nocturnal wonder

[Shirlz]

my dad and i just built a monster cage for my chinchilla moose. she is probibly the happiest chin alive. it is five feet high and five feet long, complete with shelving and toys galore. one problem, the only place the cage would fit was by my bedroom door in the hallway. sadly, we did not remember chinchillas are nocturnal. it was like sleeping next to kujo. is there a way to make my little bundle of fun...actuallly sleep at night? ANY SUGGESTIONS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. becuase...we cannot move her cage...and i cannot sleep at night...

 

[Chinniechantel]

Nope, not going to happen. They are nocturnal animals, and will always sleep during the day and play at night, no matter what you do. What is making the most noise?

 

[lauralynne]

Nope. The only thing you can do is maybe shut your door and put some towels or a blanket at the bottom to block the noise. They're nocturnal by nature, and although they do adjust some to our schedules, I've not seen one sleep at night and be awake all day. Simply Sleep by Tylenol for you.
You will also adjust to it (hopefully). It's like living by railroad tracks or a busy city where you here sirens and street noise all night. You get used to it and it impacts your sleep less and less.

 

[Rickman]

Is there a carpet beneath the cage? If it's right next to the wall, and hitting it when your chin is active, try a piece of wood between the cage and wall to strengthen the cage, or if it's a solid back, an old piece of carpet or a cheap sample will insulate noise!
Or just leave your T.V. on!

 

[Chinniechantel]

You can wrap noisy parts of the cage in fleece, or as Rick mentioned you can use wood to prop things if there is a squeak. Or, you can take out the wheel at night if you really have to, if that is what is making the noise. I even got used to it when I lived in a studio app, and I can't sleep ever! You get used the noises and soon you will wake up in a panic if they are not jumping around.

 

[Stackie]

Ear plugs are a cheap and great investment

 

[Sandi]

Can you get an air cleaner for your room? They sell them at Wal-Mart starting at $40 by me and my girls can now sleep through some of the massive thunderstorms that we have. Before the air cleaner/purifier, they would run into my bedroom every time it thundered and now they don't.

 

[Jovi]

I was going to suggest same thing.. get an air purifier. My kids sleep thru anything with it and my mom was having a problem with noisy birds and i suggested the same thing and it solved her problem. Just keep it on the high setting. You will have cleaner air too !

 

[jess_w]

I have heard of people managing to reverse the sleeping patterns of chins, but it would require a lot of work and it wouldn't be fair to the chin as you would have to sit there and keep it awake during the day. It might also be possible to confuse the sense of night/ day using lighting... if you kept them in a dark room during the day and a light room during the night they may think day is night.

However I don't really think it's fair to your pet to do this to them. You should really have foreseen this problem. Other people have suggested some good ideas for trying to buff the noise a bit by taking the wheel out/ using fleece/ earplugs, etc. I would try those things first.