Barking Chin at Night

[hallehall]

I've had my chin for about a month now, and he'll occasionally (every few nights) bark maybe five times then completely stop for the rest of the night. Last night he got minimal play time (15 minutes) and went on a barking frenzy around 2 am... like wouldn't stop for five minutes. I would go out and check on him but he was really reserved and didn't want to play. I ordered him a wheel today because I think he's been bored at night, even though he has a huge cage and lots of toys. Will the wheel help? Was he maybe frightened by a noise? I can't have him doing this every night.... it's jeopardizing my sleep!!

 

[kraucci]

Do you mean the "distress" type bark? Mine does that, but he apparently learned far too fast that he can get my attention asap, so he'll be completely fine sitting somewhere and make the noise. I feel like I'm facilitating a Pavlov's chinchilla situation often!

 

[LYChinchillas]

Generally some chins will be more vocal than others. As long as your chin is healthy (not losing weight or suffering an injury), in my experience, it's got very little to do with how happy they are or how entertained they are in their cages; the squeaking and barking can be characterized more like a personality trait. It's super cute to me, but then again I'm a really heavy sleeper.

 

[hallehall]

It was definitely the "distress" noise- the "warn the herd noise." My roommate told me there was a cat around our front porch, and I vaguely remember hearing the cat meowing. He has been completely silent the last two nights so I'm hoping he was just scared by the cat and therefore making the distress call. Normally when he makes the noise, attention will soothe him. Since he wasn't wanting me to interact with him that night I'm assuming my lil guy was just terrified of the cat's presence!

 

[Mishewwie]

I have two female chins and one of them is much more nervous than the other, and she's the one that usually barks at night. It's only about once a week, and I think she just hears something that she thinks could be threatening, because otherwise there's no reason for her to be barking.

 

[ljiayi]

Your chin might just be spooked by something that he/she saw/heard. Like what LYChinchillas have mentioned, as long as your chin remains healthy (i.e. monitor his/her diet, weight etc.), you need not worry much