Do you prefer sweet or smart chins?

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Shana

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Joined
Mar 4, 2012
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18
I know chinchillas are intelligent animals so all of them would rightly fall into the "smart" category. But this year I've gotten two new chins, both females, who seem exceptionally smart or clever. They are super curious (aka busybodies) and want to check out everything. They also want things done their way all the time. For instance, my Shana has managed to reshape the walls of two wooden hidey boxes into perfectly identical shapes so that she can rest her royal chin on the edges. I thought the nonstop drilling (din) would never end but once she got the shape she wanted, she stopped. It's like she has a pattern in her mind and can reproduce the same shape each time on different walls. She also constantly makes me laugh with her creative sleeping positions and other antics.

I have other chins who are really sweet and placid but far less entertaining. I love all my chins equally, but the "smarter" ones keep me on my toes and are just so funny to watch! :laughitup:

How about you? Do you have a preference?
 
Well I have both. So I can't pick out one over the other. The sweet ones love to smooch and want to get the body scratch or ear rubs. The smart ones do clever things. Pull the metal cloth around a water bottle and turn it sideways on the cage as to chew up the black stopper. :banghead: And a few chew apple twigs down to toothpicks and throw them out of the cage onto the floor vs stepping on them later. Or pee on ledges so I have to spray them down. And wait for the paper towel so they can have a chance to chew on it as I'm trying to wipe down. Trying to wipe down with two is almost impossible.
 
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I like sweet chins... I have a super smart girl that is pretty antisocial, and a super sweet boy who is not as smart. But nothing beats that little guy running to the front of the cage, begging for scritchies and attention. :) Watching the girl navigate a room (she always starts by trying to get to the highest possible point) is fun, but she will not let you touch her more than a very small bit.
 
I think smart chins can be too smart for their own good. You know, the ones that you can see the wheels turning in their head and you instantly become nervous about what they have planned next. I prefer sweet chins since I am a cuddler. My chin, Tinkerbell, is a small percentage too smart for her own good, but mostly just incredibly sweet. That's why I'm head over heals in love with her!
 
I'd prefer sweet over smart, my 2girls, one smart, SUPER SMART! And the other one's super sweet, the smart one, Muffin will not miss a chance to escape out the cage, after a few unsucessful tries, she would have her bum towards me and pretend she's given up, then do an acute 180 and jump right out. It is impossible to clean the cage, I've thought of putting her into a carrier while I clean, but seems cruel so I've nvr tried...
I now have to clean their cage in the evening when she's watching TV, she's a TV hog fortunately, by when it's commercial time, here she comes again.
I hope she can mellow down about when she's older. She is still a one yr old kiddo.
My boys, compared to them are sooooooooo easy to maintain, they don't really care much when I open their cage door for cleaning.
 
I have two dumb jerks. They are definitely not smart and no where near sweet! It's a good thing they are so cute :)
 
Shana said:
my Shana has managed to reshape the walls of two wooden hidey boxes into perfectly identical shapes so that she can rest her royal chin on the edges. I thought the nonstop drilling (din) would never end but once she got the shape she wanted, she stopped.
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Doesha has done this with the window in his house. He has the perfect cutout for his chin, even his cheekbones. But the funniest thing is he only has small spots for his ears!! He is vain and thinks his ears are small. Isn't that hilarious? I love the smart ones and so does my family. The smartest one is my female Momma Chin
 
I like the sweet ones. Chichi can be sweet, but most of the time she is saying "Don't you dare touch or come near me" LOL. Tribble is just the biggest sweetie ever and Tia can go either way. They definitely have their moods. If they are having a bad day, stay away! lol!
 
I love Scruffy, since he is so sweet. He's not too bright, though. :hilarious: He is the only chin that I can let roam around my apartment while I watch him. He won't run and hide. He's sort of weird in that aspect, but it is a unique characteristic when it comes to the chins I've seen.

