Chinchilla Tantrums?

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PinayTohDoh

Active member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
39
Location
Everett, Washington
Does anyone else get tantrums from their chinchillas? I have one for the first time and I've had him for a couple of months but I noticed that if he wants my attention, I have this metal thing that you can put wood on, and he'll grab it with his mouth and smack it around so it makes the loudest noise possible until I come over and give him attention because he's bored. It's adorable and hilarious!

Also, I have separate bowls for his food and supplements, so the supplement bowl isn't attached to the cage, and if it's empty and I forget to take it out and it's on a higher level, he'll literally shove it off the level if he finds there's nothing in it, I watched him do it once. If it's on the cage floor already, he'll flip it over and shove it around the cage all night.

Does anyone else have funny or cute chinchilla tantrums stories? I'd love to hear them! :)
 
I got the most beautiful HUUUUGE beast of a girl recently who I like to lovingly refer to as "She-Devil". She has amazing sharpshooting skills and has even sprayed me right in the eye twice already... This only makes me that much more determined to make friends with her. THIS IS A SERIOUS MISSION I AM CURRENTLY ON! LOL

Anyway a couple times a day I will go up to her cage (while standing off to the side a bit as I have now learned my lesson) to say hi to her and tell her how we are going to be the best of friends...heh heh When I do this she will barrel towards me and at first I thought it was because she was trying TO EAT ME...but alas I have realized instead of wanting to eat me I am now beginning to grow on her (at least I think so). I have started to notice her coming over watching me as I tend to her neighbors (the girl next door has 2 babies so I sometimes hang out with them too). When I do this She-Devil will press her big chubby face up against the cage door and just watch and occasionally snort like a pig...LOL That is until I start talking to HER instead....THE BRAT! She plays like she is all tough heh heh...
 
Probably the most recent semi tantrum was a couple of nights ago, I gave both of my guys a hay cube instead of hay (I wanted to try something different because of some possible allergies). Well apparently Chimney did not like that idea, I put the cube on the shelf where I normally put the hay and closed the door. Chimney looked at the cube, then at me, then at the cube, back to me, then threw the cube off the shelf onto the floor (actually it hit his hidy hut and landed right in his litter box). I guess he was not too fond of the idea of getting a cube instead of loose hay lol
 
I have one that will pull the 2 hooks off the cage door to open it. I have a lock on her cage. She will also dig her pellets out of a coop cup and keep grabbing it until the coop cups falls off the shelf.
 
yup mine has the let me out tantrums and will sit and bang bang bang the door of the cage she bangs so loud you can hear it all the way down the house rattling the doors ..I cant believe its so loud !!!!!!!
 
My Zoidberg does the door banging when he is angry or wants to come out, we put a vice grips on the door to prevent it from moving. We've had Dale Earnhardt for just over 2 months and he has already picked up on Zoids lovely habit and started banging his cage door the other night! The thing that really gets me is that Dale is deaf and can't hear the racket he is making.
 
I have a whole line of chins that ring their treat trays for attention! They can all be traced back to one of my BV females, Jet - that girl drove me nuts for attention when she was young. Imagine my dismay when all of her offspring started doing the same thing. Some days they have a symphony going - luckily I can take my hearing aides out if it gets too loud! I just weaned Jet's great-grandson and lo and behold he became a treat tray ringer overnight! I heard the jingle of the tray coming from the baby side of the room and thought - that has to be Delilah's little boy and sure enough - it was! Luckily they grow out of it by around 3 years of age! Those are the only chins that do this in my herd!
 
Our boy Kokomo is suuuuuch a jealous little guy... since he and Kenai decided they hate each other and have to live separately, obviously they can't have playtime together (playtime is in the same room as the cages). If Kenai goes first at playtime, while Koko is waiting, he'll alternate between pulling up corners of his fleece liners (making lots of noise with the velcro), chewing bars, and sitting on a perch giving us death stares. It's gotten so bad that even if he goes first, he'll throw his little tantrum after he goes home, while Kenai is out! He'll also go nuts if Kenai gets a treat first, but that's more along the lines of ridiculously pathetic begging rather than tantrum throwing :))
 
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My boy, Severus is the tantrum thrower around these parts. If he wants to get my attention, he sits at the front of the cage and calls for me in his cute little chirping way. He has me totally trained now. Now, if it's the girls in the next cage whose attention he wants, he gets destructive. He pulls up his fleece liners, runs around in circles and dumps his food dish. Of course, they pay him no mind, but he still makes his little racket and destroys his cage a couple times a week. His cuddle buddy came in the mail today though, so hopefully he can take some of his frustration out on that.
 
