Clever behaviors

[JohhnyBishop]

Hi All,
I hope you are well.
I think the cleverest chinchilla behavior I come across is when one of the bigger chins got stuck in the hay feeder head down and the other chins were showing distress to the owner to indicate that something isn't right and their fellow chin needs a rescue.

The other interesting behavior I found is when the owner is not in the room and they make some noise (not vocal but by jumping hard) explicitly to attract the owner's attention.

What chinchilla behaviors have you found interesting?
Best regards

 

[user 18287]

Wow! That is clever! I love these animals!

Really enjoying getting to know little Fern, since she joined our family in June. She has become very clever in a hurry!

She makes a lot of noise around the area where her food bowl is, when it’s empty. She will also grunt from frustration at my slow response. As soon as I fill it, she eats and goes on with other business. I shouldn’t have nicknamed her Bossy.

I have to admit that my favorite behavior is when she gets the zoomies and popcorns because I am visiting with her. She is such a treat!

 

[Binki]

The other interesting behavior I found is when the owner is not in the room and they make some noise (not vocal but by jumping hard) explicitly to attract the owner's attention.

That's why people often think chins throw poop at them but it is just that when they want attention they jump more forcefully than usual in order to make noise, thus sending the poop flying in all directions. But they would also use dishes or anything in the cage to make a a racket.

My first chin, the clever clogs, was a master in noisy attention seeking. In the evenings he was allowed to roam (supervised) for an hour, which, being tired after playtime, he spent mostly on a chair, watching the world go by.

One night, when I was on the phone with my internet provider he suddenly decided he wanted attention. Since neither his first line of action (nibbling my shoes) nor his second (loud complaint) gave any results, he ran to his cage, grabbed the bottom ramp with his teeth and banged it twice against the tiles making such a din that he chap at the other end of the line thought someone was having a hissy fit in the kitchen and smashing the crockery. 'Well, someone is having a hissy fit, but it is the chinchilla...'

Frankly I do not think he believed me and who could blame him; there are things that only a chinchilla owner could accept as real

 

[Amethyst]

That's why people often think chins throw poop at them but it is just that when they want attention they jump more forcefully than usual in order to make noise, thus sending the poop flying in all directions. But they would also use dishes or anything in the cage to make a a racket.

I actually have had chins throw poop, I actually saw the poop in their paw and they flung it out of the cage, in a similar way to how they throw a piece of hay or pellet they don't want off to the side. They can't throw things forward very well but they can throw something backwards and to the side fairly far. Although I do agree most of the time it's from jumping around and the poop goes flying.