Tell me about a typical chin's sleep schedule

[Molly]

Can a couple people please tell me their chin's daily sleep schedules?

I feel like Gus is sleeping a lot more than did a couple years ago. He'll play if I wake him up, but if left alone, he sleeps most of the early evening...I see him up for perhaps a total of 2 hours between 5 pm 10 pm. (He'll bounce for 30 mins, sleep, and repeat) He's definitely up some during the night, but is asleep before 8 am.

If he's depressed or something's up, I want to know about it. But I'm wondering if I'm just misremembering or if it's a normal sign of aging (6 or 7 yrs old). As I said, he'll get up and play if I provoke him! He's completely normal in every other way. But should he be awake for a longer period on his own?

Of course, I also bought one of those PVC fleece tubes last year...I'm tempted to take it away and see if that makes a difference! He LOVES that tube. :hearts:

 

[I<3MyChinnies]

I have a FN 142 with a female chin in each level. One is awake nearly all day (I stay at home most of the day) and the other is asleep ALL day. Around 4 pm or so the other one gets active and the more diurnal one calms down to the point of being willing to fall asleep in your lap. From my experience, a lot depends on the chin. I've heard people say it can depend on your schedule, but that doesn't explain my 2 girls.

I really don't know how much they change with age as you mentioned, but it sounds like he's enjoying his snuggly tube!

 

[Jenn]

I've only had my chin for about 9 months, but she sleeps for a few hours, then will be up for an hour or so, then repeats this. She is up periodically during the day hours as well as being up and down throughout the night. She doesn't follow the sleep all day, up all night pattern. I think mine gets up more when she hears us up and about. Tink is about 4 years old.

 

[sight]

Tika

10pm - 3am : awake, off and on, bouncing around every where, very active
3am - 9am : active a little bounce in her step but not crazy
9am - 6pm : dormant, very sleepy, sometimes grumpy if i bug her
6pm-10pm : semi-active, moving around, ready for scritches


she is about 6 months old, and very friendly, i think she has kinda conformed to my sleeping habits tho. I am home from classes around 4 and she wakes up around 6. And always in the room from about 11pm till 2am with her, so that seems to be her most active time.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Chins are not nocturnal, meaning that they sleep all day and are up all night. Rather, they are most active around dawn and dusk. It has a name, I just can't remember what it's called.

 

[Brandon]

Chins are not nocturnal, meaning that they sleep all day and are up all night. Rather, they are most active around dawn and dusk. It has a name, I just can't remember what it's called.

Chinchillas are Crepuscular, meaning awake at dawn and dusk.

 

[ABBY W.]

Yes, mine usually wake up between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. (that's when I feed dinner), then go back to sleep after eating and playing for a while. Then they are back up a few hours later and stay pretty active until about 7 a.m.
They seem to pretty much sleep through the day. But they have their own room, and the house is very quiet during the day, so there are no distractions to wake them.

 

[Chuppie]

My little Chinny sleeps all day. She will let me go near her cage, and she will just sort of look at me. She's never crabby, and she will let me still pet her.

She doesn't beg to come out, or wants attention until about 10pm. This is normally when I come home from work, and she's waiting on the ledge closest to the door.

Then she goes to bed around 7am, but when she hears me getting up for the day around 8am ish, she will crawl out of her sleep spot. I then give her some attention, and she crawls back to bed.

Sometimes she will come out of her sleep spot during the day, and she will do some sleep eating.

 

[addictedtochins]

Of course, I also bought one of those PVC fleece tubes last year...I'm tempted to take it away and see if that makes a difference! He LOVES that tube. :hearts:

Aw, don't take his tube away, now that might depress him. I'm not saying to get another chin, but if he was paired up he might be more active.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Brandon, thanks, I could not remember the word.

 

[Molly]

LOL Don't worry, I wouldn't have the heart to take his tube away for more than a couple of hours!

I've definitely thought about getting another chin, many times, but the thing is, I'm not willing to have another cage if things don't work out between the two. Gus's home is posted in the Cage Pictures thread -- I suspect six or eight chins could bounce around in there quite happily! But they'd have to promise me that they'd wouldn't ever hurt each other, and from some of the stories I've read on here, that doesn't sound like it's 100% likely. Gus has a couple of cuddle buddies and that will have to do.

Thanks for sharing your chins' sleep schedules! I don't like that he's getting to be middle-aged...I worry about him. It sounds like he's just fine though. :woohoo:

 

[3CsMommy]

Dawn to lunch time-- Dead to the world unless someone twitches
Lunch time-- Wake up to look for shreddies
Afternoon to dinner time-- Dead to the world
Dinner time-- Wake up to look for shreddies, have a snack and a drink
After dinner to dawn-- Pandemonium, with brief bouts of hard-core napping.