I am by no means a wise old Chinchilla owner like some of you. I came into the Chinchilla world by default. My daughter moved out of state and I told her I would find a good home for her Chinchilla. Up till the day she left I hardly saw the Chinchilla, not because I don't love my daughter, but because she lived in another area of the house. Regardless I have spent countless hours researching Chinchillas and their behavior. Now I have two and as far as personalities go they couldn't be more different. I have had some great success socializing my Chins but it hasn't been without a ton of patience and hard work. Here are a few things I have learned.
First and most important. I do my BEST to provide a safe healthy clean environment for my Chins. Regardless when it comes to holding them or petting them its important to remember that even Chins aren't always in a good mood.
Also, I just don't pick them up unless I HAVE to. And sometimes I have to. But I try to keep it to a minimum.
Right now both of my Chins will without reservation when out for playtime jump up on my lap. I will give them a cheerio and they will let me pet them... A LOT! I got to this point by walking by their cage. They would be there looking at me. I would give them a cheerio. After a while they were ALWAYS glad to see me. But I would NEVER try to pick them up.
Now after 10 months of just working with them I have two Chins that IMO are VERY social. BeBe one of my Chins will let me scratch her. My wife and I laugh so hard! She is just like a dog. I will scratch her under the Chin and man she will lean into it and rotate her head so I get her behind the ears and all over her head and it is obvious she just LOVES it and is getting great pleasure from it. To be honest, I am totally happy with this. I don't pick them up and I don't feel like I need to.
Bottom line is it may not be realistic to ever be able to "hold" your Chin and them like it. But I still get to interact with them a lot and I have a ball with them.
I think soooo much common sense is involved here. I didn't know anything about Chinchillas but I could tell just by spending a little time with my first one that this was a different pet and that I might not ever get to hold it on any kind of long term basis.
Lastly again, I think common sense is needed here. If I HAVE to pick up one of my Chins, I make sure to hold them a little while after I catch them. Their fear level always seems to go up and I want to reinforce the fact that I am the good guy and that I will never hurt them so if I have to pick them up again it will be easier. So I just talk to them softly and pet them very slowly. I'll do this for a full minute or two, then I will put them in their cage. The result is they both will run to the edge of the cage when I walk by wanting a cheerio
Bottom line? I am happy with them and I don't feel the need to hold them at all.