Strange Behavior?

[sammie96]

Hello, my name is Samantha. I am 17 and currently the owner of my 4/5 year old chinchilla, Chip. I adopted Chip from an older couple when he was about 2/3, and he was handled very little, wouldn't even let me touch him when I first got him. After working with him for the past few years he will finally allow me to pet him and he will even climb into my hands.

Please skip to "***" paragraph if you do not wish to read the next two paragraphs.

I am posting because when I took Chip in, he had an albino mate, who'm I had named Kiara. Kiara became very ill, with what, I don't know. She had diahrrea, and I had noticed a significant weight loss in her in just a day. Unfortunately, Kiara passed away, just as I had signed her papers at the vet.

A friend had given me another chinchilla, and not long after I rescued a chin from a very bad home. Snowball, the chinchilla given to me, had found a new home because I needed money to take Dale, the rescue chin, to the vet. Dale was very poorly taken care of by his previous:tease: owners, and he could not be saved. His teeth were over growb and I spent months hand feeding him, the vet wanted an outrageous fee to trim his teeth, a fee I could not afford. I was going to hand him over to a lady who knew more about chinchillas and could help him, but he also sadly passed away a few days before he found his new home.

***If you have read all of this, then I hope you will read just a bit more. Long story short, until a few months ago, Chip has always had another chin near him, but has not been housed eith another chin since his mate passed. Chip has begun acting odd in the past few weeks. When i stick my hand in his cage, he tries to push my hand away to get passed me. Today, he was so pteoccupied with trying to get out, he would not even accept one of his treats. I bought him a ball thinking maybe being allowed out would make him happy, but he still attempts to push me away. It has been very warm where I live lately, and I have three fans running in my room and exchange his warm tiles with cool ones. I was wondering if there is a possibility he is lonely, too warm and trying to find a cool space, or something else all together? If anyone could help me, I would really appreciate it.

Chip has a cage about 4 ft tall, three levels to jump on, a wheel, a house, his wood chews, and fresh water/food/hay daily. He is still eating, drinking, and pooping just fine.

I apologize for how long this is, I just wanted to give as much information as possible. Thank you very much.

 

[MNChinLover]

How warm is the room he is in? Chins like to be in cooler temps (72 is the highest I would keep the room, a lot of people keep them in the 60's and a few people keep them in rooms cooler than that.

Chins can easily overheat. I would get rid of the ball you got him, they are called "death balls" for a reason on this forum. A lot of chins overheat in them.

Switching out tiles will only do so much, they will keep chinchillas cool for only a few minutes until the tile warms up from the body heat of the chin.

Fans do nothing for a chin because they do not sweat, and that's why you and I feel cool from a fan. With having a chin, you need to have AC. If you can't afford AC for the whole house, you can get a window one or other portable AC just to keep the room the chinchilla is in cool.

So I'm not sure, but the abnormal behavior are seeing could be from him beginning to get too hot. Overheating is serious and can cause death.

 

[sammie96]

I am not entirely sure, but it is warm (which has kept me worried because I know they over heat very easily.) We do have two ACs in the house, one downstairs and one upstairs.

Should I take his wheel out of his cage as well until the weather cools down?

Should I consider putting another water bottle on his cage, or is one fine?

I only let him run in his ball at night when it is significantly cooler in the house and I supervise him at all times. I got him the ball thinking he was pushing me away because he wanted more time out of his cage, I do handle him and allow him out but I do not let him roam freely because I had caught him attempting to chew on the wood paneling in my room.

 

[tunes]

Balls, regardless of the time of day, are not for chins. Chins do not run, they hop. I honestly wouldn't use a ball for ANY animal. No matter what the room temperature is, those balls get super hot. You can cover your walls with cardboard to keep him from chewing them or consider getting a playpen. I never let my chins run completely free. I always used playpens.

Is he in one of the rooms with an air conditioner? If not, then I would move him there. If he is, and it's still hot, the I would definitely remove the wheel as well as check why the a/c isn't keeping it cool. It may be malfunctioning and you may need a new one.