New behavior after death of cage mate

[Asha]

In the last couple days, one of my chins Daisy has begun to dig through her pellets in her feeder and toss them all over the floor! She lives with Peach (her mom). A couple weeks ago, her sister Zelda was also living with them (she passed away ) Zelda had been removed from the cage during the time that she was ill (approx 2 weeks time), and neither Peach nor Daisy seemed to mind too much from what I could tell. I figured that it was good that they had each other and probably were distracted that way.

Anyway, I'm really not sure what to do with Daisy's new behavior issue. The other night, I filled the feeder and went off to bed. In no time, I heard the weirdest sounds coming from the chin room which is right outside my bedroom. It took me a bit to figure it out at first, but then I realized Daisy was digging and tossing pellets behind the cage until all the food was gone. What do I do? I don't want Peach or Daisy to get hungry, but its doing no good to keep refilling the feeder when Daisy keeps tossing all the pellets out! She does it quickly too, she starts doing this behavior within about 10 minutes of the food being placed in there so Peach doesn't even get to eat any.

Do you think they have realized that Zelda is not coming back? I've heard of cases where one cage mate passes and the remaining chin gets sad, but what about when there are three chins living together? Is this new behavior a sign of being upset? I could totally be reaching on that theory, but chins are pretty smart so you never know right?

On a side note, Daisy and Peach have both seemed to be more receptive to getting attention lately. When Zelda lived with them, Zelda was ALWAYS the first to greet me followed by Peach. Sometimes Zelda would nudge the other two out of the way to be first! Often times Daisy was more timid and would sometimes go hide, but not so much anymore. She always comes up to the bars now for scritches and actually seems to enjoy my presence more than in the past. She even grabbed my finger today and held it which she hasn't ever really done.

Sorry for the long post, just trying to make sense of why Daisy is acting up like this all of a sudden! This new behavior may or may not have anything to do with Zelda's absence. I really don't know because this is new! Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Chinessa]

My chin's pellet bowl is on the top level of her cage, there is only about a 6"x6" square opening where she can get down to the other levels. Sometimes, if I get home really late or I spend the night somewhere and come back the next day, she will push her entire food bowl down that hole and send it crashing down onto the lower levels, dumping all of the food out along the way. She's only done this once while I was home, but I had gone to bed early (she's in the same room as me). I was in bed half asleep and I heard this huge crash that nearly scared me to death! So, I assume she does this for attention. She will push her bowl around the top level when her pellets are low or empty too.

So, long story short, maybe your chin is just doing it for extra attention? She's used to having two other crazy chins to play with and a chin-momma to give her love, so I don't think it would be weird to think she's just craving more of that attention.

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

Could be doing it for attention, you might also want to try moving the pellets to a different location, having multiple bowls for pellets (see if she dumps all of them and cut down on the competition for food if Daisy is emptying only one location), and I would also check the freshness of the pellets, in case something happened to spoil them? That's about all I can think of. Are things normal in the land of poops and tummies and hay consumption?

 

[Asha]

That's a great idea Basket, I will definitely add an extra bowl of pellets to see if that changes anything. The pellets themselves should be fine. I haven't had them that long, but I'll double check/inspect the bin that I keep them in. I always keep them in a cool, dry place. They both seem to be doing fine tummy wise, lots of hay eating and poops to sweep daily! lol Due to the pellet dumping as of lately, I've been stuffing extra hay in the cage so there is always something for them to munch on until I can refill the pellets again after work!

Chinessa, when I had bowls for my chins they would flip them or push them off shelves too! Scared me to death too a few times! Then there was the issue with a couple of mine deciding that their food bowls should double as toilets :facepalm: and thats when I was like thats it! You are all getting metal feeders!

 

[Cuddlebug]

I would add a second feeder and raise them so that she can't sit and dig. Make her reach for it and it will be harder to dig and throw.

 

[landrk11]

I agree that this could be an attention getter. There are stainless steel feeding bowls that clamp to the cage that are available. It makes flipping the bowl or moving it impossible for them.

I got on for my little girl from Chinchillacity.com and love it. No more bowl flips and pellet messes.

My little one goes through phases where she will empty the hay rack and scatter it about.

Let us know how you make out with the 2nd bowl and if the behavior continues.

 

[Asha]

Those are some great ideas! I'm going to try raising the feeder higher I think. So far, I have added an extra bowl on the bottom level of the cage. It seems to work well from what I can tell, pellets are being eaten. However, Daisy is STILL doing the digging thing so I'm going to try putting the feeder higher. I woke up at about 3am this morning to her noisy digging! It appeared that she at least ate some of them first before proceeding to dig/throw them everywhere because there was less on the floor today. I've also been filling the feeder a bit less so less is wasted when she does this.

 

[Asterix]

Ha ha this chins drive us crazy. My male Pogo takes the willow sticks that chews on them and makes rides from the one side to the other hitting the cage bars with the stick to get attention :hair: I love him he is sooooosmart and he is just 5 months and bit:laughitup:

 

[Asha]

Aww Pogo sounds like a cutie! So with my girls and the feeder saga, the feeder is no longer being used!! Daisy wouldn't give up her digging so now everyone has bowls for now....until she starts flipping those too and then I'll probably pull out the feeder again! Hopefully by then she will forget about her digging habit! haha

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

Glad to hear that pellets are being consumed Sometimes my boys seem to rage out at their hay or pellets or a particular toy and the cage looks like a wrecking crew has been through the next morning!