Pushy Chinchilla

[Gemma]

I'm at a crossroads here, my one chinchilla is fine with whatever bedding I place in the cage..fleece or shavings.

Now her cagemate dislikes everything. The fleece - she frayed so I had to remove it.. she would lift it up and pull it around and disorganize the cage. Now with shavings - she kicks it all to one corner of the cage, til it spills out. Now I know chinchillas are messy - but I end up with ALL the contents of the cage on the floor. She also needs to constantly move the wood house I have in the cage for her.. its large, and she constantly picks it up - drops it - pushes it around. She EVEN pushes me around when I'm fixing up the cage.

How do I go about this "pushy" chinchilla? Any advice?


(follow me on instagram @megappl3 for chinchilla pictures! <- and the culprit discussed above!)

 

[becky12883]

Push back! You're bigger than her My guy Zoidberg is a pusher and he was a tosser too. He also tries to open his cage door all night long. He used to, and occasionally still tries to, pull the fleece up. We put a chiller in 2 corners, food bowl in one corner, potty dish along the back, and a heavy brick (patio paver maybe?) in front of the door. Now if he wants to pull up the fleece he's really got to work for it. As far as moving the house, we have our wedged in the corner of the cage, and Rufus will sit on top of it if Zoid tries to move it. So, Zoid has taken to throwing everything else in his cage, hay, pellets, sticks, poop. I can handle those with the vacuum.
As far as him pushing me, I really push him back. He used to push all the time, but now it's only when we try to scratch his chin or belly which he hates. Everytime he starts to push we tell him (in that adorable little voice you know you only use for the chins) "No pushy".
Hopefully you can get her to stop being so pushy too!
I'm also on instagram, becky12883.

 

[Gemma]

I had chillers in two corners and tried tying them all down --- then one day I come home from work & there is broken glass everywhere - I was horrified and thank GOD they were unharmed. (they tore down the glass water dispenser & it crashed onto the chiller)

Pushing back - will that get me bit? She is very odd, I'm mostly bonded with Gemma (the other chin) and Pinky (pushy chin) grinds her teeth when she pushes so I take that as a warning & leave her be. Just the sad thing is, I'm less apt to take her out & give her as much attention as Gemma because I'm afraid of ultimately losing her respect. x.x

The problems just go on.. x(

 

[becky12883]

My pushy chin has never bitten, never even attempted actually. I'm not sure my boys know that they could bite us. My pushy chin has also become my cuddle buddy since we decided that we had enough with the pushing. I think every chins personality is different, but they should all be able to be conditioned one way or another. Patience, persistence and repetitiveness and she'll get it eventually.
My other chin Rufus is 4 years old (almost 5) and I have attempted to pet him everyday since we got him when he was 8 weeks old. He would always run and hide until about 2 months ago, he gave in and let me scratch his chin. Now he sits for whole body scritches about once a week. She'll come around eventually.
Some people use binder clips or rings to hold their fleece down, you could try that maybe. Some people also cover the bottom of their cages with granite or ceramic floor tiles, that maybe an option too. If you don't have it there already, I would suggest hanging the water bottle on the outside of the cage so they can't knock it down.
I'm sure you'll figure something out, good luck!

 

[jess32247]

Have you tried putting something heavy on the corners of the fleece to keep it help down? You can also use binder rings to attach them to the cage. For the house, if it's wooden, you can try putting hardware in it like you would to make ledges. Everything else though, if it's heavy, I would keep it on the bottom level so it doesn't drop.

My chin can be very picky about where her things are in her cage. If I lay her sticks out on the ledges in the spots she doesn't want, she'll push them to the floor and pee on them so I have to throw them out. She will also push her hay holder, one of those super pet ceramic dust houses.