Not sure if he is acting out or just bored.

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cboyer

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2019
Messages
20
We've had Jacks for about 3 months now, and he is about 6 months old. He is very friendly, runs up to the cage doors to greet us, climbs all over us, even "grooming" us with little nips and such. We will spend some time with him every evening, usually leave the TV on for him in the mornings for a little bit, and take him out of his cage for baths twice a week while I am cleaning the cage, where he is in a small playpen with my daughter and the bath for 15 mins or so.

He is in a double critter nation cage, so lots of room to spread out. Currently in his cage is 2 wood houses, a fleece hammock, three small wood shelves he can stand on and climb around, one large wood shelf he can lay on, a seagrass rope with wood pieces on to chew, a finger trap, two chin chillers, a wood ball to throw around and chew, a litter box with wood shavings, a ceramic food dish with pellets, a wood hay feeder with hay and chin buddy. We switch out his toys every week when we do a full cage clean so he won't get bored.

Past week or so, every night he has been redecorating his cage. One of his houses will be flipped over, his pellet food dish will be flipped over (where it is covering his pellets), the litter box will be moved, his chin buddy will be covered in wood shavings and thrown around. Basically anything that is not attached will be moved because he spends all night throwing everything around the cage.

I know he is entering puberty, and I'm not sure if he is acting out because of that or if he is bored. Any thoughts?
 
It could be just him acting out do to the hormonal change of puberty. It also sounds like he is becoming restless in the cage. Since he is getting up to 6 months you can probably safely start daily playtime, it should help get some of his energy out. He is near full size by 6 months, so all his energy is no longer going to growing, he has extra to burn now. Tossing the cage is actually pretty normal chin behavior though, like a kid tossing all their toys around the room, it's fun.

I suggest getting a food bowl that attaches to the side of the cage, like a coop cup. That way he can't flip it over, or at least not as easily.
 
Thanks, it makes me feel better that he is just getting restless. I'll look into a food bowl that attached, as I don't like the idea of him not having access to his pellets when he tips it over and it covers the pellets. We will also try some more "big boy" playtime, been saving some large cardboard boxes to make a bigger playpen for him, might be a project for this weekend.
 
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