Bored chin

[Erica_74]

:hair: I posted on here a while ago about my random baby chinchillas, from the girl i bought off craigslist, they are doing great, and getting bvery big!

befor i bought this chinchilla, i had another boy chinchilla. (they do not live in the same cage, and dont play with each other, NO MORE babies here!! those things are a handfull...) anyway, he has a HUGE cage, it's taller than me, and has 9 different levels, houses for him to go in, lots of wood and metal toys for him to play with, a wheel, evertying a chinchilla could need! but somehow, he still gets bored.

when he wants food he takes his food bowl OUT OF the holder, and throws it to the floor of his cage.
when he wants water (or decides his current water isn't good enough) he removes his water bottle from the wall of his cage and throws it to my floor. then takes the now detached water bottle holder, and scoots it out of his cage and onto the floor of my room as well.

most recenty though, he has figured out how to open the doors of his cage. i woke up 2 days ago to his furry butt running around the room. luckily the female's cage is up too high for him to get to. I noticed that one of the doors on his cage was open, but it was the door I NEVER use. i stuck him back in, and had no more problems until today. I was just sitting watching tv, and all of a sudden the door pops open and he runs out! I quickly grabbed him and shoved him back in, and went back to what i was doing. Then it happened again! and then a third time!

HE HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO ESCAPE! :impatient:
I had a metal lock, and clipped it onto the door he's getting out of, but ever since i put it on he's been holding onto the door with all 4 feet and violently shaking it like he's angry. Is he?
I take him out to play every day, i don't know what else to do to keep him entertained!!!
any suggestions!? he gets so restless sometimes, i kinda feel bad, but then he does something bad and gives me that little smirk.

anyone else have these problems?

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

He's behaving like a typical chin. Don't be concerned about his behavior.

 

[caiti]

Glad your babies are doing good!!

Do you have food in his bowl all the time? This is recommended and might help with him throwing his bowl around.

Maybe if you have the cage against a wall, so that the water bottle is between the cage and the wall, he won't be able to take off the holder and dismantle the bottle. I think there are also wire bottle holders that hook onto the cage wire which he may find difficult to get off.

Also, do you think he's adjusting to having the babies in the same room (I'm assuming you got them recently)? I don't really know how chins normally react to new chins in their room since I only have one, just throwing out the idea.

I'm not sure that he's angry so much that he is instinctually trying to get out of the cage. Just keep the metal lock on it and hopefully he will calm down in time, but it won't hurt him to shake the cage (unless it breaks or something).

 

[Erica_74]

The babies have been in the room for a little over a month, and he's only started acting this way in the past 2 weeks, so i dont think they are the problem. glad to hear that its normal, i wish there was some other way to keep him entertained...

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

You could try removing his current toys and putting in new ones. Sometimes it helps to switch out toys periodically!