Play Time

[elvisthechinchilla]

I am in college right now and when I have my chin at my apartment at school he has the run of the room from about 6pm till 2am usually when I go to bed. When I bring him home he gets less playtime because I am out and at my girlfriends a lot and he is usually out from around 10 until 2 but not always the whole time. When at home he mostly stays in his cage for the whole time unless I shut the door to his cage behind him. Should I leave it open and let him get the playtime he wants or force him to play for about 40 min? thats how long I usually shut his door. Is this stressing him out?

 

[rainey]

I'm a little confused by you saying you "shut the door of his cage behind him." Do you mean he's shut out of his cage, or in his cage?

When you let him have playtime, especially for that length of time, you should just leave the cage door open so he can come back in to get food, water, or to sleep. Also he doesn't actually need to have such a long playtime, he'd be okay with half an hour or an hour, especially if he already has a wheel in his cage. I have a chin that likes to be out of the cage all the time so I just let him out twice a day for a short period rather than a very long time at night when I'd have to be watching him the whole time. I'm assuming that when he's out that whole time you're watching him and the room is chin-proofed?

Anyway when you are at home, it's okay if he gets a shorter playtime. Don't leave it out alone just because you feel bad he's stuck in his cage. Better for him to be stuck in the cage a little longer than usual than to be out roaming the room by himself. Even if the room seems chinproofed, he should still be supervised in case he gets hurt or starts chewing on the walls/furniture.

Good luck!

 

[elvisthechinchilla]

I dont have the door closed the whole time. Just for about 30-40 minutes durring that time so he gets his excercise and I'm trying to get him more used to the room. when the door is open and hes allowed to go in and out he is supervised. I only leave for short periods to go grab something.

 

[Godofgods]

I had to keep my chins locked in their cages for a few months because they were eating my walls. They get used to it. And even now when i do let them out its only for 20 min or so.
My mother chin for some reason loves to hop back in and out of her cage when its play time. Its a FN cage that stands a good foot or two off the floor. Shes the only one that will try, but she makes that jump with no problem. She will go in and out 20 times over.

 

[dragsil]

My mother chin for some reason loves to hop back in and out of her cage when its play time. Its a FN cage that stands a good foot or two off the floor. Shes the only one that will try, but she makes that jump with no problem. She will go in and out 20 times over.

Silver does something similar too! He happily runs around while I clean the top levels of his cage but as soon as I sit on the ground he plays the 'In and Out' game as I call it, he jumps on my knee and reached out for his shelf until I cave in and lift him up to it and then about two seconds later he stretches his little hands down to get a lift back to the ground. He repeats this for about ten minutes or until I have finished cleaning his cage and then runs off to play again :S

 

[ChinnieShop]

Yup mine do the same thing, we let them out to play, but they always get back into the cage, climb all the way to the top level and jump off to the ground. My chins are parkour experts