New Chin Behaviour Questions

[Averie]

Hi guys! I just want to start off by letting you all know that I have been reading your forums the past few weeks preparing for my new buddy to come live with me (Miles the Chinchilla!) I set up his cage and got all his food ready and was able to pick him up January 2nd (2 days ago) So thankyou so much for all that help, there's a lot of great info in these pages!

I have a few questions, and I'm probably just overly concerned... I want him to be happy. He's got a big double critter nation cage all to himself and lots of toys. He's a little over 8 weeks old. Even after just one day he already seems very comfortable coming over to me and crawling up on my hand, last night he made the most adorable little... squeaky-like baby noises as he snuggled into my hand as I pet him gently and he fell asleep... I stood there for 30 minutes at 1AM because I just couldn't bear it in my heart to walk away from him while he cuddled me like that. It was the most adorable thing I've ever had happen to me in my entire life. :heart:

Ok, I should get to my question... haha. I'm worried that he's lonely... I spend as much time as I can with him, but I do work at home and I am out at work during the day. During night time hours It seems to me like he watches me from his cage, and as soon as I walk over and interact with him (which I do as often as I can) he will play and bounce around, but when I walk away he seems pretty still. The first night he ran in his wheel a bit and jumped on his planks treating them like diving boards. But last night he didn't seem like he was wanting to entertain himself much, looked like he was just waiting for me. What are the best toys I can get him where he will be able to entertain himself a little better? Am I just worrying too much? I've only had him for 2 days so I'm still learning his normal behaviours and we're still getting used to each other.... I just don't want him to be sad when I'm not there

I am trying to get him used to being out of his cage so I can take him out more, but he seems to get very nervous if his cage is out of view. He seems most comfortable with me standing in front of the cage and crawling on me then jumping back into his cage when he feels like it and walking back up to me. I play with his toys with him and stuff.

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

Here's a pic of my little buddy

 

[Amethyst]

I would make sure he has a variety of toys, toss toys, hanging toys, and different types shredding toys, cuddle toys, and chew toys. If you are spending at least an hour a day with him he isn't going to be lonely, but at around 8 weeks he hasn't been away from his mom long, so probably misses her and any litter mates he had. Once you've had him a bit longer he will get use to the schedule and know when you are coming back, and will likely sleep while you are gone, and be at the cage door waiting when you normally come back, chins do great with schedules. You can try giving him a cuddle buddy to sleep and play with, some chins love them others could care less. You can either make your own, basically a fleece pillow stuffed with fleece, or buy one online shaped like a chin. Some other cage things you can add are tunnels, hammocks, multiple houses, and bridges. If you check out the Ferret Nation Club (they are just like the CN but with different bars) thread you can get more cage ideas.

Another thing, a kit under 6 months should not have a wheel in the cage yet, they can over do it. Kits don't seem to have enough smarts to know when to stop, same with out of cage running around and it can lead to weight loss, low blood sugar, seizures, and death. You can hold him and play with him in the cage, or even near the cage but for no more then 5-10 mins a day of actual running around. Right now it's best to work on cementing a good bond with him, so in the cage is best which allows him to climb on you and retreat to the cage as he likes. You need to be patient and go at the chin's pace, once he if he isn't comfortable going away from the cage yet, don't take him too far from the cage.

 

[Averie]

@Amethsyt, Thankyou for responding. I think he is missing the other chinchillas he used to live with. I was thinking about getting him a cuddle buddy type toy and sticking it in his little hay tunnel that he goes into when he wants to sleep so he can cuddle with it.

I did look at that forum when I was deciding what kind of cage to buy. I bought quite a bit of things for his cage, like a house, a tunnel, a hammock, lava ledges, chew toys, the bottom is aspen bedding and the top is fleece, I also give him paper towel rolls and stick his toys in them whenever I'm there and then he has fun rolling it around getting them back out again when I'm gone.

I wasn't aware that kits could over exert themselves... I'll be careful about that. I'm working on creating an open area in my small studio apartment that is 'chin proofed' so he can run around somewhat freely but it's still a work in progress. Should be able to have him run around a bit by next week, I plan to get things finished by the end of the weekend. (I've got kitchen cabinets in my apartment that don't reach the bottom of the floor so I gotta get that closed up)

From what you've said it seems like my instincts are pretty ok so far. I do mostly just stand in front of his cage to play with him and he seems to like that. I only try to do what he seems to want to do and it's been really rewarding so far. I love this little guy so much.

 

[Averie]

Oh I'm sorry I meant to ask in my other post, any suggestions on where to buy toys? So far I've bought everything from Dr Foster and Smith's website. I feel a little sketchy buying from Amazon (but maybe I shouldnt?), and my local pet stores have a lackluster toy section for small animals...

I don't really have anything that he can shred to bits if he'd like to. What kind of shredding toys can I get him?

 

[Godofgods]

http://qualitymutationchinchillas.com/home.html
http://www.nwichinchillas.com/suppliesforsale.htm
http://www.rondaschins.com/
http://fuzzieskingdom.com/