Envrionment Overhaul Question

[Twinkletoes]

So I'm thinking of doing a complete layout overhaul of my chin cage. My question is whether or not I should do it in phases or would it be okay just to do it all at once? I'm just not sure if a dramatic change in their habitat will stress them to much.

 

[Minccino]

If it were my chin, I'd do it in phases. It probably wouldn't hurt to do it all at once, but I know my chin doesn't like certain things taken away/or moved in his cage.

 

[Amethyst]

I change my guys cage in phases, mostly because I have a lot of ledges and perches to move around and it requires me and my husband to change around the things on the sides and back of the cage. Also as said it can also depend on the chin, mine love having things rearranged they run around their cage like people checking out a new home, lol, chattering to each other and exploring everywhere. Other chins act like they just got a new cage in a negative way and will hide and need time to adjust if you change things too fast. Some chins also like to zoom around the cage, and when you change the location of landing spots they might fall (forgetting a ledge is no longer there) until they get a new route figured out, so all at once might be better so nothing is the same. So long as you are keeping the old items though it's normally not too stressful since their scent is still on everything, but it comes down to the personality of your chins, are they shy and skittish? or more outgoing and brave? or something in between.

 

[LYChinchillas]

If it's the same structure, I'd do it in phases - only for the reason that it's an incredible amount of work to do it all at once. There are things you may have to change after your chin spends some time in the space, such as spacing or placement. I wouldn't worry about a new safe space stressing out your chin; they're extremely adaptable and love to explore. They'll get used to their new space in a day or less. After you make changes, you should watch carefully as suggested above, and make changes as needed. Here's something I wrote recently about building your own cage; perhaps it can be helpful to you: http://lychinchillas.com/2014/12/24/how-to-build-a-custom-chinchilla-cage/

 

[Minccino]

I just want to give an example of how my chin reacts to changes (I moved a few things last night to fit the chin spin I'll be receiving soon). ~

I tried not to make too big of a change, I only worked on the bottom level. I kept it looking similar, just moving a few things from one side to the other. He was curious and explored and didn't seem to mind. But after I moved one more thing, he started to wonder what's going on. He barked for a few min and stayed in the top level for a while.

Before that, a few weeks ago, I decided to take away his hay rack and replace it with a hay bag. He was not impressed. He would not touch the hay in it. When he got hungry, he would pull pieces off his Timothy hay bungalow. -_- he didn't do that before. I think the hay bag only lasted 2 days in there before I replaced it with the rack again lol. He was thrilled to have it back.

Silly chinnies...