day is when she walks into the bedroom they share to clean their cages every morning.

“They're what I do all day," Alfredson says. "It definitely makes me smile when I go up and I see them for the first time in the day, They look forward to that, I look forward to that. It’s really special.”

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