Nibbler is probably one of my smartest chins, but you can't touch him for more than a few seconds before he shakes his head and runs away.

Leo is crazy and very skiddish of any noises outside of the chinchilla room. You better hold the base of his tail or he will jump out of your hands at the sound of a car going by the apartment. He's pretty smart, but he's also nice.

Ramble is very timid, but he's nice. He isn't too smart.

Morris is shy, but sort of smart. You can hold him to a point and pet him on his terms. But he's a nice chin once he makes up his mind that he wants to be out of the cage.

As for Wiggles, he's sort of okay with being pet except near his hind quarters and doesn't mind being held, but he'd rather be out running around exploring.
 
my Rhino falls under the 'smart chin' category. he watches me every time i open the cage, like he's figuring out how to do it himself one day. he knows how exactly to scamper away when i'm trying to get him back in his cage after play time. he will look down and around when he's about to jump off a surface, like he's calculating exactly how to jump and how to land. he never rattles sticks against cage bars, always figuring exactly how to jump from shelf to shelf without jeapordizing his chewy prize. Rhino isn't the biggest fan of being handled, and seems to tolerate my attention because he knows those same hands give treats, lol.

Guss, on the other hand, is my dumb little sweetheart, lol. he loves his cuddles and scritches. likes to be held for quite some time. he will be running and bonk straight into things when he's not looking where he's going (which is often! lol). he either lacks the brains or interest to leap up onto things the way Rhino does when they are out of their cage. he'll rattle a stick against every single cage bar in his attempt to find a perfect spot to sit and chew it, losing the stick at least a few times in the process of getting there.

i guess i get the best of both, one smart and one sweet.
 
Jenn said:
I think smart chins can be too smart for their own good. You know, the ones that you can see the wheels turning in their head and you instantly become nervous about what they have planned next.
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Somehow I ended up with 4 of these. They keep me on my toes, but I wouldn't want them any other way!
 
I also have one of each. While I think Abby is still pretty smart, she's nowhere near the intelligence of Chia. I always say that Chia is not happy being a chinchilla, that she thinks there's something better out there to be, while Abby is perfectly content just being who she is. I love them both, but have an easier time dealing with Abby for sure! Sometimes Chia is just too much for me, and she stresses me out.
 
I've got one of each so it's hard to choose! I'd probably go with smart though since I think Ferdinand (the sweet one) plays especially sweet when he has something mischievous in mind. Chimney definentely keeps me on my toes though, finding the most creative ways to escape from his cage- including Mr. Don't touch me cuddling up to my arm to only have me go into shock so he could leap out! Gotta love em
 
Three of my chins are smart, one is sweet. The smart ones are amusing, but my sweet chin will let me hold her without running all over the place :p
 
Sesame is definitely one of those chins who's always plotting something. She's pretty cheeky, but can be sweet when she wants to be.

I was hoping that she would mellow out a bit as she got older, but now she's 5 and that hasn't happened yet. I don't think it's going to happen.
 
I don't know that I could choose one over the other. As far as the two chins I have go, I don't know that either of mine really fall under genuinely sweet though they aren't unfriendly. Certainly neither one snuggles, though suddenly Haltija likes the get scratched behind the ears and on the chest. He plots escape attempts when he's in the play pen, and if they fail, he'll run up the side of his cage if I don't provide my hands so he can ride up, fast enough. He can also unscrew anything that's screwed into anything else... which makes keeping his whole cage kept together a blast.
Domovoi on the other hand... I don't know, he doesn't do anything really... he just races around and around his cage if and only if he thinks I'm not aware that's he's doing it, and pretends to ignore me most of the time until I let him out, I am forbidden to pick him up, and he gets offended when I pet him, yet he's the one that rubs against me and nuzzles me when he's out of the cage. Shares his dust bath by sitting on my knees and shaking it all over me...Then snuffling in my ears if he can get to them.
 
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