New boy plays dead?

[Cheknnudol]

Saturday night I picked up a 6 month old chin named Muad'Dib from a craigslist seller and kept him in the carrier over night. He seemed very stressed out from the car ride so I didn't really want to move him yet, plus Brock was in the temp cage I was going to use as I hadn't full cleaned the main cage yet. Well, yesterday Brock got moved and I completely cleaned out the temp cage (bleach water solution, long air dry, all new everything else) and put Dib in there on a desk outside my room with a new hammock, one of his chew toys from the previous home, and obviously food and water. He's been really skiddish the whole time so aside form some noise of him rearranging the furniture, so to speak, he tends to just hide and not make much of a spectacle of himself.

This morning before my shower I saw him hop into the hammock and drift off to sleep, but when I got out of the shower and walked back to my room his head was hanging out one side and his eyes were wide open. I squatted down to eye level with him and spoke a bit because he looked darned silly, and for once he didn't even move when for the past couple of nights he has been kacking at me and quite scared. For a few minutes i tapped gently at the cage bars and said his name, even reached through the bars to play with his little tail. No reaction. I undid the clips on his doors to the cage - which usually makes him run because it's rather loud - and he didn't move or even blink. I was so so scared that he had gotten ahold of something or that my nephew had put something into his cage that he shouldn't have, so i lunged my hand in and patted his butt, and VROOM! he screeches out of the hammock, away from my hand, and hides under a shelf.

Silly boy was playing dead so I'd shut up and let him sleep

Do any one else's chins pull this silliness and scare the crap out of you?

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

He is acting pretty normal. Sounds like you are doing a good job with him.

 

[Cheknnudol]

ha thanks... why do chins act so weird? I've heard of people's chinnies stopping and doing similar junk during playtime. But why when they're just chillin inside the cage? So strange...

 

[alli713]

Haha yeah, they like to scare you! One time when I went on vacation to Hawaii my boyfriend was watching Chibi and Mei for me (back when I only had 2 lol!) and he said that one time he went into the room and Chibi was honestly laying upside down on the cage floor. So obviously he freaked knowing how much I loved my Chibi and thought she was dead! And he sat there and tried talking to her but she wouldn't move.
So then he poked her and she woke up. Silly thing had been sleeping upside down for some reason.. I have yet to ever see her do that again and I think I'd freak out if she did!

Congrats on your new chin! )

 

[S & C's Chin]

My boy Edward scared me one night. I would have bet money he was dead - I had even started crying, but once I started to pick him up, he kacked at me and jumped back onto the shelf. I shut the cage with a few choice words.

 

[jfleenor2]

Silly chins! When my chinnies do that I focus in on their breathing. Just look closely and watch, and you'll see the little regular respirations. I've been scared a few times, now I watch their breathing.

 

[Rebecca]

They scare me all the time, but that's usually a result of my paranoia and idiocy rather than their own faults.

 

[lindsay1980]

One of mine scares me all the time. He will lay on his back feet in the air and not move no matter how much noise I make....lol

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

Some of mine do that. Maverick and Gizmo (both beiges actually) seem to do it the most though. Shiloh does it on occasion.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

luckily I only have one chin that does that, and only as of recently...


I've learned to just keep walking when I see his belly move from breathing...either way, my heart drops a little every time he lays like that

 

[Cheknnudol]

Well it's good to know at least that I'm not being singled out for torture!

 

[Cuddlebug]

Nope, your not. I have 6 chins and they all "play dead". Bamm Bamm is the king of dead. He will plop down on his side at one end of a shelf, and then pull himself along the bars of the cage 'till he gets to the other corner. Then, he goes perfectly still. If you ignore him, he will pop his head up every couple of minutes to see if you are looking and then go back to dead. He keeps this up until he gets attention or falls asleep. It's a real riot.:rofl:

 

[Cheknnudol]

Cuddlebug: I DEMAND a video of this!!

 

[Sasha]

Oh man that would have given me a scare too!

 

[HaleyGoBoom]

Kingston has done that, just falls over and lies there for no reason v_v

What he does the most is just freeze, I can poke at him and pick him up and he's awake but wont budge, then after a bit he'll wake up and be all normal again wondering why I'm touching him. Its weird.

 

[Mystic]

Lol I have been lucky. None of my chins have ever done this to me but I think I would have about had a heartattack if they have!!

 

[PaperMoon]

Cuddlebug: I DEMAND a video of this!!

hahah I second that!!!:laughitup:

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

One of my boys has suddenly taken to sleeping on his side doing his best dead impression since he lost his cagemate - I think maybe he just likes to spread out now he's got the room.

I had a guinea pig who would sleep with his head on the side and his eyes wide open - it was terrifying.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Cuddlebug: I DEMAND a video of this!!

Unfortunately,none of my chins do the really funny stuff when the camcorder is handy. I'll see what I can do. Maybe the hubby can get it on his phone.

 

[BenD188]

So this is normal... good. Haha my chin started to do that and I was worried. I snuck up on him earlier to find him completely on his side with his legs almost sticking out of the cage.