Chin Handling

[CandaceC]

Hey everyone, I just have a quick question.. Im sure its on a different thread but i cant find it. My Chins will not come out of their cage very easily. Buzz lets me pick him up, but Linus runs away from my hand and it takes me forever to get him out. I dont wanna force him out, cuz then he squeeks and im afraid im hurting him. Is there any way of getting him to come out of the cage on his own?

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

You can try putting his dust bath at the door of the cage. When he jumps in to the dust bath cover the opening with your hand. Then transport him to where you want him to be.

[Emadam]

I don't know what your cage situation is so I'm not sure if the door is solid or how high the cage is off the ground, but our door is not solid and the cage is too high off the ground for the girls to jump. So handy-dandy Adam made a ramp that fits over the door. We try to get the girls to jump out into our arms but if they don't, we just open the door and put the ramp up so they can come out at their leisure. I suggest letting the chins come out of the cage at their leisure, especially if they are brand new. Chins are sensitive animals; we've had Zoey and Sonja since July of last year and they still aren't completely used to us. It takes some time for your chin to warm up to you. How old is Linus? The squeaking might just be his "I'm the baby! Leave me alone!" squeak. Sonja is almost 2 years old and when we try to groom her, she still makes the baby squeak, even though we aren't hurting her a bit (she knows I melt at the baby squeak so she uses it to get us to stop bothering her :) ). I suggest searching the boards for the threads containing links to the chinchilla noises so you can better identify it.

[JBBinTex]

How long have you had them? It sounds like you need to work on bonding. I wouldn't use the dust bath to get them out...you may need it to get them back in after playtime. They won't be so willing to go in the bath the second time. You need to work slowly on the bonding process. It sounds like you are still a threat to him. Not that you are doing anything...it is just that chins are prey animals and tend to scare easily. He needs to figure out that you, and your hand, are not something to be scared of. That is where the slow method comes in. It works wonder...it just takes some time. It is well worth it though.

[MickeynSadie]

If you chase him around (whether or not he is in the cage) he will become more and more afraid of you. That is probably why he will run from you. Try slowly reintroducing yourself by just letting your hand stay still in the cage and allowing him to get used to the smell and show him that smell doesn't mean he will be hurt. The next step you can use is putting the cage on the floor/fixing a ramp or something so he can SAFELY get out by himself. Situate yourself in whatever room they play in and just sit still. Let him come to you. In time, you may get a bond.

[copperthunder]

I use one of the cardboard chubes or piece of PVC pipe.

[savannah1687]

My chin runs from me when I try to get her out, but then after I get her she will sit in my lap, watch tv, and let me scratch her. I never chase her for very long though - if after a minute or so I see that she really wants to stay in I leave her alone. How do yours act when you get them?

[xpokey77x]

I wouldn't use the bath. I tried that a couple of times to get him in his carrier and for a little while after he refused to come out of the cage to take a bath so I had to wedge it in the door to get it inside of his cage. Though that may have been because he didn't like where the carrier was taking him :) I felt like I was tricking him though. and I agree with JBBinTEX, as I often have to use it to get my chin back inside too.

[JBBinTex]

What I was actually saying was that it is easier to save the dust bath trick for the end of playtime when you need to get them back to the cage. I haven't had any refuse to take a bath like yours though. I just use it for the first few weeks of playtime...mostly with the rescues. Because one they are out playing, they really don't want to go back in the cage. Much harder to catch them in the bathroom than in the cage. I usually only have to use it for a couple of weeks, by that time they have bonded enough with me that catching isn't a problem.

[Kiki's Mom]

Hi Candace. I know exactly what you're going through. Kiki HATES to be picked up and it is quite the ordeal. For a while I was using a small cat carrier but she figured that out and now refuses to jump into it voluntarily. What I do is wheel her cage into the kitchen (after chin proofing it), I have a long piece of wood that I covered with fleece that acts as a ramp from the door opening to the floor. She is still very tentative to come out so most of the time I have to lure her out with a shredded wheat all the way down the ramp. Sometimes that takes 2-3 times because she'll get scared and run back in. She really doesn't enjoy her romp time the way I read about other chins enjoying it. She will explore, do her wall surfing and then in about 5 minutes she is trying to get back in her cage...which is fine...unless I'm cleaning it! She's very comfortable with us - she will sit in our hands and in our arms and crawl up our arm to give us kisses, but she is very scared of the world outside of her cage. She is a rescue so I don't know if something in her former home contributed to this fear, but I will continue working with her. Good luck to you...perhaps you could try the ramp trick - just be sure to cover it with something because the first time I didn't and she started sliding down it and it scared her.