A few behavior issues... one mean chin and one shy chin

[Isabella Whateva]

Ok so here's what's going on with my girls right now.
Banilly has lately been getting a little aggressive towards both me and my fiance. Every since we moved her into the FN (around the beginning of the summer) she won't let us pick her up while in the cage. In the old cage, the door was small, and we could kind of just hold out hands outside of it and she'd jump into our hands and let us hold her for a bit.

Now, if we open one door to the FN and she's standing on the floor, she'll bite HARD at our hands and then jump down. I always get upset about this cause she's on the top level and it's kind of a big jump. I used to just pull my hands away when she bit, but then I realized it was teaching her that biting gets her way, so now I use my hand to push her back a little while I close the door. She keeps biting me and makes the angry grumble sound (the first link on this page: http://www.chinchilla-sounds.de/wutzrn_e.htm). Sometimes if she's sitting on one of her top ledges, she'll jump into my hands like she used to, but when she's on the floor, she ALWAYS gets angry. She runs back and forth for a few seconds, and when I put my hands in front of her she chomps. This can be a problem, cause when we open the door to refill her food or hay box, she'll do the same thing.

Luckily, the room the cage is in right now is chin-safe, and I just let her run around for a few minutes before putting her bath or carrier down on the ground (she always jumps right back into both of them.) Sometimes though if I need her back in the cage right away (I'm late for work or class) I'll grab her by the base of her tail. This makes her SO MAD. She does the same noise at me. I really really, hate doing it because I feel like it's hurting our bond, but sometimes it's the only way to get her back in the cage.

Banilly has always been the "bossy" chin (as I call her) and has never been a cuddlebug, but she would always at least let me hold her for a few minutes before she got down to play. I also really need to figure out a way to hold her still; both the chins feet have been dry and Pudge had a cracked foot a few weeks ago. Putting on bag balm is an epic battle every time. Sometimes with Banilly I can't even do it, because she's biting and struggling so much.

Is there any advice on how to tame my beast? I love Banills and I miss being able to hold her. I know chins aren't snuggly animals, but this just seems a little different than her normal behavior. Nothing significant has really changed that could trigger this behavior besides buying the FN. I know us moving to a new house didn't prompt it, cause she started acting like this when we bought the FN in May (we didn't move til July.)

Now Pudge on the other hand is the complete opposite. She's kind of a snuggly girl and will let us hold her and put bag balm on her feet. The only problem is that she's SO timid. True, we only got her in August from Craigslist and she didn't really get much human interaction in her old home. She's just always skittish and easily startled. One of our fleece liners is a little too big, and every time it's in the cage, she pulls is up and hides under it for hours. Banilly is upstairs from her, and all night she jumps around on her shelves. Poor Pudge seems so scared and is always running and hiding in her tube. I just wonder if there's anything else we can do. Are we doing something wrong? I try to let her have play time a couple times a week and she seems a little more outgoing after it. Do you think I should try to increase playtimes, or do you think it will make her more nervous? The chin room is pretty big (12' x 12')and sometimes I think she gets overwhelmed by all the empty space.

Anyway, sorry for the longest post ever. I'm just so frustrated. I try so so hard to make these girls happy and I'm really worried about them. I want to do everything I can to have the best relationship with them possible.

 

[ChinnyMom]

maybe try switching the chins around? put ms meanie Banilly in the bottom and sweet timid lil Pudge in the top? without all the clanging and banging above Pudge, she might not be so scared all the time, and putting Banilly in the bottom may give her enough 'newness' that she might kick this 'defending her turf' attitude? can't hurt to try, eh?

 

[Isabella Whateva]

I was thinking about that. Right now I have a Bass pan in Banilly's upstairs half, but the plastic tray on Pudge's bottom. I can't decide if I should switch the pans when I switch the chins. I feel like if the plastic was on top, Banilly might be defiant enough to break in... but if I put the plastic in the bottom, Banilly would DEFINITELY get under there and chew it.... Maybe it's just time to order a second Bass pan...

 

[ChinnyMom]

or you could get a bunch of tiles to make a floor in either the top or bottom half of the cage and use your current bass pan in the other? nice thing with the tiles is you could put a couple in the fridge and have them be nice and cool for the chins in the summertime.

 

[Encantadora]

What else is in her cage? I've had chins turn less friendly when they had my two story wood house. By switching to a small house, they became friendlier and more active/explored more.

I agree you can try swapping levels with the chins. And the tile idea I'll have to try. I think more tiles will keep my fleece liners more secure and keep them cool.

 

[Isabella Whateva]

Banilly has three ledges, a hammock, a fleece tube, and then her hay box chiller and litter pan. None of these things are new, we've had them all for about a year.

Well, I ended up ordering a second Bass pan tonight. I have no idea why it took me so long to do so, I think I incorrectly remembered them being more expensive x.x

Anyway, when the pan gets here I'll switch their levels. Is there anything I can do for now to kind of reverse the damage with Banilly? When the cage doors are close, she's such a sweetie. She'll run up to the bars and nibble my fingers (nicely) and loves getting scritches. It's just when she sees the escape route she turns crazy

 

[mishellyshel]

i was also going to suggest the level switch. when i moved my chins around they had a very similar reaction. one even stopped eating and lost a significant amount of weight!

i stuck it out and was patient and let him and the others work out their issues. if my chins wont come out willingly for playtime they basically they are beat. i refuse to sit at their cage begging them to come out. i dont like to grab them. while i can get any one of them out in the event of an emergency in 2 seconds, i prefer not to frighten them by grabbing them. they all pretty much trust me by now and either allow me to pick them up, some jump right into my hands, and a couple i transport their house to the play area and they hop out. having a house with a solid bottom has definitely helped my more skittish chins.

i think just be patient with banilly and give her some time and hopefully she will adjust to the new surroundings. maybe offer her something small when she allows you to pick her up.........like a rose petal or a very small twig to help get her to transition.

 

[Amphy64]

With Henry (who did go through a stage of being a real brat), I refuse to let him out of the cage (he gets playtime every day for a couple of hours) unless I pick him up first. I pick him up from the cage (can take a while to get him), carry him to my chair and sit with him and fuss him for a few moments, then let him go as long as he's reasonably settled (ie. not biting). That way I think he accepts that I'm in charge of when he gets let out, so is more inclined to play nice, and it maybe also helps that it lets him associate being picked up with something nice, playtime. Of course, it did require me to ignore being bitten (and I know, it doesn't half hurt) quite a bit at first! Not reacting to his bites at all worked best, I found.

I also accidentally found out that having a clear signal of when I want to catch him and put him away really helps his behaviour. When playtime is finished, I'll use cardboard boxes to block off under the bed so he's easier to catch. He gets that the boxes being moved are the signal we're done, so feels more confident to come to me and let me stroke him the rest of the time, knowing that I'm not going to catch him yet. He was just being naughty because he was so intensely focused on playtime, and wanting to be out all the time, I think, he wasn't really being aggressive as such, maybe that's the case with Banilly.