Hello i just saw my chinchilla Brinkley pushing his house to the side, then cramming himself between in and the bars of his cage. Temp in room is normal, humidity is normal, he's acting fine, eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, etc... Just wondering what he was doing and making sure he's ok
Squeezing between house and bars?
- Thread starter laurensab
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GorillaJTA
That guy.
Getting comfortable? Finding that perfect combination of air flow, light, security, and hay smell? If he is acting fine, he is probably just doing his own thing.
greychins
NWI Chinchillas
Lol they do that. Some of mine will contort themselves into the oddest of positions and the oddest of places. One of ours will get on to of her fleece tube... i swear there's only like an inch between the top of the tube and the top of the cage... but she smooshes herself in there. As long as everything else is normal, probably just getting comfy (which is clearly defined by standards different than our own standards of "comfy") haha.
smhluvsmh
Whisker Kisses Addict
They do the funniest things! Why, when there are much larger shelves, tubes, houses do they try try sleep on the smallest one in the cage? Makes no sense to me.
Because a squished chin is a secure chin. When I want to calm my guys down, I hold them with their back against my chest, their back feet on my left hand, my right hand in front of them, and my chin on top of their heads. Within 10 seconds, they're heartbeat and breathing slows and you can feel every muscle relax.
x3ndless
Human Chin Jungle Gym
yes chins will lay in many many many weird positions, they will do anything to make you smile and laugh
meggles07
Crazy Chin Mom
I will have to try this if scoops ever seems nervous. She is always smoothing herself between the top of her hide house and the cage
That's totally normal. My guys all sleep as close to the top of the cage as they can. They just like the security there. Since they're prey animals, walls on all sides makes them feel less threatened. It's been proven useful pre and post hair ring checks, before applying Bag Balm or some other ointment to dry feet, before and after giving anti-biotics, before handfeeding (assuming they're not in pain) and when walking with them from point A to point B to avoid dealing with an escapee. I don't stabilize with tails because Boji doesn't have one, so I've had to learn other handling methods.
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tcraighenry
Well-known member
Not to derail but I tried this the other day when Vincenza did a flying leap out of her cage (straight on to the bag we use to hold her old cleaned out hay, lol) She calmed down immediately.
(Now to do something about the escape attempt!)
Cuddlebug
Well-known member
I have been doing that for years. Mine all seem to feel safer when they can see what is going on around them.
~@Pokemon@~
Queen of Chinchilla Poop!
Pikachu likes to squish himself behind his wheel and fall asleep upside down. I guess they feel safer? My boys will also flip their wooden houses around on their side or pull the roof off and go in and fall asleep. Its weird but cute <3
tcraighenry
Well-known member
Someone was telling me the other day it makes sense given everything wants to eat them. They squish into places they know only they can get into. So they can feel and see anything trying to get in!
