Frustrated beyond relief..

[chinlover10112]

I'm getting beyond frustrated at this point. I have a troublesome chin on my hands and lately he has been making so angry. I've had him for about a year now, and we've bonded pretty well but I fear he doesn't like me. He runs to the front of the cage when I come over but it's only because he wants let out of the cage. He doesn't care about me what-so-ever. All he wants is to run around my room and chew on EVERYTHING. He is a chew toy, rice stick, salt lick, and hay rolled tunnel to chew on but he still feels the need to chew on my walls! He also has the annoying habit of aggressively ripping the cage with his teeth. He grabs the bars with his teeth and pulls on it so I come over. I've been told to just ignore it but when I'm trying to sleep, I can't. (he is in my room and can't be put anywhere else. He also constantly tips over his food dish inside his cage and craps in his hay dish and won't eat the rest of the hay. He is getting to the point where he is becoming untrainable and I feel like I'm wasting my time on a stubborn chin. I'm about ready to package him up and send to someone that can handle his antics. Is there any advice that can help me and my pain in the butt chin before I have to start making some tough decisions? :hair::facepalm:

 

[mknoblich1]

Hi, I only let my girls play in a chin proofed room because they will chew on everything because that is their nature. You can't train a chin not to chew on certain things. I bought the 11 panel play pen from ferret.com http://www.ferret.com/cages/playpens/889/

How often do you let your chin out to play? He may not be getting enough exercise. I let my girls out at the same time every day for about 30 min to an hour depending on how much energy they have. I also found that once I put a chin safe wheel in the cage that they were able to run whenever they wanted to once they figured out what the strange thing I'd put in their cage was. As far as the food dish goes my girls did the same thing until I found a bowl that attaches to the side of the cage. I got a great dish from petsmart in the bird section that attaches to the side so they can't make a mess. He's probably not doing it on purpose but is just using it to catapult himself to another area of the cage. Also how big is his cage? He may not have enough room to play and jump around in his cage which will make him unhappy I try to keep my girls on a pretty strict schedule so they know when feeding time is and play time is. This makes them more comfortable because they know they'll be let out to play at the same time every day. I may miss a night sporadically but I accepted the fact that they need a pretty strict regime to stay healthy and happy. I'm not sure if a salt lick is good for chins either. I may be wrong and hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I'm by no means an expert but just wanted to share some of my experiences with you. I know that there are hay holders that attach to the outside of the cage so your chin wont be able to go to the bathroom in his hay. I hope this helps and hope that you don't dump your boy off onto someone who doesn't know anything about the animals and will not care for him properly.

 

[Newt]

He sounds like a regular chin... just that he might be a bit bored. I am sad that you think you might be "wasting your time"... maybe you just need to understand his needs more?

A wheel is definitely a good idea, and you can cheaply chin-proof your walls by putting cardboard up around them while he's out.

The food tipping and pooping in hay is just pretty much standard chin behaviour really....get a stainless steel coop bowl and attach to the side of the cage. A chin cant be trained not to poop somewhere...they just do it without even noticing I think! As previously suggested, a hay holder bolted outside of the cage might help, then he just pulls through the hay he wants to eat.

Also I'd ditch the rice stick and salt lick if I were you.

 

[Claire D]

Errrr...... I'm not quite sure why you are 'getting angry' with him. He's a chinchilla.

Chinchillas are not cuddly, on the whole, don't want to be handled & petted - except on their terms. They are rodents - they chew. That's what they do!

If you wanted a cuddly, placid, trainable pet then I'm afraid you chose the wrong animal.

Please don't let your frustration affect the life of this little fella he's being true to his species & he deserves to be understood for what he is. The fact that you want to " package him up and send to someone that can handle his antics." is appalling. He is not behaving badly or doing it to annoy you - how much research did you do before taking on a chinchilla which could live 15-20 years?

 

[PebblesAndAbby]

my girl abby was MEAN to me up until about 2 years ago, and shes 8 now. i had her from a baby from a breeder.. 6 years it took for her, about one for my other girl... i just loved her and had it set in my head she'd always be mean to me and now she comes to me every time i come in room..jumps on me..etc..

 

[smhluvsmh]

Please don't be frustrated with him! He is a chin. Learn about him and love him for who he is. He sounds bored!

