I chase my chin every day. Should I be worried?

[Drwin87]

3 months ago, my wife and I adopted our gorgeous hetero ebony chinchilla, Jon Snow, when he was 8 weeks old. We've done everything we could think of to be good parents: we converted an extra bedroom into a chin-proof playroom, I built him a four tiered cage that's 2'x2'x5' with a hammock, plenty of toys, a wooden house, etc., and we try to give him lots of care and attention. His cage is next to the TV, but he never seems to mind the noise.

A lot of information about raising young chins seems to advocate a very slow and cautious approach to bonding, but my wife and I didn't do this. We handled him, gently of course, immediately: carrying him from his cage to his playroom, picking him up and holding him to us regularly, etc. He doesn't particularly like to be picked up, but he doesn't fight us once he's in our hands. If I reach out and point my index finger in his direction, he'll crawl/hop over to it and rub his nose against it.

2 or 3 weeks ago we started letting him run around the house under our supervision. We'd open the cage door and let him run around our living room and even up the staircase and into the upstairs hallway. We close all the upstairs doors beforehand, because he really likes to hide behind and underneath dressers and beds. The problem I'm worried about is that whenever it's time to put him away, we have to chase him around the room. It's very difficult to catch him with just one of us; usually that involves eventually directing him upstairs into the hallway where he can be easily cornered.

I never realized how traumatic chasing him could be. It always sort of seemed like a game. He would breathe hard afterwards, but it seemed normal after all of the running and jumping. He never cries or squirms after we catch him and lets us pet him gently once he's in our hands. But after reading a lot of information on this and other forums, I've learned how damaging chasing him can be to the bonding process.

I'm not really sure what to do now. He REALLY likes running around the house. When it's not time for him to go back to his cage, if we're sitting on the couch he'll run over our feet and even occasionally jump onto the couch and stare at us. If we let him out for only a short time and put him back, or if we don't let him run around at all, he'll come to the front of the cage and stand up and put his front paws on the door. But I'm worried that the whole experience, particularly rounding him up to put him back in the cage is detrimental to bonding with him.

Is it possible for a chinchilla to see chasing as playing, or is it instinctual to find this threatening? Should we stop letting him run around the house, even though he really seems to like it? Is it possible to balance his view of us as the big, mean, furless things that chase him and make him go back in his cage with the view that we're also his loving, attentive parents?

 

[kalani.anela]

It is instinctual to view anything that may seem large as threatening, they are prey animals.You should not let your chin run about freely in your house, especially if its not entirely chin proofed. It does not matter if he likes to run around the house if it can compromise his safety. He might complain about being confined to one room, but it would be safer. Also, it sounds that he is under 6 months old? Chins under six months are reccommended to not have playtime, it makes them burn the calories they need to grow. Your chin is probably burning even more having access to the entire house.

 

[Dreamlite]

Your chinchilla should not have play time till he is over 6 months old. Preferably not till he is over 8 months. When they are young and growing they cant regulate their body temperatures or their blood sugar. So play time runs a huge risk for them to have seizures (due to low blood sugar) or over heat. With that said as he gets older you can slowly add play time but the best way to do it is in a small confined area so you dont have to chase him. Bathrooms are the easiest or you can use a play pen.

 

[Pepperpot]

I fully endorse the above posts. My two youngest males, brothers aged eight months are just starting to come out into our chin proofed chin room for supervised playtime, strictly no more than fifteen minutes at a time. Plenty of toys and things to do are provided for them, and when I wish them to return to their cage, I simply picked them up and place them in with a healthy treat. I have never chased any of my chins, rather I have had them come to me, and have never had any issues catching them. I do, however, handle each one inside their cage several times daily.

 

[LGarl]

Catching a chinchilla by chasing is practically impossible and potentially harmful. I let my chin out to play every other day in a chin proof room but not the entire house mostly because it's so hard to supervise him. Chewing walls, baseboards and other indigestible items can cause blockage and death.

The easiest way I've found to catch my chin is to time his dust bath for after a run-about. I have a little dust house with an opening on one end. I put it on the floor and tap and rub it to entice him to enter. Once he is in I block the opening with my hand and place the dust house in his cage, let him finish his bath and then take it out. Seems to work pretty good. He knows he'll be captured but he just can't resist. One time he didn't want to get in but wanted a bath so badly he started rolling on the carpet just outside the dust house! He's such a cute little guy, just love him to pieces.

 

[LYChinchillas]

I agree with the posts above - I suggest very confined spaces until older; bathrooms and closets are the best. You'll find that even though your chin may love running around all over your house, that you'll actually get to know your chin better in a tighter, safer space with your constant supervision.

 

[Amphy64]

I've had my chin five years, the only way I can catch him (he doesn't fall for the dust bath trick or anything else) is to kind of herd/shoo him into his cage or into an area that's a bit less open where I can pick him up. I wouldn't say it's outright chasing, I'm not moving that fast at all (which would anyway be dangerous with a chin, might step on them), am usually at floor level, and pause at times to let us both catch our breath, wouldn't shoo him till he was worn out. He's definitely not remotely scared of me (he only budges at all to avoid being put back, he's not bothered by being picked up otherwise), I think he gets that it's time to go back, sometimes he just grumbles a bit, and it doesn't affect how he responds to me - even as soon as he's back in his cage he'll let me make a fuss of him and take a treat from me, and he doesn't appear tired since he'll still bounce around and play with any new toys I've just given him.

I agree that using one chin-proofed room as a playroom might be easier (arranging a room as much as possible to be more convenient can really help). I think 'shooing' (rather than chasing, but it sounds more like shooing is what you're doing anyway, just over perhaps too large an area with a lot of hiding places which is making things harder) might be Ok though as long as you're careful, if other methods to catch him prove not to work.