Mary writes:
I am getting a silver colored chinchilla from a breeder. I wanted to know if chinchillas run too fast when you let them out of their cage such that you can't catch them to put them easily back in to their cage. I also wanted to know if they scratch you. Can you train them to go to the bathroom in a certain place like a cat with a litter box? Will they go to the bathroom wherever when they're not in their cage or will they go back in their cage to go?
Thanks for your help.
Our response to Mary:
Chinchillas are pretty quick on their feet and evading capture. They also like to bounce off of walls to quickly change directions. Very entertaining. Back to your question. You will have trouble catching them if they are in a large room. At first, it is best to have them run around in a small room until they become comfortable with you. If you chase them every night they will probably become afraid of you all the time. It's also a good idea to let them out of the cage at the same time of day and put them back in at the same time of night. After doing this for a while our chinchillas run in to the cage on their own.
The don't scratch and rarely bite. Ours only bite when our fingers have the smell of raisins (their treat).
They can't be trained to use a litter box like a cat. They will do "number 1" in a litter box with shavings in their cage, but "number 2", which is dry and pellet-like, will happen all over the place.
Entries (RSS)
February 3rd, 2007 at 2:24 pm
My question is about the exercise wheel. I heard on another web site that it's better to start the chin on the wheel at a very young age or it will not get on it when it is an adult. Is this true for all chins. My chin is 6 months right now but have not bought a wheel yet and will in the future.
February 3rd, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Debra,
Sure it may be better if a chinchilla gets a wheel when they're young, but there's no reason they won't start using it even when they're older. It might take a little extra time if they're older, but they'll eventually figure it out.
February 4th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I just bought a 13 inch exercise ball for my chin and introduced it to him. I was cleaning his cage while watching him from afar and seemed to be enjoying it. When I was done and picked up the ball to return him home, he immediately went to his bath and started eating after. Then I noticed the ball had like 50 pieces of stool and evidence of urine. Is this normal behavior for a chin to do that being it was his first time in a ball or did he get stressed out? Also will he get back in the ball another time if it was stress he experienced?
February 4th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
Debra,
Exercise balls are bad in our opinion. We don't recommend you use one. Overheating in one is common. They're also stressful to chinchillas.
March 4th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I only have only experienced two chinchillas so far (one I own the other I babysat for), but I still disagree with what you said about the exercise ball. The two chins I've seen have LOVED it and when I put in back in their cage (to allow them to get out of the ball) sometimes they won't get out of the ball, they'll wait for me to close it and start running around again! It is very important though to watch them the whole time to make sure that if they do pee you take them out right away and clean the ball.
March 4th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Christine,
We welcome your feedback. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one though. We are, however, happy to hear that you watch them at all times while they are in the ball. Some people think the ball is an excuse for not paying attention meaning that that they may not respond to trouble fast enough.
March 17th, 2007 at 3:16 am
I am trying to do as much research as I can before I decide on owning a chin so I was wondering if you can tell me if there is a difference in temperaments and trainability between females and males? Thanks!
March 17th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Valerie,
Males are generally friendlier than females. Of course, there is variation within each gender.
As for trainability, it's best to assume that you won't be able to train a chinchilla. They don't fetch, sit, or rollover. You'll be lucky if you can get them to sit still for a while.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
My chinchilla is a adult can i still buy him a wheel and would he use it?
July 6th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
why is it that my chin is always scared of me and he has bitten me once,he makes a bark like noise when i try to touch him i have had him for already 4 months.how do i get him to be nice
July 6th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Mike,
Have you read our article on training chinchillas?
