Bored in Cages

[Chinnychinchin]

So I posted this a few days ago, but i assume it was too long for anyone to want to reply to. I'll make it short this time.
My oldest chinchilla is about two years old. She was allowed to play for an extensive amount of time when I first got her. The problem is that she refuses to go back into her cage unless it's on her own time. She refuses to let me pick her up and when I go to approach her she runs away.
When she finally goes back into her cage she just sits there and sleeps or looks bored. She has a wheel and plenty of ledges and toys. She used to run on her wheel all the time. Could it be that I switched her from a six level cage back to her 2 level one? When I let her out she tends to go explore the 6 level cage.
Any reason why she could be acting this way? :wacko:

 

[Siany]

Where is the cage, just thought about when i was intruducing my chins there wasnt enough light getting to the cage and they got quite depressed. Also i change their toys around and move ledges aswell and when playing out of the cage i find they enjoy me sitting with them and have tunnels and mazes made out of boxes to run in, i also hide a treat around the room for them to find

Hope this helps

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

Where do you have playtime? A lot of members here (including me) have playtime in the bathroom. That way it's not as difficult to get them back into the cage. A lot of people have good luck with the dustbath and cap off the end of it to transport.

 

[Chinnychinchin]

I have playtime in my room. The dust bath used to work as means of transportation, but she caught on and refuses to go into her bath unless we let her out and then she'll do it on her own, but even then she approaches cautiously. She will dust her face, and after approaching it many times she will cautiously hop in.
I also notice that she pretty much ignores my gf and I at all times. She only goes to her cage door when she wants to be let out.Other than that she wants nothing to do with us, but lately when my gf comes to play with the babies she'll go up to her cage as if she wants attention. It confuses me because any other time she doesn't want attention from us at all.

 

[rutherford]

rutherford has playtime in my bedroom as well, and my way of letting him back inside his cage is have him climb onto my knee and hop in. of course, i understand that your chinchilla might not want anything to do with you during playtime, but it's something to try.

in the beginning, he wouldn't approach me during playtime either. but i just lay flat on the ground, on my belly, and he got curious and started hopping and nibbling my back. soon after, he'd use my knee as a slide and a bridge. pretty soon, he caught on that if the knee was near the cage door, he could easily hop back into his cage. that eliminated my problem of trying to catch him and stuff. but rutherford is a pretty agreeable guy when it comes to the end of playtime, so it might not be the solution for your chinchilla. sorry i'm not more of a help.