Sitting and staring

[HermesMama]

Okay, so my darling Hermes literally has every type of toy you can offer a chinchilla. Chew toys, hanging toys, toss toys, shredder toys... He even has a chinnie buddie stuffed animal. He has ledges, and a hammock, shelves for jumping.

I lowered his playtime to only 10 minutes today (he is only 4 months old) and he seemed to handle that fine. So tell me why he has been sitting in the same spot in his cage for 2 hours.. Just staring. And I know what he looks like when he is sleeping with his eyes open.. And this is different. The cage is in the dining room which looks into the living room.. So he can always see the television. I thought.. Hmmm maybe he is just really enjoying watching TV tonight. Well it's about midnight and I turned the TV off and came into the bedroom to get ready for bed. 20 or so minutes later, I come out for a glass of water and there he is.. Same spot.. Just sitting and staring. The moment I put my face against the cage he begins interacting, so I know he isn't asleep.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Chinmama]

Meditating? Contemplating taking over the world? Just kidding. I have no idea what he is doing. As long as he is acting normally otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it. Marble and ZZ do the same thing. I always just assumed they were taking in their surroundings. They are in the dining room/living room area too.

 

[LGarl]

Mine does the same thing. Though when I sit next to his cage and talk to him he's like a statue. At first it kinda scared me but now I see he's fine. It's funny though to see him do it because he doesn't move, blink or even twitch a whisker.

 

[mercynursie]

He is in the process of training his human! They all try to train us, just like toddlers!

 

[Cuddlebug]

Chinchillas can sleep with their eyes wide open. That is probably what is going on. since you do not register as a threat, he does not wake up. This is a self defense mechanism. It allows them to sleep and watch for predators at the same time.

 

[LGarl]

Chinchillas can sleep with their eyes wide open. That is probably what is going on. since you do not register as a threat, he does not wake up. This is a self defense mechanism. It allows them to sleep and watch for predators at the same time.

That's pretty awesome actually. Thanks for the info, good to learn all we can.

 

[Minccino]

Chinchillas can sleep with their eyes wide open. That is probably what is going on. since you do not register as a threat, he does not wake up. This is a self defense mechanism. It allows them to sleep and watch for predators at the same time.

That's really cool (and makes sense too).

 

[Willow111]

My chinchilla does that too, but its usually just her sleeping.