Late sleeper?

[MamaJ]

Hi Everyone,

We brought home our 9 week old little chinchilla baby boy 8 days ago. He is adjusting extremely well. He plays a lot, eats well and lets us handle him quite a bit already. Yesterday during play time he actually hopped in my lap and nuzzled up under my arm, so adorable. Right now we have play time set up for just 15-20 minutes or so in a small chin proof area. We will increase play time and space as he grows and gets more comfortable. It does seem that he already found his little routine. He stays up until about 8AM, goes to sleep and then doesn't really become active and wanting to play until about 11:45pm at night.

Which brings me to my question. 11:45pm is really pretty late if you consider that we have to get up early in the morning. I have tried to take him out a bit earlier when he was up chewing some hay, but you could tell that he just wasn't really in the mood to play. Do other chinchillas sleep that late? Will this maybe change as he gets older and adjusts more? Or do I have to basically just have to get used to my little snoozebot of a chin :tired:

 

[mistywaterwoman]

You can readjust his schedule a little bit at a time. Give him playtime 15 minutes earlier every few days and he'll adjust a bit by bit.
I've got one girl who is ready to come out at 5PM and another who won't even open her eyes for me until after 9PM... However, if I'm not in there for playtime by 10, they start trashing the cages, lol.
Once you have him on a schedule that you like, stick to it religiously and he will too.

 

[MamaJ]

Ah thanks, I will give this a try tonight then. What a little snoozer

 

[GorillaJTA]

Flea has really adjusted his schedule to me. He gets active about three times a day: around 8 am when I get up (food and water time), around 5 when I get home (playtime), and when I am getting in bed (around 11:30 to 12). The rest of the time, he sleeps. They really will adjust to you.

 

[MamaJ]

So far no luck. I tried to coax him out a few times a little earlier, but he was rather unimpressed and didn't want to play. It's now 12:06am and I am waiting for my little dude to open his eyes. I have been in the living room for 5 hours with the lights on and tv going, but he snoozes right through it. I am really not sure what to do here.... hmm..

 

[mistywaterwoman]

You can do early morning playtime, instead - maybe before work? Sometimes my girls prefer to play super early in the mornings.
And it's better than you trying to stay awake till the middle of the night when HE feels like playing!

 

[Ronda]

Just go ahead and wake him up when you want to. Integrate him into your life and carry him around when you have the time. If he is not ready to play then that gives you more bonding time while holding him. Tuck him under your arm at the eblow like you would a football and just cart him around. I've found that chins are very adaptable and you can wake them up any time during the day - although they may not be ready to play they will want to know what's going on.

Ronda