Is Frequent/Unusual Laying Down Normal?

[KatherineRose]

Hi everyone,
So I adopted my two female chinchillas(under a year old) two months ago and I just wanted to know if laying down on the tummy non stop for a good 20 minutes straight after being let out is normal. I know that some of these things vary from chinchilla to chinchilla, and I also read online that they may do this from overheating after being let out, but my basement is very cool, and they have never done this before.
When I let them out tonight, (which I do in an enclosed corridor blocked by a door) they were absolutely normal. As usual they probed the place for any way out, but today one of my chinchillas actually succeeded in escaping under the door. Please understand that for the two months I've been letting them out there, they have never made it under-I though it was impossible! The gap there is hardly an inch wide! After she escaped I went to catch her before she chewed through anything. It turns out she managed to get two decent bites of fresh pine...I know this is very unsafe for them because they can only have kiln dried pine but by the time I got there she was already at it. After this I safely put them both back in their cages, but the one who ate the pine just became very sleepy and slow. She kept lying down on her tummy and closing her eyes as if to sleep. If I made noise her ears would perk up like normal and she would move a little, but almost immediately she would lay down again, and she repeated this process for the ten minutes I stood there before I left her to rest. Coming back half an hour later, she is much improved but still a little slower than usual.
She is always my active chinchilla, always running around and alert, even when tired, so I have never seen her like this before. Maybe it was the pine that did this, or the shock from me immediately picking her up quickly after she escaped, or maybe....maybe she really is tired even though she ran very little. Could someone please provide some insight? Thank you!

 

[Godofgods]

im not sure how they would react with chewing regular pine. But i can say that chins get in and lay in some very strange positions.

 

[Amethyst]

When you say fresh pine do you mean some non kiln dried wood, like fire wood? or seeing as it's Christmas time, was it the Christmas tree? If it was just fire wood I wouldn't worry too much about two bites, but if it was the tree, those are commonly sprayed with stuff to keep them fresh and to keep pests away.

It could also just be too much excitement all at once, the escape and then getting caught.
I now see that this was from a couple days ago, so hopefully she is better now.

 

[Dreamlite]

Are you sure both are females and that they have not been caged with males? Laying flat out like that is common in pregnant females and in chins that are very comfortable in their homes. As long as there is no change in eating/pooping/weight i would not be concerned. What do you mean by fresh pine? fresh unwashed wood can carry bacteria and parasites. I would keep a close eye on her for the next few days.

 

[KatherineRose]

Yes, I am certain they are both females. And yes it just turned out that she was pretty exhausted from the running around and the excitement...I just observe them very carefully now because I've only had them for a while and I know I should take note of any unusual behavior so I figured I'd ask just in case-better safe than sorry! I've just never seen either of them lay down after letting them out, but now they seem to be doing that every once in a while. They're hopping all over me more now that they've grown accustomed to my presence so that might be tiring them out more than before.. Thank you for these responses though, I'm really happy that I have somewhere to go with general questions since I've only had these two for three months and I have so many worries