My girls get verrryyyy upset if I offer something to them that they have deemed worthless at that moment... "Here's a stick" - *pushes it away with paws* "you don't want this yummy stick?!" - *takes stick with teeth, throws stick on ground, stomps on stick and finally pushes it or flings it away in disgust*
"blade of hay?" *uses teeth to cut blade of hay into confetti while throwing the pieces at me*
"yellow lava bite?" *disgusted look, stomps on it and flings it away violently as if it's poison* (pink ones they like tho! LOL)

I have this foot peddle type trash can that is used strictly for dust bath that I prop open when it's play time and the girls jump in and out to dust (contains the mess)
If I DON'T open it they jump on top repeatedly making the loud metal bang noise and glaring at me eat time until I open it
 
My Cesare is a bit of a drama queen, and will shove stuff out of the way if he doesn't want it. He also chucks stuff away from him in utter disgust.

The best tantrum he's had was a few weeks ago when he angrilly decided to move his cool block. This is granite, and he grabbed it with his teeth and shoved it out of the way. It was utterly hilarious, especially cuz he got so frustrated when it was taking so long cuz it was so heavy!!
 
Leo throws tantrums daily. He throws his sticks against the cage door, then hikes them under his body like a football and repeats. It's hilarious. He does it with his cuddle buddy too. It's like he is trying to make it escape. :laughitup:

Scruffy will bite and pull on the cage door when he wants out. He will shove things off the ledge if they are in his way.

Nibbler will push your hand away and shove sticks.

Morris loves to throw anything off the ledges that he does not want there.

The only two that don't really throw tantrums are Ramble and Wiggles. :hilarious:
 
I had a girl boarding with me for awhile. She had a big attitude. If I put her Blue Cloud rock on a shelf while cleaning her cage, she would shove it off with great force. She always aimed it for my hand or arm too. Dang those things hurt. She also disliked my placement of the fleece in the bottom of her cage. As fast as I would smooth it out, she would roll it up. If I reached to straighten it out, we would get into a boxing match over it. She didn't just box me with her front paws either, she would kick me with one hind foot too.
 
Oh gosh these are hilarious! I'm glad so many people understand. Daisy doesn't have tantrums in her cage, but she will sit as close as she can to me in the cage when she wants something, and she'll get stare, it's scary sometimes! She'll chew the bars as close as she can to where I'm sitting (my computer chair is like, 2 feet from her cage) and she gets really loud.
But her best tantrum is when we're on the computer during playtime! She will come up from under my fiancee's desk and bite his fingers while he plays video games! And my keyboard is on the desk so she just comes and steps all over the keyboard (She's doing it right now). She'll climb up above me and make a motion like she's going to jump on my head, and it terrifies me every time! 5ty <-- from Daisy
 
These are all too funny! I love the attitude my chins give me, because it just cracks me up.
When they don't want to be pet or scratched, they will push your hand away. When they don't want some toy or treat that you offer them, they look you in the eye, and shove the toy/treat off the shelf. That one makes me laugh the most, because they look so serious when they do it. Haha! :)
 
Silver Chin is the biggest tantrum thrower here, if I am taking too long in letting him out to play he digs up his fleece and wood shavings and diggs up his pellets. If I try to unroll the fleece again he grabs my hand with his teeth and tuggs at it. He never bites down, just kinda drags my hand along with him. If I let his enemy Sid out first for playtime Silver goes crazy, jumping around the cage, rattling the doors and eventually flipping over his little wooden house. Poor Sid only ever gets playtime after the other two because Silver gets so upset if he goes first, it's just easier to cater to his bratty nature than to try and change anything. Dragon is a timid little angel who hides under the fleece whenever Silver is bouncing around the cage in one of his rages.
 
Wicket, threw a tantrum when I wanted to take his picture last night. The two were cuddled together on one of the hammocks which I thought looked cute so I snapped a pic with the cage door closed. When I opened the cage hoping for a better pic, they both bolted. I still tried to get more pictures, but apparently Wicket didn't approve. First he tried throwing hay at the camera, when that didn't work he charged and grabbed the camera and pulled down. :laughitup: Do to the fact that I was trying to take pics have photo documentation of some of the tantrum :p I realize there is hay everywhere, they were napping after a hay party. Bazil was hiding behind a hanging chew toy in the back of the cage while his brother freaked out. :hilarious: The odd thing is Bazil is normally the bolder and grumpier of the two, I guess Wicket just woke up on the wrong side of the hammock. :laughitup:
 

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When Wakka doesn't get her way she will take all the loose toys (chew blocks, sticks and wood coins) and throw them out of her cage. She will even sometimes to go as far as throwing her food dish through the jump hole... She can be a little brat sometimes...lol
 
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