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[Zash]

This is Rambo.  He's my cute little Chinchilla that I rescued in June of this year (2009).  I made a couple of posts about him a while back.  Long story short, he had a rough life prior to my rescue.  He had been caged with another Chinchilla that beat up on him a lot apparently  .  His ears have little bite marks out of them in a few spots and he's missing half of his tail.  It's pretty obvious that he's had his share of battles.  Poor little guy.

Since I've had him, I've tried my best to show him love/good care (given some unforeseen circumstances).  I limit him to two raisins per day which I hand feed him.  He eats Timothy Hay bricks and Alfalfa Pellets.  I try to let him out of his cage daily to run around my room a bit (notice the picture of him sitting on my Wii haha).

After 5 months of care, he still is very skittish and barks/cries/gets scared when I try to handle him or anything.  If I can pick him up, he will let me hold him for a few minutes before getting to squirmy.  He doesn't bark or anything while I'm holding him.  He will let me scratch his chin a little through the bars but, after a few seconds, he runs and barks haha.

I'm mainly making this post to document my plan and progress on my plan.  I have started, tonight, clicker training him.  The first thing I'm training him to do is take a treat from my hand (not me handing it to him).  After that, I plan on teaching him to come to my hand (once he gets to my hand, he gets a treat/click).

Secondly, I want to train him on "play time".  I've set an alarm on my phone (10:00PM) that plays a specific "Ding" sound.  Eventually, I'm sure he'll pick up on it and get anxious when he hears the alarm.

So far, after just a few clicker exercises, he is starting to come to come to my hand/take the treat more and bark less.  Hopefully he'll continue to "come around" as they say.

[Jo Ann]

  

After 5 months of care, he still is very skittish and barks/cries/gets scared when I try to handle him or anything.  If I can pick him up, he will (1) let me hold him for a few minutes before getting to squirmy.  He doesn't bark or anything while I'm holding him.  (2) He will let me scratch his chin a little through the bars but, after a few seconds, he runs and barks haha.

(1)  Any time a chin squirms, it is usually for one of two reasons ... He needs to go pee-pee and does not want to do it on you ...
      OR  You are not holding him properly, and he thinks he is going to fall.  {a chins feet must be supported at all times}
(2)  If you are accidently touching his whiskers, you art tickeling him ... chins tend to not like being tickled.

   Jo Ann

[Zash]

 

After 5 months of care, he still is very skittish and barks/cries/gets scared when I try to handle him or anything.  If I can pick him up, he will (1) let me hold him for a few minutes before getting to squirmy.  He doesn't bark or anything while I'm holding him.  (2) He will let me scratch his chin a little through the bars but, after a few seconds, he runs and barks haha.

(1)  Any time a chin squirms, it is usually for one of two reasons ... He needs to go pee-pee and does not want to do it on you ...
      OR  You are not holding him properly, and he thinks he is going to fall.  {a chins feet must be supported at all times}
(2)  If you are accidently touching his whiskers, you art tickeling him ... chins tend to not like being tickled.

   Jo Ann

I've been making a strong effort to support his hind legs and just let him relax on my chest/stomach while holding him.  I think he just would rather explore than be held by me.  He's a curious little guy hahaha.

He seems to be responding quite well to the clicker training.  I've had three or four short (10 minutes or so) sessions with him today/last night.  The first few, I just would present a piece of a cheerio (or raisin to him) and when he'd ALMOST grab it, I'd give him a click then let him have the treat (to establish the connection between click = treat).  During my last little session, I decided to try to step it up a notch.  I stuck my hand into his gave and very gently rubbed his chin.  The first time he wasn't very fond of it but tolerated it.  I gave him a click and a treat.  The second time he still wasn't very fond of it but, once again, allowed it.  Click & Treat.  By the third time, he'd realized that he'd get a treat if I could rub his chin.

Rambo is progressing very well to this type of training.  The main concern that I'm having with him is that he doesn't like any type of vocalization (from anyone but, especially, me).  Any time I get next to his cage and talk to him, he immediately starts to bark/cower.  I've never yelled at him or anything.  We're very rarely loud in our house... so I guess maybe his previous owners yelled a lot or something.  Is there anything I can do to calm him when he gets like that?  I've been trying to talk to him more and hopefully get him used to my voice.  Aside from that, I'm out of ideas.

[LindyLu]

softly SING to him?
My chins liked this.
Dewey doesn't like to be held/cuddled - he's an explorer too.  But if I sit still and sing, he'll often come sit on my leg/shoulder.

