My two boys get out of cage time nearly every evening. Sometimes I get home late but they still get play time. However, they want to play a lot longer than I want to stay awake watching them. How do I get them to go back into their cages?
Barnaby is such a good boy. I just thump on the box I have in front of his cage door and he runs over to it, hops up on it and then goes into his cage.
Hugo is my bad seed chinchilla. If he doesn't go into his cage of his own volition by the time I'm done, I try to gently 'herd' him towards his cage. He loves to tease me by leaping up on the 'door step' of his cage, pretending he's comtemplating entry and then leaping off and dashing in the oposite direction. He is extremely fast! If Chinchilla herding doesn't work, I end up having to catch him: often by the base of his tail because he is too wiggly and strong to be caught any other way. Catching him is not easy and can be stressful for the both of us. Some nights, it seems impossible and I just want to say to heck with it, but I know letting him stay out all night could result in chewed wiring and fried chinchilla. : (
Also, Hugo knows all about the dust bath house trick and won't go inside if I'm within reaching distance.
Any thoughts? :?
Barnaby is such a good boy. I just thump on the box I have in front of his cage door and he runs over to it, hops up on it and then goes into his cage.
Hugo is my bad seed chinchilla. If he doesn't go into his cage of his own volition by the time I'm done, I try to gently 'herd' him towards his cage. He loves to tease me by leaping up on the 'door step' of his cage, pretending he's comtemplating entry and then leaping off and dashing in the oposite direction. He is extremely fast! If Chinchilla herding doesn't work, I end up having to catch him: often by the base of his tail because he is too wiggly and strong to be caught any other way. Catching him is not easy and can be stressful for the both of us. Some nights, it seems impossible and I just want to say to heck with it, but I know letting him stay out all night could result in chewed wiring and fried chinchilla. : (
Also, Hugo knows all about the dust bath house trick and won't go inside if I'm within reaching distance.
Any thoughts? :?