 

[ticklechin]

Chin is being a chin, deal with it or indeed rehome him to someone who actually knows he is being a chin.

 

[Spoof]

I highly recommend looking up clicker training and classical conditioning.

Chinchillas CAN be trained very easily. Youtube is full of videos if you need inspiration. You CAN train them to not chew on specific objects. You CAN train them to come to you, do tricks, etc.

You have to put the time in. You also have to understand that it isn't a quick fix. It took you a year to develop and (unknowingly) encourage these "bad" habits you hate and it will equally take six months to a year for someone who is new to training to undo what you have done.

You may not realize it but he wants your attention. When do you give him the most interaction? When he is pulling on the cage bars and chewing on your walls! You give it to him him both verbally and physically at those exact moments.

You'll want to look more into behavior modification and shaping since these are already strongly established behaviors. It can be a fun journey, but if you are already frustrated beyond being able to sleep I would also recommend finding him a new home.

 

[ticklechin]

I highly recommend looking up clicker training and classical conditioning.

Chinchillas CAN be trained very easily. Youtube is full of videos if you need inspiration. You CAN train them to not chew on specific objects. You CAN train them to come to you, do tricks, etc.

You have to put the time in. You also have to understand that it isn't a quick fix. It took you a year to develop and (unknowingly) encourage these "bad" habits you hate and it will equally take six months to a year for someone who is new to training to undo what you have done.

You may not realize it but he wants your attention. When do you give him the most interaction? When he is pulling on the cage bars and chewing on your walls! You give it to him him both verbally and physically at those exact moments.

You'll want to look more into behavior modification and shaping since these are already strongly established behaviors. It can be a fun journey, but if you are already frustrated beyond being able to sleep I would also recommend finding him a new home.

I have two extremely well trained chins, both cuddlers and respond to many commands, they would rather hang out with me all day if they could on my person, BUT my third one is just plain nuts, and frankly more entertaining when the chin is being a psycho chin, remove the psycho from the chin and they become lap dogs.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I agree 'psycho' chins are SO entertaining

 

[Bovril]

You have a chinchilla, not a dog; most chins don't want to be cuddled like a dog and won't bond with you in the same way. He's going to chew on whatever is within reach because it's his natural behavior; he doesn't know the difference between your bed post and a toy (clicker training comments above aside). You can always line your walls with cardboard to he can't get to the baseboards. chinchillacity.com sells bowls that attach to the cage bars. I think you should either readjust your expectations or find a pet that fits them.

 

[Claire D]

I have two extremely well trained chins, both cuddlers and respond to many commands, they would rather hang out with me all day if they could on my person, BUT my third one is just plain nuts, and frankly more entertaining when the chin is being a psycho chin, remove the psycho from the chin and they become lap dogs.

LOL agreed.

I have two chins who are exceptionally cuddly & who will come when called, return to their cages etc. In fact, Gzifa will come over & tug on my sleeve if she wants attention (it's very sweet) - BUT these guys are not the norm & that's the point that I think many people miss. They see chins as looking very cute & cuddly but, on the whole, they are not.


To the OP - It usually (there are always exceptions) takes a lot of patience to train a chinchilla to like cuddles & to come to commands & it's is always on their terms. Even the best behaved have off days & just don't want to play ball or behave as we would expect - it's part of their charm.
Some chins never become 'trained' & that's also part of their charm.

 

[Zoaea]

A lot of people already gave you some good pointers. =) So I will just reaffirm that he is indeed displaying normal bored chinchilla behavior. Cardinal rule for chins and being able to sleep is to not have them in your bedroom too. They like to play when awake and that is typically while you are snoozing!

I always give my chins a smaller amount of hay, once in the morning and once at night when they wake up, be cause chins love to pee on hay. =P Side mounted bowls are great to prevent tipping but make sure it is also small enough that he can't sit in it or he will still pee in it. If you notice he pees in one part of his cage more than others, move the food away from that area, some chins however just pee anywhere.

 

[chinlover10112]

When I posted this, I was in a really annoyed mood. I really do absolutely LOVE :hearts: him to pieces. Sometimes he just sets me over the edge with waking me up at 3 am by chewing on the bars rapidly when I have to go to school the next day. Yes, I've researched a TON about chins before I got mine. I came into this knowing they aren't cuddly animals.