[Jo Ann]

   

I've been making a strong effort to support his hind legs and just let him relax on my chest/stomach while holding him.  I think he just would rather explore than be held by me.  He's a curious little guy hahaha.

 This is normal for most chinchillas ... they are very curious and love their free-run time.  

He seems to be responding quite well to the clicker training.  I've had three or four short (10 minutes or so) sessions with him today/last night.  The first few, I just would present a piece of a cheerio (or raisin to him) and when he'd ALMOST grab it, I'd give him a click then let him have the treat (to establish the connection between click = treat).  During my last little session, I decided to try to step it up a notch.  I stuck my hand into his gave and very gently rubbed his chin.  The first time he wasn't very fond of it but tolerated it.  I gave him a click and a treat.  The second time he still wasn't very fond of it but, once again, allowed it.  Click & Treat.  By the third time, he'd realized that he'd get a treat if I could rub his chin.

   Very good!  

The main concern that I'm having with him is that he doesn't like any type of vocalization (from anyone but, especially, me).  Any time I get next to his cage and talk to him, he immediately starts to bark/cower.  I've never yelled at him or anything.  We're very rarely loud in our house... so I guess maybe his previous owners yelled a lot or something.  Is there anything I can do to calm him when he gets like that?

It is a good possibility that this behavior is based on how he has been treated in the past.  Use what has already been proven to work ... the clicker.  Start just outside the door of the room ... Speak softly ... each time you get closer .... tell him "Good baby" ... if he does not bark at you ... show him a treat and VERY SLOWLY move towards him as you talk.  Once he lets you close enough to give him the treat ... click and give him the treat.  (To avoid to many treats, use Cheerios or  chunks of a hay cube.  What ever tone seems to work best with him, continue to use it and b e very patient.
 

   Jo Ann

[sarahs5]

softly SING to him?
My chins liked this.
Dewey doesn't like to be held/cuddled - he's an explorer too.  But if I sit still and sing, he'll often come sit on my leg/shoulder.

This sounds silly but it totally worked when I first brought my chin home!  She was terrified when I brought her home.  There were long periods of time where she would freeze up and wouldn't move for several minutes.  She might have been in shock from being in a totally new environment with new people and lonely without her cage mate.  She wouldn't approach me or let me pet her unless she was frozen up.  This continued for a few weeks and I was REALLY worried about her.  I tried to avoid scaring her and just tried to constantly talk to her in soft soothing tones.  She finally started approaching me when I started singing lullabies and Christmas songs (she responded well to "Silent Night" haha).  Try it, you might be surprised.

[Jo Ann]

   Yep ... mine love the bells ... we have a set of Christmass bells that they love.

Singing?  That, too.   http://www.luvnchins.com/ChubbyAndFamily.html  (Give time to load then watch Chubby in the video at the bottom of the page.   )

   Jo Ann

[sarahs5]

  Yep ... mine love the bells ... we have a set of Christmass bells that they love.

Singing?  That, too.   http://www.luvnchins.com/ChubbyAndFamily.html  (Give time to load then watch Chubby in the video at the bottom of the page.   )

   Jo Ann

Oh my god, he does backflips! That is too funny!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Have you tried turning on a radio or the TV for him?   

[Zash]

Hey guys!  Sorry about the long delay since my last post about Rambo.  After a few days, it seemed like the clicker started making him more nervous than I'd originally thought.  He knows that he gets a treat after the click... but he always jumps when I click it. 

Rambo is, however, doing MUCH better.  Over the past couple of weeks, I've been making it a point to sit next to his cage and talk to him 4-5 times a day.  During those times, I usually give him a cheerio.  He's learned the word Cheerio lol!  He doesn't really bark anymore unless you really make him angry.  He's really impressing me with his behavior recently.  He let me hold him for 10-15 minutes today and didn't squirm at all.

I'm going to be getting another chinchilla at the beginning of the year (a baby).  He will be a male as well (don't want any babies lol).  I've got two cages to keep them in until the get used to each other and (hopefully) move into the new cage that I'll be building for them after christmas.I'm pretty excited and I hope that they get along!

[Jo Ann]

Hey guys!  Sorry about the long delay since my last post about Rambo.  After a few days, it seemed like the clicker started making him more nervous than I'd originally thought.  He knows that he gets a treat after the click... but he always jumps when I click it. 

Try placing the clicker inside your pocket to muffle the sound a bit ... OR ... show him the clicker each time before clicking it and do not click it close to him.  They can handle a noise much better if it is softer and/or if it is expected.   

    Jo Ann