While I was growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the 60's, my father got hooked on the idea of raising chinchilla's. There was a chinchilla farm in the valley that offered them to raise. Idea was to raise them for their fur pelts. We took a family trip to this farm. Cages upon cages of these little rodents. Sorta looked like a guinea pig or gerbil. My parents after a lengthy discussion with the farmer, bowed out of the idea. One huge factor was the odor these little rodents emitted. Back home we were raising chickens, quail, rabbits, dogs, bees. My father than began to research raising mink and sables. But that's another story.