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leilamarie6

New member
Joined
Feb 27, 2017
Messages
1
I work at a pet store. And when this chinchilla arrived I fell in love with him. He was so friendly, would let anyone pet him, and was always scratching at the glass when you walked by because he wanted pets. I would put my hands in the cage and he would jump in and run up my arm and perch on my shoulder. Him and I became buds and I didn't want anyone else to have him so I brought him home. He has a huge cage with lots of chew toys and hay and food and water and places to hide. When I got him home and before I got him out of the little box he started making this crazy cry/screaming sound and so I got him out and put him in the cage. He spent the whole first night in the corner periodically making that same sound and would only stop if i sang to him. I was gone all day the next day and could tell that he had been out exploring, but as soon as I came in the room he went right back in that corner. The second night he didn't scream as much, but did close to 5 am. He has finally let me pet him but he still seems so scared. He doesn't even seem like the same chinchilla I played with at the store every day. I'm getting sad because he seems sad and I just want to make him happy. Any thoughts ?
 
Chins are prey animals. They stress out easily. And he has just changed locations twice. He has all new ppl, new sounds, new smells, new cage, new environment... new everything. It can be a lot on a chin. It can take a good while before they start to adjust. My last chin took about 2 months before he started warming up to me. And my current two i took in it has been almost a month and they are still quite warry of me. It just takes a lot of time and patience.

Also what kind of cage is he in? I know we dont always have say over what petstores do, but glass cages are usually a bad idea for chins. It severally limits the air flow which also increases the temp. Chins are heat sensitive animals. They can overheat (sometimes fatally) easily. You usually want it at 70 or below. Some chins can over heat at 73-75.
 
It will take time. Keep showing the chin a non-threatening environment and don't force the pace to be faster than it is ready for. Another thing to consider is that the sounds of the pet store are very different from the sounds of your home or lack thereof. Some people like to play really soft ambient music like classical or anything that is not jarring. You could try that and see if it helps.
 
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