mellow chinchillas?

[timandben]

my chins dont seem to make a lot of noise. yeah they squeak/sound like a metal detector at each other, but they never kack at me, when im checking their teeth or picking them up (which timothy hates because he always squirms a lot) but they have never kacked at me, just sometimes squeaked quietly while im holding them. im just wondering because a lot of you guys talk about kacking chins, and i have never actually heard mine do that.:wacko:

 

[Amy555]

Metal detector! That's a hilarious description! It took me awhile to figure it out but that's a great comparison to their happy purr noise. I've only once had one of my boys kack at me ever, my boys are generally pretty vocal with each other but when dealing with me they usually just nibble or push me with their little hands.

 

[3CsMommy]

Sounds like your chins are happy. When they do keck it kind of sounds like the noise a territorial squirrel or chipmunk makes. (Audio here: http://www.chinchilla-sounds.de/sounds/keck.wav )

YouBe will kack at me if I try to pet him (He does the petting in our relationship, not the other way around). He and Nova will also kack at each other if they both want the same stick/chew/piece of hay, or when they both try to wedge into the same tube and wake one another up. It's a grumpy noise, but mild, sort of the disgusted teenager sigh of the chin cage.

 

[timandben]

ok thank you.

yeah, occasionaly they will kack at each other, but normally they are pretty quiet.

EXCEPT!!!

one of my boys, Benjamin, barks funny. he hurt his paw a while ago, stupidly jumping out of the cage, slipping past my hands cleaning the cage. he didnt break or sprain his leg, and the vet says its just sore because there was nothing weird in the x-rays. but every once in a while he sits holding his paw to his chest like a tiny t-rex and makes this really pitiful barking noise. it doesnt sound like what he did the first night, actual barking. it sounds like he's just squeaking very loudly, but it is as loud as a barking chin. any suggestions as to what he might be doing??

 

[Pikaia]

Tribble makes that weird barking noise too. The other night he was sitting there and obviously alarmed at something. His barking kinda sounded like sneezes. I kept asking him, "What's wrong little guy?" He just kept barking.

He kecks too, whenever I try to pet him anywhere other than his head. He loves scritches, but hates to be touched on his back. One morning, I made the mistake of trying to pet him and boy did he get ticked off! He jumped up and kecked like heck! lol! On the other hand, Tia and Chichi are usually very quiet. They have never keck at me, but I have heard them keck at eachother. Especially when another one tries to steal a treat or stick.

 

[ChinnyMom]

Rhino is pretty much a mute compared to other chins, lol. he''ll only kak at me if i pet his bum. he used to do his peeping/contact sound when running around at play time for the first couple months, but doesn't any more (i attribute this to being more comfortable in his surroundings now?).