greychins
NWI Chinchillas
So, recently got in a pair of male rescues. One of them can see fine, the other has cataracts. I would venture to say that the one with cataracts can't see very well, but that's just guessing. I had them both in a multilevel cage with the food at the bottom, no problems. Both happy and eating boys.
Well, some rescues get adopted so I move these boys to one of my regular cages (instead of one of the spare cages). So, the regular cage has the food bowl clipped to the side of the cage, up on one of the ledges. So... a day or so goes by and I notice that only one chin is up on the shelves, the other's always at the bottom. And thinking back, even in the previous cage, only one of the boys was "up," the other would be at the bottom. When this dawned on me, I put a second food bowl in the cage, at the bottom on the shavings, and the "bottom chin" went to town... leading me to think that he really doesn't ever get up on the shelves. The water was already at base-level (I don't like the bottles dripping onto shelves), so no worries there, and I don't have a problem feeding at the bottom....
Now, he will run on the wheel, and at playtime he runs around and doesn't exactly run into walls or anything, he acts like a normal chin for the most part. But... he stays at the bottom of the cage. I'm thinking this might have to do, somewhat anyway, with his vision problems... but I feel like he's got to be bored just sitting on the bottom. I know I've read about blind chins doing fine in a cage once they learn the layout, but he was in the other cage for a decent amount of time and I'd always see him on the bottom of the cage. Any suggestions as to how to get him to explore the cage? I mean, if he likes the bottom, he's welcome to stay there, but I would think that he, like most chins, would enjoy being up on the higher shelves and in the hammocks and stuff. Tips? Hints? Thoughts?
Maybe this is a matter of just giving him a LOT of time, and if that's the case, he's welcome to all the time he wants, I just don't want him to be unhappy if there's a way I can get him to explore the cage more.
Well, some rescues get adopted so I move these boys to one of my regular cages (instead of one of the spare cages). So, the regular cage has the food bowl clipped to the side of the cage, up on one of the ledges. So... a day or so goes by and I notice that only one chin is up on the shelves, the other's always at the bottom. And thinking back, even in the previous cage, only one of the boys was "up," the other would be at the bottom. When this dawned on me, I put a second food bowl in the cage, at the bottom on the shavings, and the "bottom chin" went to town... leading me to think that he really doesn't ever get up on the shelves. The water was already at base-level (I don't like the bottles dripping onto shelves), so no worries there, and I don't have a problem feeding at the bottom....
Now, he will run on the wheel, and at playtime he runs around and doesn't exactly run into walls or anything, he acts like a normal chin for the most part. But... he stays at the bottom of the cage. I'm thinking this might have to do, somewhat anyway, with his vision problems... but I feel like he's got to be bored just sitting on the bottom. I know I've read about blind chins doing fine in a cage once they learn the layout, but he was in the other cage for a decent amount of time and I'd always see him on the bottom of the cage. Any suggestions as to how to get him to explore the cage? I mean, if he likes the bottom, he's welcome to stay there, but I would think that he, like most chins, would enjoy being up on the higher shelves and in the hammocks and stuff. Tips? Hints? Thoughts?
Maybe this is a matter of just giving him a LOT of time, and if that's the case, he's welcome to all the time he wants, I just don't want him to be unhappy if there's a way I can get him to explore the cage more.