zombiezeatbrain
Philosophically inclined?
Today I took my sister to get a 7 year old male pink-white chinchilla from someone who had an ad on craigslist claiming that if someone did not pick him up then they were going to take him to the pound. The people gave the chinchilla to us free along with a free cage and all supplies they owned. (I am an experienced chinch owner) so the cage is rather spacious, but I've found his behavior to be strange- and rather disturbing. He walks around his cage on hind legs, back and forth, back and forth. continually. then he goes up to the second level and does the same thing. When I tried to pick him up after he had been inside his cage all day, he made strange squealing noises that I had never heard coming from my or any other chinchilla. I left both cage doors open and he remained in his cage pacing back and forth on hind legs. However, he came out when I held the ball that the previous owners gave us to his cage. My conclusion is that the only time they would let him out of his cage would be in the ball (aka death ball) that they gave us with his other supplies. He walks around on hind legs continuously and runs into everything. He does not know when my hand is in the cage or not because he doesn't respond to it at all, and he is guided along walls of the room he is in. When he rests he stuffs his nose into the corner of his cage and falls asleep. I am just very worried he may have severe spinal damage due to the ball and that he is blind (which really isn't something to be concerned about because I can't change that) but is there anything I can to do help him walk regularly on all fours again other than just stop using the ball completely? And is there any way to know for sure if he's actually blind?