Black Velvets and Clumsiness

[corinajanelle]

Hello all,
My husband and I have a new chin, black velvet, 7 months old. He is adjusting very well to his new environment, despite the breeder's warnings that he is really "jumpy" and "may take longer to fully tame".
That being said, we let him have short playtimes in the evening when he asks, and put him back in his cage after about 20-30 minutes. He seems happy, and will occasionally wall surf a bit, but he is a very poor jumper, and knocks into a lot of things. Is this normal? I am worried about him hurting himself in his playful clumsiness. The other Chinchillas I have had experience with were both older and standard coloring, so it makes me wonder if the black velvet mutations have bad eyesight or something of the sort? Are there other specifics I should watch out for with the Black velvets? I've read something about excessive shaking, but have yet to see that with my boy.

Sorry for the wall of text, just very curious about others' experiences.

 

[Amethyst]

The color doesn't have anything to do with eye sight, genetics would, like if the parents have eye issues. At 7 months he is still growing though, and that can lead to clumsiness. Kits are notoriously clumsy, which is why they they should have lower cage shelves when young. Just make sure he can't fall far, like nothing he can jump on that is high. The only thing I can think of with bv chins is being part ebony they can take longer to reach full grow, a couple years. I've never heard of bv chins shaking, some chins can get seizures but that has nothing to do with color it has to do most commonly with head injury or low blood sugar.

 

[corinajanelle]

Ah, that helps, thank you. I don't really have any medical history for his parents, because the breeder I purchased from acquired him from another herd, he wasn't one of her kits. But it is good to know that part of his bumping into things could just be his age. I will watch out and make sure he doesn't have far to fall when he misses.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Another thing to consider is what he was caged in at the breeder's. If he was in a single level cage with no shelves, then he needs to learn how to move around in a bigger cage. Until he figures it all out, he will be clumsy and can fall.

 

[corinajanelle]

I think that the cage transition is definitely a factor, he isn't used to as much space as he has. Thank you both for the input!