Chinchilla Training

I've had my baby girl for a little over a week now. She will come straight to my hand when I have a treat.. and there's the problem! She now seems to think I ALWAYS have a treat. She won't even let me pet her, she'll run right up to my hand and try to bite away at my fingers because she thinks I'm feeding her. How can I get her to understand I just want to pet/hold her, and NOT always give her treats? She wont' let me touch her unless she's eating lol She's such a smart little girl.. a little too smart if you ask me. She's almost 10 weeks old by the way, and she is my only chinchilla.

Some chins don't like to be touched, execpt for there daily scritches. My chin hates being pet, she kacks and runs away, and used to spray me whenever I touched her.

It's a little concerning that you've only had her a week and she's already gotten used to you giving her treats.. how often do you give them? I would only give 1-2 a week (no rasins, something like a single cheerio, shredded wheat, rose hip, pinch of rolled oats, ect) and lots of wood to chew on!

Also, do you give her play time? 10 weeks is much to young, play time should begin around 6 months. Just checking though :thumbsup:

Anyway, that's great she's bonding with you so fast! (even though the treats are helping hehe!) I would cut back on the treats, but whenever she comes to you, give her something let a long petting in her favorite spot or a extra peice of wood as a reward!

Thanks for your help! I've definitely been giving her too many treats in that case... I'll be sure to cut back now. And I've been letting her run around on the floor in my bathroom (everything chin proofed) but I'm assuming I should stop that now? If I stop both of these things, how should I go about getting her to like me? I don't mean to sound rude, I'm just confused. Thanks you!

Cut way back on the treats and give her more time. If you've only had her a week, just take it slow. Sometimes chins won't come around for a couple months if not more. You don't have to stop letting her out in the bathroom, but maybe lessen it. You're showing her early on that she's got "full run" of the house. If you want to give her something treat-like, give her an apple twig or a twig of some sort. Our vendors on the boards have plenty to choose from.

I've had my first chin for a little more than three weeks. I was just like you two weeks ago, worrying about what if my chin baby would never love me back.
She was very touchy in the first ten days or so, wouldn't allow me to touch her, wouldn't jump on me, run to hide at the first sight of me, etc. After reading lots of posts here I decided to give her some time. So I read to her and sing to her and keep myself out of her cage except when I had to do some cleaning or to add food (I know it's super hard to restrain yourself! She is too cute to be left alone).
Gradually she came around. I can pet her, scratch her under the neck. She is now willing to jump on my hands arms, and shoulders if I reach in.

One trick that seems to work is, instead of giving her a treat, you can just give her pellets by hand, i.e. hand feed her. My girl always prefers fresher pellets, so she is usually excited when I get up in the morning or come home in the evening to add some new pellets into her bowl. Before pouring the pellets into her bowl I would just take one new pellet as a bait to lead her onto my other empty hand. At first she would take it and run away to eat somewhere else, but it's fine. Just keep luring her onto your hand with new pellets and after several rounds, she would just sit on your hand and eat there. So I did this every time before I added new pellets to her bowl, and eventually she learnt that her food didn't come from nowhere, it came from me.

KelseyLynn said:

Thanks for your help! I've definitely been giving her too many treats in that case... I'll be sure to cut back now. And I've been letting her run around on the floor in my bathroom (everything chin proofed) but I'm assuming I should stop that now? If I stop both of these things, how should I go about getting her to like me? I don't mean to sound rude, I'm just confused. Thanks you!

Click to expand...

That's alright, everyone makes a few mistakes in the begginng

Yes, please cut back on the treats and limit it to only once or twice a week. She'll be very happy to get her scritches as "treats" too!

For the chins safety, I would stop play time until she's old enough. Even though the room is chin proofed (which is great!) theres still that risk of her over doing herself. Young chins are often clumsy, so a short fall from the counter to the ground can seriously hurt her.

It helped a lot when I first got my chin to talk to her. I told her how my day went, what I was doing in school, what I was going to later, I even read to her! She loved it, it really helped us bond together. You can also pet her and give her scritches, let her smell your hand, ect. If you feel comfortable with it, you can put your hand in the cage and let her jump on it, but not let her jump out. If you cracked the cage door enough to fit your hand/arm in, I'm sure she'll be happy to jump on it!

