New chin suddenly bored? Help please!!

[tay123]

Hi there! This is my first post to CnH, however I have been using the site for research for months. I just got my first chin in December and it was the best decision of my life! I love love love him. His name is Fireball and he is a four month old ebony. (Pictures attached!!) I recently switched him over to a new larger cage (Prevue Hendryx Fiesty Ferret with custom wood shelving to make it safer). At first my little furball LOVED his cage. I had never seen him so happy.. running, jumping, and playing with new toys. However, his behavior suddenly changed. It's like he is COMPLETELY uninterested in his toys. I've tried getting him new chews and "chewbular" rollers and he will play with them a little bit, but quickly go back to just sitting around. Additionally, he bonded to me very quickly (I think it is because I purchased him from the breeder when he was still so little), but suddenly he seems more reserved with me. Like he still loves when I come up to the cage and scratch/pet him and will groom me back a little bit, but he used to go absolutely crazy for attention like that. He would jump around and chirp until I came to say hi and pet him every time I walked into the room. I was so blown away at how close we were after less than two months, but then its like it just stopped! Nothing big changed. The only new thing is that I am in the process of switching him from the breeders pellets to oxbow (slowly.. I've been doing the mason jar mixing trick). I don't know if his chinnie hormones are just coming in or what.. but its starting to make me sad I feel like he suddenly is depressed or doesn't like me or something.

Is this common? I know all of you guys are super experienced with these little guys. Is there anything I can be doing to fix whatever is going on? I will honestly do anything! I just want him to be giddy and happy like he was before. I was considering doing toy rotations (a suggestion I had seen somewhere on here I think), because its almost like he is just bored with his toys.. but I don't know what new toys I can give him to make him excited again (as of now I have a small corner hammock that I made, hanging chew kabobs, two hidy houses, rainbow "fiddle sticks", and various wooden chews.

 

[dreenbmp]

Chinchillas will change over time,
Some chinchillas are just content sitting and zoning out for hours at a time LOL. Don't be alarmed, theres nothing wrong with him! Just make sure he is not loosing weight, getting weak, or is not eating or drinking.
Just make sure you keep taking him out as much as you can and bonding with him!
Our chinchillas go through phases too like this, they are less active in the winter, and when summer rolls around they are more playful

 

[ChinChild]

As the poster above me mentioned, watch his health just in case but otherwise it sounds pretty normal to me. I've got two chins, the first we got at 6 months old, the second we got at 4 months old; I've had a similar experience as you with out youngest chin, and from what I've read it's pretty normal for young chins to mellow out after a while. Your chin might have also just adjusted to his surroundings, so he's less rambunctious now because it's lost that 'new cage' feel. It's not as exciting without anything new to explore. Both my boys have gone through this each time we've switched their cages. I wouldn't worry too much unless there are signs of ill health.

 

[Amethyst]

From the pics your chin is adorable! But more importantly he's young meaning you are going to be dealing with puberty, think teenager with the mood swings and all that fun stuff, lol. He will grow out of it, but he is past the baby faze and some chins never really fully go back to the same as before once they mature, but the moodiness normally mellows. Rotating toys is a great idea, chins have a similar intelligence as a parrot (or roughly about a 2 year old human) so they will get bored with toys. I take apart and reassemble my hanging kabob style toys every so often, adding and subtracting toys, and also changing where they are hanging. Check out the vendors sites in the classifieds here, there are tons of interesting toys that people sell, willow balls (and other shapes), natural fiber rope toys, loofah, bamboo finger traps, stuff like that. I also like to rearrange the shelves, perches, and ledges in the cage too just to change things up and help bring back that "new cage" feel.

 

[sarah2000]

Im a new chin owner myself so know very little, only what i have read and seen off my own 2 for the few months i have had them. When i bought them i got them this weird wood swing thing they had in the pet store and my 2 spend hours on it. One just like to sit in it gazing into space but the other one really manages to get quite a bit of swing out of it, i have hung a loofa near it, and they sit in the swing and chew the hanging loofa.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/woodlands-climbing-wheel

This is the toy, thought i would send you a link to it, its by far their favourite toy