Ampersand is a parkour champion and *loves* play time in our chinchilla-proofed bedroom. We have a solid routine, and it only took her about a week before she got used to coming out to play around 8pm every night. Shes all bouncy and excited and stares at us until we open the cage, when she hops straight into our hand, and once shes in the room she uses us as jungle gyms, so I know she enjoys it, and is relatively comfortable with us.
The problem is getting her there. If either of us holds our hand out flat, she bounces in and sits still while we lift her out of the cage, but as soon as we start moving she freaks out a little bit. If I try to hold onto her she flips around like shes in a dust bath and tries to bolt, if I let her stand on my hands or arm she just tries to bail. I'm afraid if I try to restrain her while walking the 20 feet from cage to bedroom she'll get hurt in her spastic twitching, but a 5 foot fall to the ground from her trying to jump before we make it down the hallway seems just as dangerous.
Any tricks to keeping them calm or more comfortable holding methods/positions? Or maybe ideas on why shes fine being held as long as the holder is standing still?
On a side note, I found that letting her stand on one arm while I hover my other hand over her head kept her calm while we walked, but once we were in the room she was agitated and wanted nothing to do with me, which was pretty unusual. I took that to mean she did not like it and haven't tried it again. Am I reading too much into it or was 'putting her in the dark' not a good idea?
Thanks much ^^
The problem is getting her there. If either of us holds our hand out flat, she bounces in and sits still while we lift her out of the cage, but as soon as we start moving she freaks out a little bit. If I try to hold onto her she flips around like shes in a dust bath and tries to bolt, if I let her stand on my hands or arm she just tries to bail. I'm afraid if I try to restrain her while walking the 20 feet from cage to bedroom she'll get hurt in her spastic twitching, but a 5 foot fall to the ground from her trying to jump before we make it down the hallway seems just as dangerous.
Any tricks to keeping them calm or more comfortable holding methods/positions? Or maybe ideas on why shes fine being held as long as the holder is standing still?
On a side note, I found that letting her stand on one arm while I hover my other hand over her head kept her calm while we walked, but once we were in the room she was agitated and wanted nothing to do with me, which was pretty unusual. I took that to mean she did not like it and haven't tried it again. Am I reading too much into it or was 'putting her in the dark' not a good idea?
Thanks much ^^
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