constantly crying

[WhiteTree]

I got my male mosaic, Scamp, in September when he was about four months old so I expected him to cry and make a good deal of noises being in a new place and being young. He's now ten months old and has been with my seven year old male, Andy, since Halloween. He still cries and makes a whole loud array of noises constantly. He actually wakes up my parents at least once a week with his barking. I don't know what upsets him so much and I wish I could comfort him. He does it all the time though, when I'm sleeping, when we're playing in the bathroom, when no one's in the room, or when we're just laying around watching tv he just starts crying. And he's LOUD, he'll wake up the whole house, his cagemate doesn't even flinch though, Andy will sleep through it. How do I comfort him? He's really warmed up to us in the past two months, he went from hating me and giving me the look of death to wanting to be held and climbing all over me. Does anyone else have an extremely vocal chinchilla?

 

[Diva Chins]

My sisters, I can't figure out which one it is, well one of them constantly barks. Just randomly.
Some nights I'd wake up to one barking, get scared that one of them had a nightmare, but they did it when they weren't asleep as well, just random.
Doof would bark occasionally, I think she had a bad dream, and I'd pick her up, snuggle her, comfort her, talk, and she'd relax.

 

[Laurie]

I really don't think it's a comfort thing. My chins do this as well. I work 3rd shift so I sleep during the day as do my chins and a lot of times I'll wake up to hear either Mick St. John, Bobo or Bronwyn calling out. Leonard does this at night while I'm sitting right next to his cage with him. I really don't know why they do it, but I've tried to call to them, stand right next to them and comfort them and they still do it. It's like they just want to do it for some reason.

 

[whimmus]

I have 5 chins in the same room and once in a blue moon, one will start a cascading chin siren. I've got a quiet place and I've noticed some evenings when the neighbors bang a wall or there's a sudden sound outside, one or two will start barking.

They seem to be able to differentiate local and familiar sounds (such as in the room or from a cagemate) and distant/outside sounds, which also often tend to be lower frequency. This is likely a survival trait. Chins are food in the wild, after all, and distant/encroaching sounds often means they're on the menu.

Are you in an apartment, condo or other shared living space? Is there a heat pump or air conditioner that comes on suddenly now and then? Near a road or train tracks? Vibrations of any sort on the floor freaks out one of my chins and all of them will notice it.

BTW, Diva: "Doof" is just about the coolest chinchilla name I've seen. No single syllable word I've seen yet does a better job of capturing what a chinchilla is. Kudos.

 

[JennyBug]

Minnie will sometimes cry out, but it's when she's had a nightmare. Maybe he is doing something akin to a child randomly screaming? I will be interesting to find an answer. As long as he is healthy, he's in good shape. Hopefully it's something he will grow out of...

Good luck!

 

[chinniecrew]

I have a bunch of chinchillas in one room. Over a year ago one of my chinchillas broke his leg, so now I'm sensitive to chinchilla cries at night. When I hear a distress call, I usually go rushing into the room, and they all look at me like I'm psychotic.

 

[Tillygizmo]

Some chins do it in their sleep because they are having nightmares. They say chins who had a bad past may do it more often. Oddly enough, I have also heard that once in awhile a chin will sleep with their eyes open so maybe although they look awake they are having a bad dream (or day dream? if they do that). Just a proposal I suppose

 

[Diva Chins]

BTW, Diva: "Doof" is just about the coolest chinchilla name I've seen. No single syllable word I've seen yet does a better job of capturing what a chinchilla is. Kudos.

Ha, thank ya. Her name is actually Doofus but I call her Doof for short, or when she's being sweet (Very rare) Doofy oofy woofy pants. I baby talk them but it's just force of habit.

 

[Olallie]

@Diva- doofy oofy woofy pants!? *snort, snicker* heehee

My girl cries at about 8pm every night, dunno why, but she never fails.

 

[6Dusters]

I only have the random chin who has a daytime nightmare. Most of the time it stops when I say from another room that no one is going to get you. After saying that, the pitch of calling out gets softer and softer when I continue to say its alright. I've never had a chin who cries loudly or often. We are very quiet people at my house. The only time one of them would cry out during their waking hours would be during our tv viewing time. They hate women screaming or the building up of intense drama sound tracks along with the program. Once again they hear my voice and it quiets.

 

[6Dusters]

I re-read your post again. I remember some years back when we first got Jack he did really cry out very loud at night! ( its been so long ago I forgot that early experience) I rushed down to see what was wrong and he just stood there and stopped. I sat with him and talked to him a bit and went back to bed. He finally stopped doing it. Perhaps the solution is to go to him and reassure him that you are in the house at night when he barks. Sounds like he has bonded with you very much and calls when your out of his sight at night and he needs a bit more reassurance then his cagemate. He's a younger chin who has not heard all the sounds and such.

 

[Encantadora]

Some chins are more vocal than others. My first chin hardly ever made a sound, but Tristan cries every night in the early evening just once.

 

[Chuppie]

My chin will just do it randomly at random times. I usually just go near her cage, and comfort her.