September 4th, 2007 at 8:24 am
I have three chinchilla one of them is letter trained took me 6 months but he runs around the house. Hes never in his cage unless I am not home. I just got the other two so working on letter training them all so. I leave the cage open all day so he can go and come as he please. Hes food and water bottle in the cage so when he needs water or food he goes in his cage. But for me to do this I had to but all my wires in snake skin it works really well, I did this in case he ever tied to chew the wires. Then next thing I have wooden toys on the floor for him to chew. MY house has to be spotless every day nothing can be around its like safe haven for him here. To train you chin to do what I did take months but in the long run it worth it. MY chin all comes when you call him he will come right up to me to give him a treat pet him on the head. but he does like being held only for a few seconds but that how chin are.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
I need a little help…
I'm taking care of a friend's chinchilla while she studies abroad for a little over a year. The chinchilla is well trained to be handled, not run away, and responds to her name. I wanted to give her outside of the cage excersize time, but she will not return no matter what I try. As far as I know, she's never been trained to run outside an enclosure, but rather an excersize ball. Her cage is very large but unforunately the door is too far from the floor to have some sort of ramp to run up.
I've tried small locations (such as a bathroom) on a schedule to maybe ween her into getting used to having outside play for x amount of time. However, no matter what I try she has a flight response when time is up. I'd really like for her to have the enrichment of explorative freeroam play, but am afraid of undoing her trust in me. I've had many free-roaming house rabbits in my lifetime, the chinchilla is perplexing me though.
Anything that I can do to have her return when play time is over? Or is this a futile effort to begin with?
Thank you for your time!
September 11th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Micki. The only thing I can say she can learn it does take some time she needs to get use to her new home as well give her time and you will see that she could be free and return to her cage when she does come back to her cage to drink or eat give her a treat they love raisins. My 3 chin run free they know when they did to go back to the cage. The run free at night and when they know I am up they come out and I give the a raisins then they go in the cage. I never lock the cage up unless I am going out. But this is been this life since day one. Chin are so smart they do learn just give her some time and you will see. MY chins are all so letter trained that took me six monthes to do so things do come to them it just takes time. I hope this helps you in some why if you need any thing else just let me know.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Hi Micki
I just found this web site tonight, so I'm not sure how old your post is, but I will share my secret with you to get Chins back into their cage. (You are correct to worry about chasing her, undoing the trust. Chins, in my experience, seem to have great memories and once you've scared or stressed them, it takes a while to rebuild the trust.)
The secret to getting a Chin to do something i.e. going back into their cage is bribery! HaHa. My Chin does not have unlimited access to her bath, and if there's anything a Chin loves almost as much as raisins…it's their bath. So she free runs in the Chin-proofed bedroom with me each evening, and when I'm ready for her to return to her cage, I simply place her bath on the floor next to me. Sometimes it takes a minute or 2, but that's about as long as she can resist. Once she's hopped into the bath, I slowly and steadily lift it to her cage door (keeping my hand over the opening of the bath of course). When she's done with her bath, she hops out into her cage and promptly begs for her reward for being a good girl…a banana chip. She's happy and stress free and I'm ready for bed.
By the way…my Chin is in love with our Seeing Eye dog and vice versa. And in case you find that hard to believe….here's a link to their slide show. While this is extremely rare and not something I would recommend others try….it works for them! Enjoy!
September 24th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Although I have never had a chinchilla intentionaly scratch me, they do have nails. If they decide to use you as a launch pad you may get scratches from where the jumped off, or landed. They are not deep and you can hardly feel them, but I get them all the time.
Also to anyone with a chin run around ball. They can be VERY VERY dangerous. A chin can overheat very quickly inside one of those balls, they have terrible ventilation. A friend on another forum recently lost her chinchilla due to over heating while playing in the ball. Also I have seen pictures of chins with missing toes because the got them trapped in the "ventilation slots" and the chins toe got ripped right off. Not a pretty sight. Run around balls are just not safe!
October 5th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
We recently got a chinchilla. He is 1yr old. I would love to let him run around for a little while but it is very hard since he does leave droppings EVERYWHERE. Is this b/c he is still nervous? Will he stop if I continue to let him out? I have been letting him out in our bathroom lately for a short while.Do people who let them out just deal with the droppings everywhere or are they trained to go back in their cages to poop?
Christine
October 5th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Christine,
The droppings will never step and it has nothing to do with being nervous. It's just they way chinchillas' digestive systems work.