Unhappy Chin/Nervous all the time

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Joined
Dec 12, 2018
Messages
8
Location
In a chinchilla palace
My rescue boy Nimbus just seems to be on edge all the time. He's had some good days in the time since I've had him (November 6th, and he's 3 years old approx.) but lately he doesn't want to come near me, and doesn't like to be touched (even chin scratches, and he loved those). I keep the room he's in dark, and the door closed, but when someone even walks past the door, he bolts/spooks. (He shares the room with a hamster and two fish, but that's all. I have no other pets.) He has two hideouts currently that he can hide in, but he rarely uses them. He just sort of sits in one spot in his cage all day and sort of appears half-asleep (I've never caught him sleeping for real). I know he's a lot more active at night, chewing on things and bouncing around. He's pooping normally, peeing normally, eating normally... He's eating Oxbow Chinchilla food (two small handfuls a day... I have small hands) and Oxbow Timothy hay (a handful or two... he's kind of picky about which strands he wants, but he's never without food or hay) I've weighed him a small number of times, and he turns up around 600 grams. The highest he's been is 650, the lowest is 550. He's small, but I think that's because he's likely pet-store stock. I don't weigh him very often because he hates being handled, but these are the results I've got from him.

I plan to get him a baby brother eventually (likely not for several months) hoping it'll make him less lonely and more secure...he's never lived with another chin before (he's lived with one in the cage above him) and I've been told an 8 week old baby would be best to pair with him, cause it will seem the least threatening.

Anyway, he just seems really stressed out all the time, and I'm not really sure what to do to put him at ease. Any tips or thoughts are welcome!
 
Why do you keep him in the dark? So long as he has hiding houses to sleep in you don't need to keep him in the dark all the time, that would be spooky. My chins are in my computer room (or office or whatever you wanna call it), which is where I normally spend my day. So they have light from the window and the light in the room is on most of the day.

Since he gets spooked by people walking by, what about leaving a radio, tv, or something like that on for him? That way he can get use to noise and not feel so startled every time he hears someone make noise. Hearing sounds but being in a dark room and not being about to see what is going on would be scary.

As for food, he should be eating roughly 2tb a day, and unlimited hay. The hay should make up the bulk of his diet, about 70-75%. If he isn't interested in the hay you got him, try a different kind, or try mixing different kinds together.

Around 600g is pretty average size, chins are about 400g up to over 1,000g for a big blocky show quality one. However a difference of 100g is kind of concerning, was that a weight drop or a gained? One of the best ways to know something is wrong, before the chin even acts sick, is an unexplained weigh loss. One trick some people use to weigh the chin is put the dust bath on the scale, weigh it, then let the chin go in the dust bath and weigh it, then just minus the weight of the bath. I use a small box to weigh mine.

Honestly personality has a lot more to do with if they will get along or not then age. Since your chin seems pretty shy I would look for one that is more submissive to try to pair with him. I would not put a 8 week old kit with an unknown, unrelated full grown chinchilla. Not only should the kit still be with the mother or at least the breeder at that age (they should be at least 10-12 weeks to go to a new home), it will also be very small, too small to defend itself, so a fight could turn deadly quicker then you might be able to stop it.

If you want another chin though, keep in mind that you should quarantine it away from your current one, in another room, for a month before intros. It allows time for the new chin to settle in, for you to get to know it, and for any illnesses to show up. So if you do get a 12 week old one, by the time you do intros it will be about 4 months old and that much closer to the size of the adult. Not all chins get along, but even if they don't, having another chin around to chat with, even in another cage, can be beneficial.

One other thing, you say there is a hamster in the same room? Does the hamster have a wheel? If so I know some of these little rodent wheels can squeak pretty badly at times, which can scare or even annoy a chin.
 
Thanks for replying!

I'll try the radio thing. That sounds like it could work, and I'll try to keep it a little more light in there. I wanted to keep it dark so he could sleep, but now that I think about it... chins are nocturnal. They sleep in the day.... when it's bright. Brain fart!

For the first few times I weighed him, he was consistently 650, then dropped to 600 for a few, and was 550 for one, and then the last time I weighed him he was back up to 600. I'll keep an eye on him, but I think he's starting to gain again.

The hamster's wheel doesn't squeak. It makes more of a quiet thumping/thundering noise (lacking words to describe it). He hasn't shown any difference in behaviour from when the hamster is running as to when it's not.

Thanks again!

Also, I find his behaviour seems to come in phases. One week he'll be curious and brave, and the next week he'll be timid and not wanting to be touched. Does that sound familiar at all?
 
Also, I find his behaviour seems to come in phases. One week he'll be curious and brave, and the next week he'll be timid and not wanting to be touched. Does that sound familiar at all?

Yeah, sometimes it can be one step forward two steps back with rescues. Likely he starts feeling comfortable then something scares him and he gets all nervous again. If I had to guess it is likely linked to that fur slip incident you mentioned in your other thread, or something else from before you got him, especially since it sounds like you are trying to keep things as calm and consistent as you can. If that's the case it will just take time, some chins take months or even years to get over past trauma.

Oh and yes they do sleep most of the day, but in rock caves in the wild, if they hear something they will wake up and peek out to check it out. So they do need a dark sleeping area (hiding house), but not a dark room. ;) They also don't sleep all day, they are crepuscular (most awake at dawn and dusk) not nocturnal, and they also generally get up to go potty, get a bite to eat, or a drink of water throughout the day.
 
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