How to pick up without losing trust, barks, and nibbles

[sheilabeilabobo]

Hello. My chinchilla Pikachu is a sweetheart. I got him on Wednesday. He has never bitten me, or barked at me. When I open his cage door, he runs out with no problem. He lets me give him scritches, and lets me hold him.
The problem is that when I let him out for playtime, I let him run around for about half an hour before he needs to be put back in his cage. When I go to get him he either runs or he sits next to me and accepts scratches but when I try to pick him up, he zooms off again. I find myself having to pick him up by snatching him fastly (not violently of course, and I use two hands). When I manage to get him he is calm in my arms, and I pet him for a little bit and put him back in the cage. I don't want to ruin my trust with him by picking him up so fastly so my questions lie here. Oh, and I never grab him out of his cage.
1. Am I doing something wrong?
2. Is there something I can do to pick him up without breaking our trust?
3. Am I worrying for nothing?
OTHER PROBLEMS:
Last night, I had a friend spend the night for the first time since I got him. He has never bitten or nibbled me or anyone in my family, and I've never heard him bark. Anyways, me and my friend were sitting on my floor and her hand was on the ground, not moving at all. Suddenly he comes up to her hand and bites it! She snatched her hand away and said it didn't hurt at all. She also held him later while I was cleaning, and he never bit her then. Then, this morning at 6:00am he woke me and my friend because he was barking! I turned on the light and checked on him, and nothing was wrong so we went back to bed. I got him from a place where he was well socailized so I don't understand.
1. Was it a test nibble, or a bite?
2. Why was it only her that he nibbled? Is it because he doesn't know her, or doesn't like her?
3. Was he barking because I had my friend over and he didn't like her in the room?
4. It was 6, so no one was awake, so I don't see why he would be scared
enough to bark. Maybe one of us snored? Lol... why did he bark?
P.S. I worry to much.

 

[muzzyj]

Pepper barks randomly in the night too. They have very acute hearing so it could of been a car door or something that set pikachu off. As for the rest, someone more wise needs to help

 

[sheilabeilabobo]

Pepper barks randomly in the night too. They have very acute hearing so it could of been a car door or something that set pikachu off. As for the rest, someone more wise needs to help

It's alright, thanks for that!

 

[ChinnyMom]

the barking could have been from any noise that upset him. we, as humans, know what sounds are what (snoring, car doors slamming, house creaking, etc) but chins don't know what is making the sounds and due to them being a prey animal, they get scared easily when they don't know what is going on. i bet it was your friend snoring! lol!

the bite i can't really give advice on, since i don't have that much chin experience, but he may have just wondered if your friend was food or foe, lol. Rhino used to nip my toes whenever i sat on my shins, he'd sneak up behind me and chomp! hahaha.

i wouldn't do any more fast grabbing of him when you want him to go back in his cage. think of how a predator would catch a chinchilla - fast and swift!

being as you've only had him less than a week, i'd give him more time to bond with you, and schedule a long enough time for playtime so that he has ample opportunity to go back in his cage on his own, or put his dust house out and when he hops in, cover the doorway with your hand, put the house in his cage, and then uncover. i've had Rhino a little more than a month now and i'm just now able to pick him up during play time without him darting off, but that's only after he's run around my room for a little while and burnt off some energy. he won't let me pick him up in his cage, and always does the mad scramble across my hands to get out to play.

lately i've been picking him up when it's not the end of play time, giving him scritches and crooning 'good boy', then letting him go to play some more. IMO, this will make him realize that being picked up doesn't always mean the end of play time, and he'll come to accept being picked up and held better.

 

[sheilabeilabobo]

the barking could have been from any noise that upset him. we, as humans, know what sounds are what (snoring, car doors slamming, house creaking, etc) but chins don't know what is making the sounds and due to them being a prey animal, they get scared easily when they don't know what is going on. i bet it was your friend snoring! lol!

the bite i can't really give advice on, since i don't have that much chin experience, but he may have just wondered if your friend was food or foe, lol. Rhino used to nip my toes whenever i sat on my shins, he'd sneak up behind me and chomp! hahaha.

i wouldn't do any more fast grabbing of him when you want him to go back in his cage. think of how a predator would catch a chinchilla - fast and swift!

being as you've only had him less than a week, i'd give him more time to bond with you, and schedule a long enough time for playtime so that he has ample opportunity to go back in his cage on his own, or put his dust house out and when he hops in, cover the doorway with your hand, put the house in his cage, and then uncover. i've had Rhino a little more than a month now and i'm just now able to pick him up during play time without him darting off, but that's only after he's run around my room for a little while and burnt off some energy. he won't let me pick him up in his cage, and always does the mad scramble across my hands to get out to play.

lately i've been picking him up when it's not the end of play time, giving him scritches and crooning 'good boy', then letting him go to play some more. IMO, this will make him realize that being picked up doesn't always mean the end of play time, and he'll come to accept being picked up and held better.

Haa, yeah, I always put on fluffy socks because I'm afraid Pikachu is going to bite me! And Pika never lets me get him out of his cage either, which isn't a problem because he comes out on his own.
Thankyou for the advice, that will actually help me a lot.

