My chinchilla keeps trying to get out of his cage?

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MochaChin

New member
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
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4
So I've heard a good way to pick up your chinchilla and getting him to trust you is to put your hand in the cage and slowly lift him then hold him, my problem isn't that he gets scared when I lift my hand, every time I open his cage door he tries to jump out of his cage I left a crack opened for my hand to make sure he wouldn't get out so when he sat on my hand I slowly lifted him up and when I opened the cage door more it scared him, anyone have any suggestions??
 
MochaChin I sent you a message that I was going to be in your area never heard back from you. I was in Benicia and Vallejo this past weekend.
 
putting your hand in and letting the chin nose around on you is a way to help get them familiarize with you. But many chins do not like being picked up so even letting them climb on your hand and trying to lift will not always being effective. They will realize they are being lifted and jump off.

Iv only had one chin where this approached worked, and that was only some times. And even that was only after several years and trust already built.
 
What would you suggest I do? I have to clean his cage soon and i'll have to transport him to another cage, i'm scared to pick him up myself because I've heard sometimes that'll make them trust you less if you're a new owner and you don't give them the choice to be picked up.
 
Rather than Picking Up the Chin...

My chin doesn't like to be picked up. I have a chin-safe "cat-sized travel carrier cage" that I prepare for her to walk into right before I clean her cage. I have never used this carrier for any other animal except for her. Most recently, I sprinkled a small bit of chinchilla bath dust onto the travel carrier bottom so that she would get attracted. She can never say no to that stuff. Other times, I've put a rose hip in there for her to discover. I let her get into the carrier at her own pace. The secret is that I try to keep all of her experiences in the travel carrier positive. That way she is never afraid to go in. I also try to clean the cage as fast as possible so she spends as little time as possible in the carrier.

Another thing to mention is that when I first got her, she was a real wild one. I had to build trust a day at a time. I never ever force her to be close to me, even now. She likes to be petted now, though. It definitely took some time. I first started by only giving her a dried rosehip PETAL every time my hand was near, without touching her. After a few days of doing this, I started to put one fingertip on her head at the exact same time as giving her the rosehip petal. Every day, it was a little more, but only very little at a time. Now she likes to be petted everywhere, even on her belly and tail. You just have to keep it positive, take steps very slow, and leave the progress completely on their terms.
 
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