Crying at night?

[RockedByRequiem]

I recently adopted two bonded males from another board member, and the 4 year old has started to do the crying/barking noise at night excessively. My 7 year old male makes this noise occasionally, but he usually only does it a handful of times then stops. It's really very random and I have never been able to pinpoint why he does it exactly. Dreams maybe? I don't know...

But one of the ones I've had for only about a month and a half has been doing it in the middle of the night, and last night he went on for probably an hour. I got up three times to talk to him and try to calm him down, and every time I laid back down he started again. I tried to give him a shredded wheat and he wouldn't take it.

I wouldn't call it a bark, it is definitely more of a cry. But I would think if he were going to do that, he would have been doing it when I first brought him home. Now that he's settled in, I don't understand why he would be doing it. It's only him too. And what makes it even a bit more odd is he is clearly the one who has warmed up to me faster.

This may sound crazy but the only thing I can think of is maybe my house is haunted. I know some of you may not believe in that, but I've had many experiences in my life, and even a few in this house since I moved in in April. Plus, there have been two days where all three of them have acted very strange. Like didn't even wanna come out of their cage for playtime. And even for the two new ones, that was shocking. Or do you just think he's doing it for attention?

I plan on moving their cage into the second bedroom when the heat is totally gone anyway, just to make things easier as far as avoiding fights with my lone 7 year old boy. But I don't know how much longer that will be, and he was keeping my girlfriend and I up pretty efficiently last night.

Any suggestions?

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Shadows or lights might be frightening him.

 

[Airyn]

Is it possible that it's a mating call? I only ask because my little guy is very vocal too but only carried on for that long before I put he and my female together. They were in adjacent cages while I gave them time to get to know each other. When he was "ready", he was rather loud about it (2+ hours of pitiful crying each night...heartbreaking really). I haven't heard the same type of crying since. I only have those two (with more on the way), so I have no idea if that's common behavior or not... just a thought based on my experience thus far.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

idk i dont have a chin yet (going to be months b4 i get 1 )
ive been thinkin my house is haunted for a while now. ive seen things heard things. and my dogs will just stare at something but nothings there. or they will bark at nothing. we say they see dead puppies

 

[Chub_Chub]

I got up three times to talk to him and try to calm him down, and every time I laid back down he started again.

I wouldn't call it a bark, it is definitely more of a cry.

And what makes it even a bit more odd is he is clearly the one who has warmed up to me faster.

This may sound crazy but the only thing I can think of is maybe my house is haunted. I know some of you may not believe in that, but I've had many experiences in my life, and even a few in this house since I moved in in April.

Or do you just think he's doing it for attention?

Animals are definitely more sensitive to the spiritual world.. If it were me in your shoes, I would be thinking the same thing about haunting!!

But, I also know that chins cry for attention. So it could be either one. :wacko: Maybe a new toy or chew stick before bed may help. I have an attention hog chin who cries at night.. He loves to just hang out in a sack with me forever.. And he whines when we let his brothers out for playtime before him (even tho he gets twice as much time to play as they do). He is definitely more attached to me than my bf.

We give them sticks to chew before bedtime, and yes they are in our room too, so we hear *CrUnCH, CrUnCH, CrUnCH* all night. LOL. Earplugs are a necessity. But it helps to keep him busy first thing in the night so he is doing other things instead of sitting there staring at us and whining.

 

[caiti]

I first heard my chin bark after I had her for a month or two also. It might just be they are passing that "frozen" stage when they are too scared to do anything.

A lot of times whenever anything changes, my chin barks, sometimes for a day or two in a row. If I go home for two nights and have my roommate watch her or if I sleep over someone's house and have her watched, move her cage etc she'll bark the next morning when I return or the next night when she's playing in her cage and bark occasionally a couple times throughout the next 24-48 hours. Have you changed anything in their environment? Chins seem to be temperamental to me so something could be scaring them that you wouldn't think of like a street light or curtain etc.