 

[Isabella Whateva]

Nothing in your post seems out of the ordinary to me.
My chins bark randomly all the time for "no reason." It's no big deal, but I always try to reassure them that its okay in a soothing voice.
Although your chin bonded very quickly with you, he was probably just a little uneasy with your friend there. I doubt he was traumatized by the experience or anything. My chins always nibble on me and new people.

As for going back in the cage after play time- I have one chin who I've kind of trained to go in to her carrier when she's ready to go back in. She hates being held so she's kind of realized that's the only other way around it. My other chin prefers that I put the carrier next to the cage so she can climb back in herself. It just takes lots of patience and observation

 

[rutherford]

initially, i thought it would be a problem getting rutherford back into his cage after playtime as well. after some getting used to and bonding, he climbs onto my knees and jumps him when he's ready to go back inside.

what i did was during playtime, i'd sit and interact with him. i started with lying on my belly, and he'd crawl all over me and nibble on my clothes. then he'd start using my legs as slides and my arms as bridges... you get the idea. later, he realized that when my knees are up, he can jump on and climb back inside.

it takes time to see what your chinchilla prefers, as Isabella mentioned above. if he doesn't like being picked up, maybe see if other ways will work better. either with your chinchilla climbing on you or with a carrier or his dust bath bowl.

also, the nibbling shouldn't be a problem. when rutherford first met my girlfriend, he nibbled on her nails too. i think chinchilla often do taste nibbles, just to see if it's something they can nibble on. i swear rutherford never stops moving his mouth, be it hay or wood.

 

[tunes]

I vote #3. Seriously, your chin will not be scarred for life if you pick it up fast or even grab it out of the cage. I have 300 chins. I don't have time to coo and coddle and coax a chin. When I need to pick one up, I pick it up, end of story. If a chin gets loose, it's like the keystone cops trying to catch it. Most of my chins are completely fine once they are being held, but no matter what they are prey animals first, so especially if you come at them from on top (over the head/neck) they are going to spazz.

Relax and enjoy your chin. You won't cause him any harm by picking him up when he needs to be picked up.

Barking is also instinctual. Chins bark to warn the "herd", even if there isn't a herd there to warn. A rodent's hearing is much, much more finely tuned to sounds than a humans. He could be hearing all kinds of stuff you aren't. As long as there is no immediate threat to him, he's fine.

 

[Godofgods]

Some chins simply dont liek being picked up, no matter how close they are to you. My first chin was/is liek that. Even after all these years, he still dont like being picked up. I am fourtionity enough to now have their cages in their play area. So when theyre out and i put a ladder form the cage to the floor, theyve learned its time to go in. And they do on their own. And then they get their daily treat. If i tried to pick him up tho, hed still freak. Some are jsut like that.

As for him making noise, That could be a number of things. A sound hes not frimilar with, suddenly feeling uncomfortable or afraid in his envirment, he could have been having a bad dream (happens often), wants to get to another chin and cant, theirs a lot of reasons. Some time it appears to even be randomly. Just check on him, try to comfort him some.

 

[mishellyshel]

1. Am I doing something wrong?
NO. Chins are weird.

2. Is there something I can do to pick him up without breaking our trust?

Just pick him up like tunes said. he will be fine.

3. Am I worrying for nothing?

yes.

OTHER PROBLEMS:

. Was it a test nibble, or a bite?

sounds like just a little taste nibble, nothing out of ordinary.

2. Why was it only her that he nibbled? Is it because he doesn't know her, or doesn't like her?

just seeing if she was alfalfa tasting maybe?? its sorta like a handshake. he was saying hi.

3. Was he barking because I had my friend over and he didn't like her in the room?

he was barking cause he was a chin and sometimes they want you to turn on the light, scritch them and then repeat. sometimes something frightened them. sometimes they are warning the others. and sometimes they just feel like reminding you they exist.

4. It was 6, so no one was awake, so I don't see why he would be scared

he wasnt, he wanted you to notice him.
did i mention chins are weird.

i find during playtime the best way to get my boys back in their cage if they do not like to be picked up is to transport them in whatever box, tunnel or dustbath they are currently hiding from me in. one of my boys i tap the dust bath and he hops in for his ride back to the cage. one literally jumps into my arms. a couple just stand there and let me scoop. they rest go running for the hills and find a place to hide, i just cover any openings with my hand and carry it to their cage.

 

[Siany]

My chins randomly bark, i go over say hi and they go back to sleep

Also i have to pick my chinnies up quick because the chinnies will definatly out run me as long as they are supported no harm done

My chins are quite good now, my bf comes into the room when they have to go in, he says cage and they both go in (i think because they like him giving them a wood chew)

We used to have to chase and pick up quick before placing them in the cage otherwise they would be out forever.

I think it was probably just a taste nibble because it was someone new an your chinnie just wanted to say hi

 

[Eckish]

I have had my chinchilla for 2 years he still hates to be picked up. So, I usually don't.

Getting him back in the cage is easy, though. I only feed him his treats inside the cage and at the top shelf. I never give him any outside the cage. So, at the end of playtime, I shake the treat bag, and *zoom*, he knows where to be =)