Chin Puberty

[dragsil]

Does anybody have any chinny puberty horror stories? These past few weeks Dragon´s hormones are kicking in and he´s gone from being fairly nervous and skittish to an outright turd, he scratches frantically at the door to be let out and every time I open it he leaps straight at my chest, his cage is over 5 feet high and he tries to jump out from the top shelf, if my hand is in the way he bites it, he steals Silver´s sticks and treats, moves his feed bowl around the bottom of the cage, ripped a huge hole in his hammock and every time he is out he jumps onto the window ledge to eat the curtains and scratch at the glass of the window before jumping down and doing several laps of the chin room wall surfing every few seconds. My other two are nowhere near this crazy when they are let out so I´m thinking it´s puberty kicking in. He has plenty of toys and playtime, so fingers crossed he settles down a bit in a few months because he is being a little beast at the moment.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

My boy, MaveRick, went through it. He didn't the scratching at the door, nibbles/bites at my hands and and scratching him.

He went through it for awhile.

 

[dragsil]

Hahaha, I´ve heard it can go for a while, I only really notice what a handful he is when I am trying to clean their cage and Silver sits on the floor happily chewing on a toy whilst Dragon tears around trying to jump on things and pull up the tiles :S

 

[Chub_Chub]

Ahhh, chinny puberty... One of the reasons everyone should adopt adult chinnies! LOL My boys are especially bratty, they make as much noise as possible, throw their hay out the holders, bite us for being within reach, scrape the bars nonstop with their teeth, and just generally try to escape from anyplace they are being held in (playpen, cage, my hands). Bowie has finally calmed down a lot, but now our youngest, Pirate is starting up.. I have created little furry mosters, I swear!

 

[dragsil]

Hahaha, I agree with you about adopting adults, I don´t think I would want a kit after Dragon´s shenanigans. He was freaky weird during playtime today too, he spent about 15 minutes trying to climb up my back to jump on the ledge where his dust bath is kept and even attempted to jump up from the ground (it´s quite a high ledge) and when he realised he couldnt get to it he ran to a corner and started barking, I felt bad for him so brought the bath down but he then refused to go in it until Silver did first.
Chins! *rolls eyes*

 

[dragongirl653]

What age do male chins start doing all these crazy things just curious because Ozzy does alot of what you guys are saying. And how long does it last? lol

 

[Brittany]

Don't remember where I heard this, but I read on some thread that puberty can last until a chin is 4 - 5 years old. My oldest chins are almost 3, so I haven't made it to the other side yet, but here is what I've noticed.

1 male has displayed no signs of puberty (almost 3 years old), another male has yet to display signs (5 months).

2 females and 1 male all hit 'puberty' at approximately 6 months old. I noticed increased attitudes including the following behavior:

shaking/chewing cage bars
swatting my hand away
kacking/spraying when I go to catch them
re-arranging cages at night
Begging to come out whenever I'm in the room

I don't know how much of this is puberty, personalities just developing, or conditioned responses I may have unknowingly trained into them. One of my females was labeled a 'spit fire' shortly after birth. She's always been mischievous, and it has increased with age. I am interested to see if any of them mello out over time.

 

[dragsil]

I don't know how much of this is puberty, personalities just developing, or conditioned responses

Same! I didn´t know at first if it was just general chin madness or actual puberty but Dragon is about eight months old now and much, much more manic than my two and six year old and It´s gotten noticably worse this past week or so. He escaped from his cage last night when I opened it to say goodnight to them, lept down four feet and tried to jump on the window again :hair:

 

[sheena lee]

Chia's around 7 1/2 months right now, and about a month ago she became a huge terror. I mean dumping out her food and hay, lifting/dropping things ALL night, begging to come out, and swatting my hands away (but i find the swatting is cute). It has happened that she took an angry munch at my finger when I tried to pet her in her cage without letting her out.

I still think I've been pretty lucky over all. She's never once kacked or barked at me, nor has she sprayed, even when we first got her.

But that doesn't stop her from being a total PEST ;D

 

[Tillygizmo]

My new little one Magnum is 6 months and he is being a super terror...I love it because hes full of energy but he actually tugs my fingers sometimes and nips and leaps out of the cage lol

 

[Vcchinchilla]

i remember and was worried during a month ish which meimei was acting out
I was worried because he's not being himself... i didn't know how pin point it other then he was being bad

he flipped over things and i swear when he bit the corners of the wall during that time it was on purpose

usually he's too happy wall surfing or sliding around in the tub or playing with me

but nooo he's wasn't doing any of that, he bit the wall after i brushed his mouth away
if it wasn't that he came to nip me
not just any nip, it was bite and tug hard as he could get away with
and dumb me thought "oh look! are you being affectionate?? owowowow!"

oh and the best?!
i'm going to eat a pellet infront of you and drop the other half
and then take another one because i need to eat only the new pellets

-_-
at least that was quickly solved by measuring his food
such a princess -_-

and the cherry ontop was i finally got a nice wooden hay holder so he couldn't pee on his hay, i mounted it on the wall just high enough he needs to stand just a little
his royal epic pain in the butt ! SOME HOW peed on it

 

[tcraighenry]

Vincenza's been pretty good and I think she would have hit puberty by now. But I think she may be going into heat, after a month of not peeping at me she's started up again being pretty needy. But also alternately kacking and letting herself be picked up (she's in training.)

I think she may just be a little brat who wants what she wants when she wants it

But she's also doing the pellet thing. We got her a nice cup for her food and now she's picking out one, eating half and dropping it. And then new pellet! Same with her hay. Her little manger is full of half eaten stalks. It looks like someone took a lawn mower to it!