UPDATE: So, as of Saturday I have had her for 3 weeks. I'm sad to say we have not made much progress I've stopped the treats and playtime and have been hand-feeding her pellets. She will run up to my hand, snatch away the pellet and run into a corner. When I try to pet her, she jerks her head and twitches to try and bite my finger. If she ever crawls onto my hands or arms and I try to lift her up, she will immediately jump down and run to the corner. I've tried just sitting next to the cage and talking, and talking while I hand feed her but I just can't seem to get her to want to jump into my arms or jump onto me. Should I try harder to pick her up and give her food when she comes? Or should I continue to let her snatch and run? I'm at a loss for ideas. Also when I don't feed her and just hold out my hands for her to sniff and climb on, she will bite them-not nibble-BITE! And it hurts! I'm sad to say I'm truly frustrated and feel like I got the meanest girl in the bunch Of course I know they're not cuddly pets but she won't even use me as a perch. She doesn't seem to like me at all. Chin mommy is sad, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

3 weeks is still so little compared to there 15-20 years you'll have her. It will take some longer then others to bond, forcing them into it is the least you want to do. If you keep going slowly with her, she'll eventually come around! It helped a lot for me when I sat by my chins cage and talked to her and let her smell my fingers. Being honest, it took me a while to actually pet her because I thought she would bite me. Cut back on touching/petting and start at the very beggining and let her take the lead. Don't try to pick her up, the only thing that will do is stress her out and scare her.

Hand feeding is fine, even if she does run away right afterwards. She could be biting you because she thinks your food, if she does it during the hand feeding. Do you have a bowl of unlimited pellets in her cage at all times, along with the hand feeding and bonding?

Don't give up! She'll warm up to you when she wants. Remember, she's only 10 weeks old, very young for a chin!

I have my chins a month now, and they are still little ones (3 and 4 months) and I dunno if we did a superb job or if I was just lucky with them, but we can handle them easily.

In the begin they acted like yours, we managed to turn that behaviour around in a week.

The things we did are simple: every night we (me and my GF) go sit on a big pillow in front of the cage and open the doors.
We talk to them all the time, encourage them with our voice to approach and gave them a big "No" when they started nibbling our clothes.
We also put our arms/hands a lot in the cage without grabbing/chasing/moving. They started to get curious and explore our hands/arms, they started to hop on/off...

By now we can put our arm in, the chins hop on, we slowly move our arm outside the cage (sitting on the floor, max drop is like 10 inch, onto a pillow ) and we can pet them. In the meanwhile they just look around and sniff without reacting on the petting (good nor bad) and when they get tired of it (usually a half minute or so ) they hop back in to the cage.

Something that I found that made them trust my hands more, is making a sort of a funnel with one hand (make fist and open up the upper fingers a bit more) and then put some pellets in.
I then just putted my hand in there, they got curiousfor the scent of the pellets, and they started to get closer to my hand. By now they stick their head in my hand without any doubts from their side, and they rest their little paws on one of my hands in between the pellet-grabbing to munch them down at ease
I advice you to use fresh pellets for this cause they seem to prefer them over the "old" ones in their feeding bowl...

i have my chin a week now, she is 7 weeks old and very social. she comes to my hand every time i open the doors, and nibbles without biting. she also loves to be handfed pellets from me

she is too young but i take her out for about 10 weeks a day. i know its too early but i prefer to play for some minutes a day than to be depressed all day in her cage by her own

We adopted one chin from a rescue organization that took to us right away. Rarely, he barks when we go to pick him up, but once he's in our hands he's happy to stay there, or climb up and perch on a shoulder...But another of ours we've had since last August and while she comes up to us for a pinch of rolled oats, she wants no part of being picked up...Though when we sit in the room with her she has no trouble climbing on us. So long as we don't move, of course.

It really does vary by chin, because the other five fall somewhere in between those two poles. One will do tricks like stand, walk on hind legs, and give us a kiss, and he's OK with being held. Another (whom we mostly hand-raised from birth) will always run and hop into our hand, but keeping her there for more than 2.3 seconds is impossible, even though once she gets free she'll hop right back into our hand. Our first rescue took about a year before she was comfortable with us picking her up, and now (over three years in) she's pretty chill about it. It's definitely a slow process with some of them.

My girls are only 4 months old but are very friendly. They climb into my hands, up my arms, let me scritch them, etc. They aren't uber happy with being taken from the cage but otherwise they are usually very happy to see me. This being the case I got them from a breeder that handled them regularly from the time they were born. Chinchillas that are handled more at a younger age are just easier to bond with. However, my dad loves my chinchillas and my friendly little girls will completely snub him. What's the difference? I'll tell you.

