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kels_lr

New member
Joined
Jun 26, 2018
Messages
3
Hey guys! I recently adopted a ~6 month old male chinchilla from someone who could no longer care for him. The past few days I've been giving him his space and just kinda sitting by the cage and talking to him. Last night however he totally warmed up and was jumping all over my hands and arms. This morning when I opened up the cage, he was hiding from me all over again. Could this just have something to do with it being daytime and him being more active at night? And am I giving him too much space? I try not to reach in and touch him if he seems really scared, but I also want him to get used to me.

Thanks in advance!!
 
I think what your doing is fine. I had one chin that was happy and jumped all over me the first night and one that didn’t even want to come out of his cage for playtime. This was when I first got him.. now he’s just as happy and adventurous as the other one. Chinchillas are curious by nature so if you sit long enough they will realize you aren’t a threat and then eventually come to you to check things out. Let him come to you. Your right not to just stick your hand in right at him. And it’s good to let him just get used to you by being in the room. That is making you a neutral stimulus. Once he isn’t afraid you can work on making yourself a positive stimulus. This can be achieved by either giving him treats(I just use there food pellets or oats if there lucky) or even playtime. Whatever your chin really likes. Mine likes to come out and play so I wait for him to jump on to my hands and let me hold him for a little bit then let him run around and play. This way he’ll learn that I’m not a threat or going to hurt him. And he now associates coming to me with getting to go play! It took about a week and a half maybe longer but now when I put my hands in he jumps right on!
 
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