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[FruitlessMonkey]

Hi there, my gf and I took in and chin from her friend that could not care for it anymore. Its roughly two years old and was bought from a pet store. So we setup a place for it to run around in he kitchen and put cardboard up all along our base boards and stuff so he wont chew on them (found out the hard way). So things seem to be ok he doesn't seem to get mad at us or fear us and if anything likes us since we let it out for an hour or two jsut to run around. Now the problem we are having is more with me and not so much with my gf with him.
I dont know what he is thinking but he will be hopping around making little chirping noises that sound like hes happy and stuff but when I have to discipline him (ie move him or grab him b/c hes doing something bad) he starts to make a deeper chirping sound and starts wagging his tail back and forth and then try's to "hump" my hand or foot/ankle. Its really annoying and when he does that I usually push him away father fast and he comes running back to keep going until I really push him away hard, then he stops.

So why is he doing this? He trys to "mount" my hand or feet all the time. Other then that he has been pretty good with bonding with us, he nibbles us here and there and loves running around making little sounds, its rather cute.

[chinclub]

Awww...its true love!  

Seriously, it could be one of two things.  First there is the obvious "need for love"...but the fact that it is only with you and only after you have corrected him in some way makes me think it might be dominance.  If you watch two males in a cage together you will see that they take turns jumping on each others backs and doing the humping motion.  This is their way of saying "I am the leader of this pack".  The other male then has to step down and agree to be the leader or turn around and jump on the other guy's back.  This will go on back and forth until the pecking order is agreed upon.

If I am right and it is dominance he should eventually get the message and stop. Until then just remember his little bones are like tooth picks so when you are handling him and pushing him away be very gentle.

If I am wrong and it is a little love infatuation you might try giving him a small stuffed animal.  Usually the ones make for small dogs are safe.  Make sure it has cotton fluff stuffing (no beans), no plastic eyes or nose, and remove it if you see him chewing and eating it.  

Some chinchillas love stuffed animals.  They will sleep with them, groom them, carry them around the cage, and even carry them out of the cage at play time.  

[Debbie.nl.ca]

My very first chin is a male that to this day still does similar to me.
He's knows he's head of the heard, I tell him  , But I am boss and he knows that too.
I just pick him up and kisses the face off him.I think it's so cool that I am one of the herd, and he feels he has too SHOW me.
That or he wants to mate me,  :2funny:either way it's love.

[FruitlessMonkey]

Ok well thats good to know at least it seems hes happy and likes us. He hasnt really shown any hostilities towards us like barking or showing his teeth to us. But on the humping thing, is there anyway I can make him stop doing it, if not, what should I do when he does it? I usually just push him away but he comes back for seconds half the time lol. Is there any way to enforce corrective behavior?

How do you train your chins? Every time we say no or bad and pick him up or push him away he just goes right back to what he was doing ie chewing on our baseboards or table or w/e and hes kinda destroying our kitchen

[Jo Ann]

   Time for a "time-out" box/cage!  When you correct him and he goes right back ... he gets to be put in a small cage and ignored for 5 to 10 minutes, then let out ... if he does it again ... repeat the "time out" ... if he does it the 3rd time ... time out is in his own cage for an hour or so.

Humping, as they said, can be a dominance issue ... be glad he is not a jealous female.  We have one female (Pee-tunia) that is in love with my hubby ... if he hugs or kisses me in front of her ... she sprays me every chance she gets for the next 3 days.  

Their bones are smaller than toothpicks and break easily ... especially the floating ribs that can pierce a lung and kill, if broken.  Be very gentle with him ... never yell at, hit chase or grab him ... that's often how injuries and distrust happen.   Treat him with love and respect ... the same way you would like to be treated.   

The kitchen is not the best of places for a chinchilla ... heat and moisture from cooking ... stoves and refrigerators to hide under and behind and electrical cords to chew that will make him a crispy critter!  (Not to mention hot ovens and/or dark cold refrigerators to hide in.)

Bedrooms, dens and living rooms provide some very dangerous places to hide ... between/under cussions or in-between springs in the furniture ... which if set on, could squish him.

Computer rooms will offer lots of electrical wires and delicate electrical equipment that can be harmed by the dust clouds from a dust bath or the very fine fur they shed.

The bathroom or an enclosed hall way is usually best.  100% supervision at all times when out of the cage is a must.

For his safety (and pleasure), he must be the absolute "center of attention" when outside of his cage.  This is a one-on-one time ... no distractions!  Chinchillas love attention and will do anything (good or bad) to get that attention.  Try talking to him and playing with him on the floor and see if that does not help to curtail the bad habits, or at least the frequency of them.  

    Jo Ann

BEWARE:  He will return to the bad habbits as soon as you look away.     Play time is one-on-one time.   

[olivia41]

hehe sounds like my boy Liv when we first had him as a single chin. Since we've gotten a few more little boys he no longer comes to my boyfriend and I for humping, only Indy  Anyway, chins are very stubborn and sneaky. He WILL keep going back to doing bad things unless you make it impossible for him or try to teach him. Chins can't really be "trained" like dogs because they're very independent creatures but like Joann said, you can try time-out. They're smart and they treasure their playtime, so if you take it away from him when he's doing something bad, he'll eventually learn that he needs to stop whatever he's doing so he can continue to play. Also, i would suggest a bathroom for playtime, there's not much he can get into and it's probably a smaller space so you can watch more closely. If you don't always want to sit with him while he plays, you can try a large play pen for him to run in with a few toys and tunnels... but make sure it is high enough so that he cannot jump over, chins can jump very high! the pen may need to be 5 ft high. As for chewing and stuff, he will always do that...they need to chew to keep their teeth at a healthy length. I would just suggest keeping a close eye and trying to block anything that you don't want him getting to. Otherwise, good luck!

[Hoppinchins]

That is very interesting. I noticed when i got a second chin they were humping each other. When I had just pogo, he never did that to me. He was only alone for about 2 weeks though. Its funny though bc I had pogo first but when they were older, snowie became the dominate one bc he got bigger somehow. 

[FruitlessMonkey]

Well so far we have tried the time out thing and its not really working to well. Whenever he goes back into he same spots and tryingsto chew we pick him up and put him back into his cage for awhile and ignore him. Its funny though b/c we know when he wants out b/c he will chew on the cage gates. We ended up just putting up more cardboard around and its somewhat working but really annoying. We will be putting him in the bathroom but am its under construction so there's a lot of exposed stuff that he can eat and chew on that is most likely toxic to him. As for the humping thing he still tries to when hes mad at us b/c we moved him when he was chewing on something. Now we just pick him up and say no to show who is the dominate one.
Its been a real challenge nothing like our dog who was much easier to handle.

as for play time, how long is recommend for them 20-30minutes?

[Hoppinchins]

i'v been told atleast 30 mins every day or and hr every other day. Most people that i have read on here leave them out for 2 hrs or so. I try to leave mine out for atleast a few hrs a day. I have a play fence for them though.

[olivia41]

my little boys i let out in the bathroom for about 45 minutes, sometimes longer though if they're hyper. my big boys are usually out for a while because they just sorta hang out with us. it's really up to your discretion.