New chinchilla bumping into things?

[xcuteikinz]

I got a new chinchilla a couple days ago, she's 1 year old and she seems pretty healthy. I've noticed something weird about her, though. When I let her out to play, she bumps into things. Like, she may be running and then just run into a box or something. When we got her, her previous owners also gave us some of her toys, one of them being one of those exercise balls. Maybe that has something to do with it? I'm not really sure. One more thing I noticed is that her poops seem much smaller than my other chinchilla's. I'm not sure if those two things are related, though, but I thought I'd just throw that out there.

 

[chiaismypet]

I dont know much, but I DO know never use an exercise ball for chinchillas! They can overheat very fast and it is just very unsafe.

 

[Spodumena]

I've only had my chins for about 6-7 weeks but when one of them was out and about in his playpen I noticed he was bumping into things too -- just cardboard tunnels we had made for them. He'd shake it off and adjust his romping path, but it did happen more than once.

I found this odd because whenever any new ledge or shelf goes into the cage, they are very cautious with exploring distances with their whiskers. And once they think they have it down they tear around the cage with reckless abandon.

This is a complete guess, but is it possible when they're out for playtime they get too excited and don't take the time to properly assess their environment...?

I've read that chins don't have great vision (especially during the day) and that they're fairly near-sighted; most things are done with scent. So maybe it's possible that this might contribute to the bumping into things too?

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

chins have no dept perception so they have trouble figuring how far things are