Advice

[sylvercheetah]

I would love to hear if anyone has any advice as to how to better bond with a chinchilla? We let him out to run around and he usually comes up to us, snuggles for second, and then is off again. If we pick him up he will crawl all over us. He is not a fan of being pet, but will tolerate it. Still, lately he seems a bit more independent than "part of

Comments

[neumeindil]

Bonding: just sit with a hand in the cage and talk to him quietly, put on some music and sing to him (mine is partial to acoustic stuff or ambient like Loreena McKennitt). But if he chooses to cuddle with you at all, I'd consider him bonded. Mine is very selective about when he'll cuddle with me, which of late has been almost never.

Caging: don't give him treats anywhere else. If something good (his dust bath or treat) only happens in the cage, he's more likely to go there of his own free will once you add the stimulus.

[sylvercheetah]

We never give him treats or his dust bath outside of his cage. But he does like to give chase instead of going back in. *sigh*

As far as putting my hand in his cage, he seems to be getting territorial and biting a lot. Maybe it's because he needs to be fixed. You never know if he's going to rub his chin on you or try to take a chunk out of your finger.

[neumeindil]

The next step, I think, would be to offer the treat only inside the cage when it's time for him to go back in. If the reward of going in (his cheerio) is better than the reward of staying out (running around like a nut job or whatever), he'll theoretically choose the treat over the run. Does he have a wheel in his cage? If he can get exercise while he's in there, he might not feel the need be so athletic out of the cage.

Now, for the biting: is it a true bite or is it a grooming nibble?

[sylvercheetah]

Excuse my late reply as I was away from this for a time (family emergency). He used to giving grooming nibbles. He has given a true bite to three out of four of us in the household though. But we determined that if he has been out of his cage/not feeling pent up energy (and we have not invested in a wheel, but are doing so a.s.a.p. - as well as oats for when he comes to cuddle) that he does not do this. So, it's somewhere between pent up energy and us invading HIS space. I can respect that.
Thanks for your input!

[sylvercheetah]

I looked up the videos, they were very helpful. He LOVED the behind the ear scritches, but that is all. He doesn't like anyone touching under his chin/near his cheeks we figured out. But he won't let anyone pet him anywhere in his cage, he doesn't seem to like us invading his personal space, which we can all respect.
As far as waiting for him to cuddle we will continue to try, but he's a fly by cuddler. You see a tuft of grey out of nowhere, and then suddenly he is on your legs or arm or shoulders, a cuddle and by the time you get to open your mouth and say "awww" he is off like a shot.

[sylvercheetah]

He actually prefers to be out in the open most of the time. Though he loves moving his "furniture" so that it creates a maze of tunnels for him to run through, and he is pretty obsessed with making things perfect 90 degree angles. No wonder he adores my boyfriend most of all, they're both engineers! :)