Not letting Chinchilla s out of the cage

Hi guys

What's your view on out of cage time.

Is it true chins remain happy without ever roaming free but having a large cage and exercise wheel to keep them happy.

Or do you believe all chins should be free from the cage daily.

My chins rarely get out of cage playtime. They have double story ferret nations with plenty to do and wheels. They are perfectly healthy and happy.


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The three I have now are so lazy they leave the cage when kicked out.

I think playtime is great and good for chins, as long as it is in a safe environment and they are monitored. However, my chins rarely get playtime either. They have double ferret nations, wheels and lots of toys. They seem to be very happy. As long as they have lots to do, they should be just fine!

Either way. In my herd, I have wheel and no wheel cages. Ideally with a wheel. With high numbers of chins, no larger breeder can let all their chins out. I do so only with my growers I will probably sell as pets so they are more accustomed to interactions with humans. If your chins are pets, then of course you can pamper them more with out of cage playtime.

Also I think until a chinchilla is tame and used to you, it's best to hold off on out of cage time. Trying to catch a nervous chin to put them back will only set back taming efforts and I find they can't relax out of the cage until they are more comfortable.

My two pet girls do fine with or with out time out of the cage. However one really loves it and pop corns all around the room. The other scouts out a shady spot for a nap haha.

My girls don't get out as often as they used to. They have large cages with wheels, and are happy. I do spend time daily talking to them. I try to give them playtime once or twice a month.

I don't let mine out daily. One of my chins is naturally really skittish, therefore playtime can sometimes freak him out. There are times where he is perfectly comfortable, while others he doesn't do much playing. Depending on his mood in the cage, I'll let him out.

My other chin has taken a while to potty train so I was worried about him peeing on my carpet. I started out with very short playtimes and recently I have been letting him out quite often. No accidents that I can tell Lol.

Either way, they don't get playtime everyday, sometimes they do. Both have a CN all to themselves. I just try to let them out when I can. :]

Yuki's got a double level ferret nation with a ton of ledges and stuff and a ChinSpin. I think he'd be perfectly happy and healthy without playtime, but playtimes our time together. Half of playtime is him exploring how I changed the room and seeing if he can find trouble, and the other half is bouncing all over me. I think it's nice because he LOVES exploring changes, but I really like how I've got his cage set up for cleaning and everything. It's an added bonus.

I have 5 chins (all seperated cause nobody gets along) and I usually do floor time once a week while I clean cages. Its easier for me to let them run around as I take turns cleaning cages, but the 1 chin who is out always gets major dirty looks from the others who are waiting their turn. I think they really enjoy exploring are running around, but I wouldnt say they "have" to have free time to be happy.

My duo absolutely loves out of cage playtime but alas I am not around enough to actually let them play and their current guardians only have enough time to replenish and provide fresh foodstuffs/water and change liners.

I agree that sometimes it's a bit better to wait until the chins are somewhat tame before letting them out. My 5 month old chin is tame and will hop back in her cage on her own and go to sleep when she's done. I just recently acquired a 7 year old chin and let her out for the first time yesterday and this resulted in me having to chase her to get her back in, which led her to be afraid of me. So now I have to earn that trust back.

If you're not going to allow outside time, make sure you have a good sized cage and a wheel. When I first got my chin, I had her in what I was told was the minimal sized cage with no wheel and an igloo that took up much space. It made her incredibly antsy and she would start biting on the bars all night and flipping over the igloo because she had no space. I removed the igloo and put in a wheel and she was much more happier and much more mellow with it. I've since upgraded to a Ferret Nation so she can have both and there's no bar biting.

Mine don't get out of cage time.

I try to give my chin out of cage time every day. I think I only missed 2 days so far. He loves his time outside the cage... He's very hyper if I miss a day, and he tries to jump out of the cage, anytime I open the door for something.

I let my babies out every day in alternating sessions. They know if they bite anything they're not allowed to, they're headed back in. They tend to bite only what's okay - a wicker chair, barnwood coffee table, etc. I give each of them around 30 minutes a day; they also have wheels that they can use in their cages.

I've never had a kit, but if I have had young chins, I wouldn't let them start really exercising on the wheel until appx 7 months old, although I would let them out so they can begin bonding. Check out www.youtube.com/NYChinchillas to see the kids out!

I personally believe that chin run time is critical to all chin health - especially if they're not being bred. Chins are high-energy animals and can get depressed if they're bored.

cindyv3737 said:

My girls don't get out as often as they used to.

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Isn't that the truth? It's funny though, even though my life is busier I still have plenty of time for them. I still can't figure out the people who get rid of pets because life changes?

I have one chin who gets regular exercise to help with digestive issues. My other two come out on occasion, and go nuts for their chin wheels. I think as long as the cage is adequate mental stimulation is more important then playtime. I provide toys and I interact socially with all of them by holding, talking to, and scritching them.

Run around and be free!

I think every chin should have the option to get out of their cage at least once a day. Some chins are more lazy and rather being sleeping so they don't need as much time to roam. But my chinchilla has a ton of energy. On average I give her at least an hour a day to run and sniff around outside of the cage. Even chins that get a lot of time out of their cage should still have a fairly big cage!

When my oldest chin was a baby (and my only chin), I took him into the bathroom to run around. I sat on the floor with a book while he jumped in and out of the tub and ran all over the place. Then I noticed silence. He had disappeared completely. The door was closed tight, he could not fit under it, but he was nowhere. There were no openings anywhere. I ran and got the Cheerios box and shook it and called his name. He appeared slithering out from underneath the cabinets. Not inside the cabinet where you could see him, but between the cabinet and the wall. Conceivable he could have gotten inside the drywall through the holes where the plumbing comes through. I finally found a small space under the overhang of the cabinets that had not been entirely sealed off. They are so sly about finding things like this -- that was his first and only outtime. I still have him and 5 more. They live happily within the confines of two 3-level FN with tons of toys, houses, wheels, flying saucers, etc. No more out-time, NOTHING is 100% chin-proof, they are far too sneaky for me!

My chins get time out of the cage pretty much every day. If I am super busy then at least once every two days and it is always at least an hour. I let them out in the hall of my house because there is no steps or furniture there. When all doors are closed it's just the walls and the floor. But of course my chillas are pretty cheeky and bite everything they should not be biting (even though they get plenty of chew toys and hidey houses for their time out) so they started biting skirting boards which are painted. It took us a while to come up with a system of chinchillaproofing their play area but I think we managed it quite well. We bought loads of plain, grey cardboard and cut to size with skirting boards so that my chin babies have no way of getting to them. We have to fix the cardboard to the walls with masking tape and take it down after their play time every day. At first it was daunting but we developed a system of doing things and now it takes us only about 5 minutes.

My boys get 20-30 minutes of out of cage play and interaction time 2-3 times a week, this coincides with bath time, reinforcing being with humans is good. I close play time with a twiggy treat which they know they need to sit on my hand to receive then they go in to chew and I can close up