I've given him chew toys to keep him busy, and I'm going to try to let him out more often. He loves running around my room. School gets out in about two weeks for me and once that happens I plan on spending tons of time with him. Does anyone let there chin. outside? I was considering letting him outside in the grass with a cage over him (in a shaded area of course!).

 

[chinlover10112]

Hi, I only let my girls play in a chin proofed room because they will chew on everything because that is their nature. You can't train a chin not to chew on certain things. I bought the 11 panel play pen from ferret.com http://www.ferret.com/cages/playpens/889/

How often do you let your chin out to play? He may not be getting enough exercise. I let my girls out at the same time every day for about 30 min to an hour depending on how much energy they have. I also found that once I put a chin safe wheel in the cage that they were able to run whenever they wanted to once they figured out what the strange thing I'd put in their cage was. As far as the food dish goes my girls did the same thing until I found a bowl that attaches to the side of the cage. I got a great dish from petsmart in the bird section that attaches to the side so they can't make a mess. He's probably not doing it on purpose but is just using it to catapult himself to another area of the cage. Also how big is his cage? He may not have enough room to play and jump around in his cage which will make him unhappy I try to keep my girls on a pretty strict schedule so they know when feeding time is and play time is. This makes them more comfortable because they know they'll be let out to play at the same time every day. I may miss a night sporadically but I accepted the fact that they need a pretty strict regime to stay healthy and happy. I'm not sure if a salt lick is good for chins either. I may be wrong and hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I'm by no means an expert but just wanted to share some of my experiences with you. I know that there are hay holders that attach to the outside of the cage so your chin wont be able to go to the bathroom in his hay. I hope this helps and hope that you don't dump your boy off onto someone who doesn't know anything about the animals and will not care for him properly.

He has a pretty big cage for it only being him in the cage. So he has plenty of room to run around freely. I tried getting him a wheel but he tried it out about twice and didn't like it :no: He doesn't really chew on the salt lick anyway, but he loves the rice roll things that we got from Petsmart and the tube covered in timothy hay!
:

 

[Amethyst]

Definitely do NOT let him outside. There is way too much that could go wrong quickly that isn't not worth the risk. The grass could have chemicals, other animal pee and/or poo (potential for disease or bacteria), or the chin could eat a poisonous plant or other things you didn't know was in the grass. Also chins are very fast, if he got loose somehow you may never catch him again. I use to let my chins play outside on the back deck when I was a kid, but it was one story up and had fencing around it.

 

[Dreamlite]

Letting a chin outside is a bad idea. There a diseases and parasites not to mention the chances of escaping and predators. Idk why you would want to put him in the grass? Chins don't eat grass like a rabbit or guinea pig would. Its just too unsafe. Keep him indoors.

 

[mknoblich1]

I can think of some other reasons to not go outside that weren't listed. First is the heat and humidity. It could kill your boy if its to hot or humid. I would also be concerned about it scarring him so bad he went in to shock and died I may be over cautious on the last one but I would never take the risk of putting one of my girls into shock from being frightened.

 

[chinlover10112]

Letting a chin outside is a bad idea. There a diseases and parasites not to mention the chances of escaping and predators. Idk why you would want to put him in the grass? Chins don't eat grass like a rabbit or guinea pig would. Its just too unsafe. Keep him indoors.

It was just a suggestion, I'm not someone who has had 50+ chins. This is my first chinchilla.

 

[lilcutie0480]

It's okay to get frustrated just remember he's only got you for his attention. I also only have 1 chinchilla & he's 12yrs old now. When they're by themselves they need a lot more physical & verbal attention. I say good morning & good night to him every day. He loves it & looks forward to those moments. I talk to him every time I'm in the room (except for afternoons) & hold him once a day. It sounds like he really does enjoy seeing you but chin's don't express themselves like other animals. Remember by nature they're independent & intelligent animals. You can train the chin easily it just takes some time & patience. My chin responds to his name even when running, we play peek a boo while he's out, he hops into my hands to be let out of his cage and a few more fun ones. How did you train him to accept treats or being held?

Also I appreciate you wanting to give him variety in the surrounding but outside just isn't safe. Maybe try letting him run in different rooms that you've proofed for him. That could provide the variety. Also giving him a new chew toy every week can also provide some variety. Chins strive on routine & look forward to patterns in our behavior. Hope this helps some.