HI everyone, I'm new here. I have two wonderful chinchillas called Maurice and Sebastian (Seebass for short.) I used to own a very old Chinny which we called Murphy. He was a rescue from my Mother in law who had him in a tiny,bare cage and never gave him any exercise. His fur was matted from where he had been leaning against his water bottle and because he was kept by the front door, got wet when the door was open and the rian blew in.
We took him in, purchased a bigger cage and Maurice for some company. At the ripe old age of 18 murphy sadly passed away last March
He is sorely missed. I saw evidence that chinnys do mourn because Maurice looked bereft, went off his food for three days and hardly moved. He was standing guard over Murphys body when I found him the next morning.
We purchased Seebass last september as an 8 week old kitten. It took Maurice a long time to get used to him and accept him. We used to keep them in separate cages and let them out for a run around together every evening. Initially Maurice was terrified of the newcomer and refused to go near the inquisitive youngster, fleeing back to his cage at the very sight of him. However they now share a cage and are the best of friends. Nowadays it's Maurice who is the adventurous one and likes being handled.
Does anyone know how to train chinchillas? This is what I want to do next but I don't know where to start.