Training Chinchillas to Noise Commands?

[Chinzilla]

What experience have people had with training chinchillas to respond to certain noises?

My husband sorta accidentally trained our first chin (Chinzilla) to respond to a kissing sound by making the noise every morning just before he snuck her 1/4 or 1/2 of a raisin (I had NO idea he was doing that every day!). Now, whenever you make the noise she becomes alert (if she's not already) and will come to the edge of the cage. The best is that she'll run over to you if she is out of the cage. IT'S AMAZING! Long gone are the days of trying to figure out how to get her back into her cage...and it really didn't take very long for her to become conditioned that way. Now, we occasionally reinforce her behavior with part of a raisin (and always reinforce it with positive praise), but in general she still responds even if we go days without giving her anything in return for her obedience.

Now that we have another chinnie, we'd like to similarly train her with very small raisin portions...on purpose this time...

 

[greychins]

That's neat! Although, I would personally use healthier treats like some oats or a rosehip...

I don't think my chins would ever catch onto anything like this, no matter what they got as a treat lol *rolls eyes*

 

[Brandon]

I accidentally trained Binx. When I take the oats tin out of the cupboard, it naturally makes the oats rattle. Well, everytime I rattle the oats tin Binx beelines straight for me and if he's in his cage he'll hop up on the shelf, stand on his hind legs and beg like crazy!

They really catch on!

 

[Jyss]

My chins all run to the edge of their cage if you say the word "Treat". It's really neat and a bit handy when trying to take them out.

 

[alli713]

I think it's possible, like you did for your first chin, just with positive reinforcement, they will learn to do something. However from now on I would use oats or a cherrio. Raisins are not good for chins at all. Even half of one. There's way too much sugar in a raisin

 

[Chinzilla]

If raisins seem so horrible for chins based on all of the responses I'm seeing then how come virtually every site I went to and every book I read recommended them? I thought I did my research about what was safe and what wasn't and now I feel stupid.

 

[alli713]

Don't feel stupid. Many people when they first start out feed raisins and other things that they really shouldn't. Honestly, books aren't written with the correct info. Many times they're written and the info is out of date but they just re-publish the info.

As far as why raisins are bad for chin since I don't want to just say they are cuz I said so...
Chins are hind gut fermenters meaning that in their gut, they use bacteria to assist in digesting their food. Throwing a bunch of sugar in the system screws up with the bacteria. When there is too much sugar, it actually kills the bacteria.
Not only this, but raisins are known to be toxic to dogs and cats, so many people like to err on the side of caution by not giving them due to the toxicity of them to other animals.

There are other safer treats.

When looking at the science of why raisins are bad, it only makes sense to not give them. In many cases, I think whoever wrote the books didn't really do any research

 

[3CsMommy]

I did something sort of like this with Crash (our younger chin). He had a bit of a biting problem during the introduction period with Cervantes, so after ignoring it/refusing to react didn't stop him, I started making the 'ahht ahht' noise people often use for small children trying to touch electrical outlets etc.

The first time I tried it was after he bit down pretty hard, so I made the noise, and he jumped backward and froze for a second. A few minutes later he gave me a test bite, where he just very gently put his teeth on my finger and then moved away, but since there was no pain, he didn't get the noise. So, he tried again, a little harder, but still no pain (more like the regular grooming nibble) so still no noise. The third time he did it, he bit down hard enough that I knew it would frighten/hurt a small child or someone who's not familiar with rodents, so he got the noise, and he stopped.

Eventually he came to ignore it and tried to bite hard again, so I added tapping a finger near his nose to the noise (a positive punishment, for the psychological term), and again he stopped. He's to the point now that I can be 5'-6' away and if I make the noise, he stops whatever he's doing to look at me. My best guess is that it sounds enough like one of their natural sounds that it translated well into "chin-ese".

 

[Spoof]

Chins are very intelligent and easily trainable.

Taught Spoof to come (clucking noise, like you use with a horse) dance (dance) and sit (sit).

They like repetition and catch on very quickly.

Based on my experience you don't need to do anything if your two chins live together.

Got two girls for Spoof, by the end of the first week, they were coming to the clucking noise too. Quit doing it when I got up to 7 (separate cages), they learned it from each other from across the room and one started shaking a cage door.... the result was noisy.

Hadn't seen Doughboy in two years, and he still remembered and came to his name when I visited over Thanksgiving. They have long memories.

 

[Lauren_201]

All three of mine come when I call their names. They know the difference between being asked if they want a stick or a treat (I use old fashioned oats as treats. NOT the quick kind). Jinx actually prefers to have an apple stick to having a treat. Berry knows what "get down" means. If Chloe is out and I ask her if she wants to "Go" she runs to my leg and stands up waiting to be picked up. All 3 know "NO!" very well. LOL

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

Mine will go back to their cages on command - when i point and say back. I didn't intentionally teach them and i've got a feeling it's only because they want to go back.

I wanted to train mine, as a psych graduate, i'm fascinated by animal assosication - but every time I tried, they refused to co-operate.

Moral of the story is - They are extremely clever and extremely stubborn. I'm convinced mine will only learn something if they want to.

 

[MeganS]

harley will start chewing on the edge of the counter that his cage sits on when i let him out to play and i say "HARLEY, NAUGHTY BOY" in a stern, but not loud voice and he stops and looks at me like hehehe i was just making sure you were watching me. such a little sh**! but he's sooo cute!

 

[kendra]

Ferdinand was accidently trained to the sound of the workout tapes, he generally gets a playtime after I workout- so now anytime he hears the tape he starts bouncing around his cage (pretty funny when it says something like relax, followed by Ferdinand crashing in his cage!)