Very new and looking for advice.

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beruset

New member
Joined
Dec 2, 2016
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Hello! I'm beruset and my wife and I just adopted two chinchillas that were in a University behavior study. I think they're about 3 years old, and they spent those first three years individually housed in small wire cages. Since we've adopted them less than a week ago, a lot has changed for them. They're currently still housed separately in larger cages than they're used to, but still not quite as big as they need. We're doing research daily to make sure we're handling this properly, but of course info from other owners would be very helpful, especially if any of you have experience with rehoming research animals.
My main concern is that they are both hiding all the time, and not eating much. Our dog is curious and goes up to their cages a lot, which I'm sure isn't helping. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading! I love that communities like this exist :)
 
Having been in a lab situation, where they were most likely nothing more than furniture, I doubt they have had a lot of kind human interaction. It's going to take time. It's probably going to take a LOT of time for them to trust you and their new situation. My first advice would be, as you've already guessed, keeping the dog away from them for the foreseeable future. He is just curious, but to them he is a large predator that they are instinctively afraid of.

Part of them hiding all the time can also be because they have gone from a small cage, no handling, no attention to all of a sudden a new house, new sounds, new smells, new people, and a big predator. You'll have to have lots of patience. I always recommend that people spend time just sitting next to the cage, reading out loud, letting them get used to the sound of your voice. Read the newspaper or a book or whatever, it doesn't matter. Just so they get used to you. After a while, open the cage door and let your hand dangle in the cage while you read. Eventually, he/she will come up for a sniff. Once they do, bribe them. Put a small treat on your hand, a little bit of old fashioned oats, a rosehip, etc. Once he/she takes it consistently, put it farther up your arm and repeat.

It might be a long process or it might not take very long - each chin has an individual personality so there is no way of knowing.
 
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