Neutering chinchillas and behavior change?

[maryelizabeth]

I have two male chinchillas that I bought together from a breeder. They are both about a year and a half old. They are wild and bouncy and out of control and I cant let them out or i spend 2-3 hours trying to get them back in. It is horrible. Every time I hold them they wiggle around and scratch me trying to run around.

I was wondering if neutering them would change any of this behavior, and maybe calm them down a bit??
Thanks

 

[FutureDVM]

Please don't get them neutered just to potentially change their behavior. From what you described, it sounds like they are acting like normal happy, healthy, goofy chinchillas. There are SO many risks involved with surgery and it's not worth putting them through all of that stress.

Could you please explain why it takes you 2-3 hours to get them back in their cage? If you're using a small enough area for play time I don't see how it could possibly take that long to corral them.

 

[ticklechin]

You have normal healthy chinchillas doing what chinchillas do. Get a playpen to contain them in, because neutering can have serious complications and does not quarantee personality alteration.

 

[tcraighenry]

I have to agree with ticklechin. We lost our little boy to stasis and shock after his neuter. I would much rather have him still with me and in a separate cage than lose him.

I know a lot have chins neutered without complications but there is the small percentage like our little guy.

 

[lauralynne]

Where are you letting them play? Have you tried a bathroom for playtime?

 

[maryelizabeth]

I have a pen, but they always can get out of it, or instead of playing, they spend the whole time trying to shove their way out.
When I let them run around the house, they chew on everything and destroy anything they come in contact with, and I can never for the life of me catch them.
They eat the cabinets and trim in the bathroom, and I can really modify it in any way because we are renting the apartment.

 

[Vcchinchilla]

If they learn what treat box and what it means you could try this I find it the least stressful thing to do

Shake small container containing treats
Hold it high enough they can't reach inside but can almost reach the edge of it
They'll come running to get it
You can
A- attract back into cage
B- scoop them up
Remeber to add a word to signify to go home
When they recognize this you can treat them when they go home

And always reward afterwards or else they'll learn they don't get anything out of it,
I have small container of rolled oats
They get one piece, that way it's small enough to not go over their treat budget

With oats you can train them to do tricks
Like come when called =half a oat
Sitting on your shoulder another half
Sit for 10sec Longer another half
Then u can get some cuddles
Once they get the hang of this you could do combination = half a treat

Otherwise they sound like normal chins =D not everyone likes to cuddle especially with a 10+yr life span they have lots of other things to do
Like conquer you =P

 

[Snickers]

I wouldn't neuter just because you want them to calm down. For base boards and cabinets I would get cardboard and put it in front of those items. When I had a couple of chins I would let them have play time in the house in the bathroom. They would chew base boards and cabinets until I put card board in front. For wiggling trying to get away I would sit down on a little stool, hold them and talk to them.

 

[Chin_lvr]

I've used their dust bath the get a naughty chin back to their cage. Now we've started finishing playtime with a dust bath and back to cage. It works well for us.

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

Neutering them won't stop them being normal Chinchillas I'm afraid.

 

[Godofgods]

Neutering them is not a good idea. Its incredibly risky to their lives.

As for getting them back in the cage, you can try using the sand bath. Chins will often run back into them when they see them. You can scoop em up then.

Vcchinchilla's suggestion works well as well. (At least it worked for mine) They no now that when they go back they get a treat, so i just open the door and they usually go back in on their own now (its amazing lol)

You also might wanna try finding a room or area that you can block off escapes from. I ended up using extra cage parts i had to form a long 'barrier' to block off the exits in the room. And while if they, they could jump to the top, since you should be out their with them while their out to play, its more then enough time to get them down safely.

 

[chin2heart]

I agree; I adopted a little boy chinnie and had him neutered. He never recovered properly from the anesthesia and I lost him two days later. Maybe it works, but I wouldn't chance it. Miss my Hopper Guy....

 

[tcraighenry]

@chin2heart

That happened to me too. I miss my baby

:hugs:

 

[liewwan]

I got my boys trained to hop in a travel carrier from their cage when I say play time. Put the travel carrier down and when I say all done they would hop right back in.
Do you have a hallway inside your apartment? You can put a blockage up and contain them in that area for play time. Like someone else mentioned use cardboard to block the cabinets in your bathroom.
Are they supervised during play time?