Seeing in the dark?

[Melanee]

I have a large cage for my chinchilla and it hadnt even poped up in my mind until now; How do chinchillas navigate when they are in the dark. I know they are most active at night, do they use their wiskers? How does he know how does he hop to the next ledge?

 

[Stackie]

Not really sure about chinchilla eyesight in the dark, but I know my boys have their cages memorized so to speak. I have some ledges on the doors of my cages, and when I open the door, occasionally one of the chins will still try to hop to that ledge even though it is not there. Freaks me out, because I'm always afraid they'll hurt themselves. I'd imagine that helps them navigate in the darkness, though. I'm sure their whiskers play a role as well.

 

[soqrbrad]

According to a new deceased AOL hometown webpage:

Because they venture out at night when it is much cooler, the eyesight of these animals are undeveloped, and they use their long whiskers as a tool to guide themselves through the dark and through rocks. Also, they develop a “mental map” of their surrounding area for quick escape from an enemy.

Of course there are no sources to back it up but it's an answer

 

[Jenn]

Tink always has had a small amount of light on at night so I really had never thought about how she gets around in the dark. I'm sure their whiskers help them navigate...but it would be interesting to know if you put them in a new environment, how well would they navigate in the dark...? All other animals that are nocturnal have eyesight that adjusts to low levels of light, I'm guessing chins would also fit in this category.

 

[Peep_erz]

Not really sure about chinchilla eyesight in the dark, but I know my boys have their cages memorized so to speak. I have some ledges on the doors of my cages, and when I open the door, occasionally one of the chins will still try to hop to that ledge even though it is not there. Freaks me out, because I'm always afraid they'll hurt themselves. I'd imagine that helps them navigate in the darkness, though. I'm sure their whiskers play a role as well.

Polo and Baba do this all the time! I have now resorted to getting their attention before I open the door, swinging the door open and closed a couple times, or putting my hand where the ledge should be. They don't plunge onto the invisible ledge as much anymore.

I think it is a memorization thing as well.

 

[Mittens, Ph.D.]

Does anyone leave a night light on for their guys?

 

[Stackie]

I have a small sign light that I leave on at night in their room- it's just a small decorative "tiki bar" sign. It's more for me though, as I hate for my house to be completely dark.

 

[Cinder and Me]

Does anyone leave a night light on for their guys?

I use to actually, but now I have a timer-light that goes off around 3:30am. So she's only in the dark for about 3 hours. I have been thinking about putting her night light back though. When I moved about a year ago, I never put her night light back...not sure why, no particular reason. I think it just makes me feel better that she has light. I don't think they need it, b/c even now without her night light, I hear her running/bouncing all around her cage through the night. lol