First of all you need to take time and be patient with your little girl. You can't try to pick her up right away. Just sit there with your hand in the cage. She will get curious and climb on you, sniff you. If she's nibbling gently, let her, only stop her if it hurts. It's normal for chinchillas to groom their humans. Don't try to pick her up or pet her even. Just sit there. Let her get to know you. Once she easily comes to your hand and sits on it, climbs up your arm, etc. then it's time to try petting her. Approach slowly and scritch gently. If you are sudden in your movements it will scare her. Take things slowly and she will bond with you and love you forever. Just keep in mind some chinchillas aren't fond of being petted or held. They all have their own quirky personalities. My girls snub my dad because he hasn't taken the time to let them get to know him. He expects to be able to pick them up and handle them right away. These things just take time.

As far as treats go, she should not be getting *any* treats yet. It is recommended that you wait until she is 6 months old to be given treats. She should have a high quality pellet, fresh hay, and filtered water at all times as well as things that are safe for her to chew. Offering her hay or pellets out of your hand is great. Twigs and other chews also make good "treats". I know it is fun to give a pet a treat but it is just not healthy for them when they need to be doing so much growing. Things will get easier if you put in the effort.

They all have their own personalities! Henrie LOVES raisins. I don't give her a full one everyday as I know it is too sugary for her. I take a little bit of it and give it to her, but every time you approach her she will climb the side of the cage doing a "trick" for her raisin. If you even just touch the raisin container she jumps up and gets all excited, it is so cute! When it comes to play time, I can never get to pick her up! She is always curious as to what is on the other side of the gate. The vet has no problem holding her though, it makes me jealous :/ good luck!!

onyx79 said:

i have my chin a week now, she is 7 weeks old and very social.

she is too young but i take her out for about 10 weeks a day. i know its too early but i prefer to play for some minutes a day than to be depressed all day in her cage by her own

Click to expand...

Yeah that's very young for playtime. It's suggested you wait until they are at least 6 months for a reason, because they are still growing and need all the calories they can get. And because young chins don't know when to stop, running the risk of over heatting, along with how clumsy and fragile they are. She won't be depressed in her cage. Is it better for her to give you the "sad eyes" when she wants out, or to rush her to the ER? Please be careful, young chins shouldn't get any playtime until 6 months, even if it's just a few minutes.

I have to say, I have been on chin forums for almost 7 years now, and this is the first I have ever heard of "no playtime until 6 months old".
Granted, I have only ever had one KIT, but I was told by two very responsible, reliable, well respected breeders that playtime is fine for a kit as long as you don't let them over do it.
I had Evie out for playtime at 10 weeks, but I would just let her run around a bit for 10 minutes in the morning, and 10 minutes in the evening. She was happy with that, and didn't exhaust herself. She always took a nap right afterwards. Her weight gain stayed steady, and I weighed her every week until she was 6 months old.

The problelem with new owners is know when the chin has had too long of a play time. So its easier to tell them no play time then have them randomly guess. Definetly cut the treats out. Use things like fresh hay, or fruit twigs as treats instead. Bonding takes time. And for some chins it takes a lot longer. It just really depends on the chilla.

I personally think it's safer to wait until they are more grown for playtime or outside of cage time. Having a kit out for playtime is a bit overdone imo, and there are a lot of new owners that don't know what signs of a problem look like. Some go over board with it and don't know when to stop and put the chin back in the cage to rest, it's eaiser and safer to say no until 6 months.

Its been on the forum for quite awhile, even on CNQ that kits should not have outside play time.

Thanks for your help everyone. One thing.. many of you have said that the more they are handled at a young age the more they will get used to it and enjoy being handled when they are older. If she doesn't let me handle her now, and she's approaching 12 weeks old, shouldn't I just try to anyway to "get her used to it". I don't see how letting her come around will help, in the sense that she will always have her way about when she gets held. If I just hold her everyday won't that get her to succumb to the fact that I am in charge? I already had enough of a hassle trying to clean her cage, because she doesn't let me move her! Although I do love my chinnie, I'm spending so much time letting her decide if she loves me. It took me hours to move her to the bottom half of her cage so I could clean the top and vice versa. So to reiterate, shouldn't I just get her used to the fact that she needs to be held instead of letting her be the boss? I just have a feeling that if I keep letting her be in charge she'll never want to be held. And another thing, I love that you guys are trying to be helpful, but your "my chin came around in a week!" stories are making me feel even more discouraged Maybe I'm just too impatient and in a few years I'll look back on this and laugh

What you aren't getting is holding a chin, and having one who enjoys that is rare. Chins may like scratches and jumping on us, but being held is a rarity. I pick up and move all my chins when I clean cages. I either grab them or I shoo them to a shelf so I can safely remove the pan. Its all a matter of personality. I have a female I have had for 7 yrs. She wil let me scratch and pet her all day, but I pick her up she will bite to kill! No amount of time or handling has changed that.