Brand New Chinchilla

[Ripleyd]

I just got my first chinchilla last night and I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right. How long should I wait to handle her? I'm providing her with a chinchiller and plenty of hay and food. She came out and explored her cage for an hour or so last night but has only come out once since before darting back into the shoebox I made into a hidey home for her and I just want to make sure I'm doing everything possible to make the transition smooth. Any advice?

 

[Sandi]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new chinchilla. My suggestion would be for you to start reading this section of the FAQ's on this forum. Just click on the underlined links and you'll get tons of information.

http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=857

I would also suggest that you give her some time in her new home/environment for a few days to a week before letting her out.

 

[Ripleyd]

How long do we think is a few days? I got her wednesday, it's currently saturday and that's definitely not long enough, I just don't want to leave her in her cage so long she gets bored or depressed. She definitely wants to come out but I'm afraid it may be too much for her. The woman at petsmart told me that she recently had someone come in with a dead chinchilla because she handled hers too much too early. I don't wanna kill my baby Onyx!
She also has a dust bath coming up on monday, any opinions on whether to use an actual little dust bath house, or is a bowl better and would she enjoy that more?

 

[celmisha]

Congratulations on your newest family member!
For taming, you'll want to offer them treats through the cage bars (a rasin, cherrio, anything she likes). Once she takes it, you should continue doing that until she expects a treat from you at a dedicated time.
After that you can start offering treats through an open door. Again, continue for a couple days until she gets comfortable with you.
Then you'll want to place the treat on your arm and place it further and further up everyday.
Eventually, you can try picking her up and letting her have playtime around the room.

Hope that helped!
Have fun with your buddy!

-Caroline

 

[Stackie]

If she is wanting to come out, let her. Let her do things on her own terms. If she feels comfortable with it then there should be no problem. Chinchillas will not die from "overhandling"...they may get stressed if it is done forcefully.

I use a large cat litter pan for dust. It's really personal preference. Whatever they can fit in and comfortably roll around in is fine.

For taming, you'll want to offer them treats through the cage bars (a rasin, cherrio, anything she likes).

Raisins are not safe treats for chinchillas. Offering treats through the cage bars can also lead to fingers getting bit anytime you get close to the cage.

 

[tunes]

I would not feed any rodent through the bars of a cage, whether a chinchilla or a rat or anything else. As Stack mentioned, it's a good way to get your fingers bit.

Also, you cannot continually shove treats at a chin. Once or twice a week is more than enough and ditto on the raisin comment above. Constantly giving chins treats not only distracts them from eating a good quality pellet and hay, but it can cause health issues in your chin. It's much better to provide either a wood chew or an old fashioned oat one at a time (Quaker oats work well).

Be sure to read through all the forums, including the FAQ's for each section, and you should get all of the information you need.

 

[Jenn]

You can sit by your chin's cage to interact with her, as she is getting accustomed to her new environment, it's sounds, and smells. A few days is not long enough, how about a couple of weeks. Your chin won't become bored, especially if you have some chew toys for her, and either a saucer or wheel. Make sure when you let your chin out to explore, it is in a chin - safe environment. They chew on EVERYTHING! I personally stopped letting my chin run around any of my rooms, including the bathroom, because she gnawed on cabinets and wall trims, etc before I could stop her. I have my chin run around inside a pen. But if her cage is in a quieter area of the house, and you spend time with her at her cage, she will adapt pretty quickly. And treats are not necesssary for bonding. Good luck with your chin. It sounds like she is already adapting quite nicely.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I tell 'my people' who buy a chin from me to talk to the chin anytime you are near the cage. If you like to read, sit in a chair by the cage and read to your chin. That way the chins gets use to your voice and starts to trust you. Also you can open the door and stick your arm/hand (hand down) in the cage (just stick it in/don't move it). Let the chin crawl all over your arm/hand. Once the chin is use to that (it can take days) turn your hand over (palm up). Once the chin is use to that, curl your hand just a little around the chin - just for a second. Each day, put your hand a little more over the chin increasing the time just a little. Once the chin is used to having your hand over them and doesn't freak out, you can then bring them out Remember this can take a couple of weeks for some chins - others seems to adjust quicker. Leave it up to the chin when he/she is ready

 

[bigpappatrader]

How's it going so far Ripleyd? I got my chins at 6 years old so they had some tough habits to break. They were too scared to be picked up or held, I couldn't go anywhere near them. I started out with what Mt. Zion suggests, put your hand in a neutral location in the cage (not next to them) and hold it there for a while. Chins are very curious, and will want to know about it. They should eventually come up to it, sniff it, give it a test nibble (doesn't hurt), and start climbing on it. If you move your hand suddenly before they are used to it they will run. Keep it still until they are very comfortable climbing on it, then start to move your hand a bit while they are on it. Eventually mine were climbing out onto me as soon as I opened the door. One will sit on my shoulder for a few minutes while I walk around. When I moved to a different house it took a little while to get them back to this point again. As far as picking them up goes, I only got one of the two comfortable with this. The other was always way too skittish. He'd climb out on me but hated to be picked up. This is how I did it with the accepting one: If he is used to being hand-fed treats let him sniff and explore your hand first until he gets bored with it, otherwise once you move your hand past him to pick him up he's going to turn around to see what's in your hand. Once he's comfortable with you putting hour hands behind him and you've been doing it for a couple days, put your hands on each side of his back feet and leave them there until he doesn't run when you do it. Once he's comfortable, slowly slide your hands together, once he gets used to this he will automatically pick up his feet. After you have done this many times, begin to slowly pick him up, but don't move him far at first, just a few inches and not out of the cage. When I finally do move them out of the cage they are standing on one hand and their side is gently cupped with the other so they can't jump. They will get fidgety if held for too long. If you provide him with a special incentive he's going to be more happy about being picked up. When the one really wants to come out of the cage he will practically jump into my hands. I can tell when he really wants to come out when I open his door and he looks down at the floor (contemplating jumping down there) then stands up on his back legs to prepare to jump up onto my shoulder, then looks back down at the floor, then back at my shoulder, and eventually jumps onto my shoulder if I haven't picked him up yet.

Please do not try to pick her up before she is ready, you will only set all of your progress back. If she gets out or you let her out before she is ready to be picked up AND moved around in your hands, put some dust in the dustbath house and she should just jump right in if she loves baths. While mine is not afraid to be picked up, he hates to be told what to do and that it's time to go back in the cage, so I use a very small amount of dust to get him to jump in. Once they're spinning around in the house they have no idea they're being moved, but man are they ticked when they find out they've been tricked

A tip for a new chinchilla owner, I've trained mine with a pavlovian response. Every time I gave them treats I also made a repeated kissing noise. Now they come when I don't have treats since I don't give sweets or peanuts anymore. This makes it pretty easy to get mine to come out from under the dresser or bed so I can trick them with the dust bath.

 

[Ripleyd]

Thanks guys that's all really helpful!