Chili the dancing chinchilla!

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Essentia

Essentia

Jax Chinchilla Rescue
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
4,312
Location
Jacksonville, FL
This is Chili, an adorable black velvet that came into our rescue two days ago. His friend who is trying to sleep in the background is Whiskers. He doesn't look too enthused by the whole thing. :p Let's just say that Chili has.....issues. Haha. He randomly just started doing what I would considering "dancing" this evening. It lasted for about 5-10 min on and off. Anyone else have a weirdo chin?

http://youtu.be/b6pddJNGkbI
 
My first thought was that it may be a neurological issue? But he acts like a normal chin other than this. He was running on his wheel in between the shelf "dancing" and the hammock "dancing", loves scritchens, has perfect balance, etc. He's a confusing little bugger.
 
Omg Peanut does that same exact thing except she goes to all four corners of her cage and does it. At some points it almost looks like she is trying to do a back flip. Crazy chins! IM glad mine isnt the only weirdo haha

And Peanut is perfectly normal otherwise also. I notice she does it when she is happy about something, like getting a treat or twigs.
 
They were kept in a large cage, but it broke, and considering they were already hiding the chins from the military they didn't bother to get a large cage again. For a few weeks they were in a smaller temp cage before being surrendered. When I say smaller though, it was about the size of a FN141, though a good amount shorter. I don't know if their were any ledges or anything in the temp cage. I know once I got it, it was just a cage with bedding. The cage was similar to this:

Prevue_Hendryx_Tubbies_Guinea_Pig_Cage.jpg
 
Hmm, I remember seeing someone say something before that they had a chin kept in a smaller cage, that did the same behavior. They thought the chin did that type of pacing out of boredom/lack of space if I remember correctly. When they moved him to a larger cage, he still did it.
 
He's super cute. Stack I remember the chin you are talking about I think he was a mosaic
 
Here's the thread Stack was talking about:

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25099

His movements do look very similar. My temp cages are smaller then the picture you posted Crysta. I keep my chins in them for a month over the holidays and they have no issues. Granted they get extra playtime, but still I don't think the cage you posted is that small.
 
My window to edit expired, but I just had a thought. While Chili's movement is similar to the other chin, the other chin looks a lot worse. On the other thread Dawn mentions a repetitive stress motion (comment 2). If you still have the owner's contact info it'd be worth seeing if he's done this before, or if it's a new development.
 
I thought that he just looked so happy to be in such a nice, large cage, and when he checked out the hammock, it was like he had never seen one.

I have heard that it's usually whites/mosaics that are "crazy" and do back flips, twirls and other antics.
 
I guess it could be due to stress since he's new here and it doesn't seem neurological, but he doesn't act stressed at all. He eats, sleeps, runs on his wheel, demolishes toys, etc. like any other chinchilla. If anything, he's one of the more social ones here right now.
 
Is there anything above the cage. He almost looks like he's looking at something. It reminds me of animals (dogs/cats) chasing a ceiling fan. Whatever the cause, it is one of the cutest things I have ever seen.
 
Perhaps it's just a quirk he developed along the way? I've never experienced neurological issues, but I'd assume that he'd be displaying other symptoms or have trouble functioning normally?
 
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