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[DustyBlakesley]

I just got my first chinchilla Dusty, a few days ago. He is about 7 months old and pretty good so far. The only thing is, the first day he slept fine in his little hut, ever since then he has been only going in there for minutes at a time and then climbing to the top tier closest to where I am and resting against the bars and sleeping. Is this normal? Is there anyway for me to teach him to sleep in his hut? I think I am pretty lucky so far, if I put both my hands in he hops into them when I want to bring him out to play. I have an extra room in my house that is completely empty, so I put a towel, his rolling ball and a toilet paper roll in there. It is a pretty big room, about 15 feet x 8 feet. He runs and hops all over the walls. The first day he was pretty good at letting me hold him, now sometimes he struggles, but it is not an always thing. Also, I read a million different things on dust baths, I have given him only one so far, but am thinking about leaving it in his room so he can use it when he plays, he tends to only spend 5 minutes max in it at a time. He also eats a large amount of hay and not a great deal of pellets, but he can eat about 2 hay balls worth of hay a day. I think this is due to me giving him about 2 hours of run around time in his room. Sorry for blabbering on.

[dianah]

hey you've done really well with him letting you hold him!

the chins like to sleep wherever, shelves, ledges, boxes, snugs. it's perfectly normal, most of mine sleep outside of their houses.

i do have my dust bath in the room as well and they just go in and out when they're having a run around. he won't spend a huge amount of time inside it but that's all they need.

as for eating, hay is the main thing - that's what they're supposed to be eating and what helps keep their teeth down. they don't eat huge amount of pellets (compared to guinea pigs, for example) so don't worry if he doesn't seem to be eating many of those. they also don't drink too much.

how fab you've got an empty room for him to play in. what's a rolling ball? is it a wooden toy or something like a hamster ball that he goes into?

you could put some different levels in for him, like steps or wall shelves, he'd enjoy that!

as for how much time, do you do the 2 hours in one go? you just keep an eye on him overheating, 20 minutes in one go is a good time although mine have been out for longer than that - just be mindful to stop him if he's really going for it for longer than this. i find mine do some matrix moves to start with and then calm down and just explore, then go back to matrix moves.

[DustyBlakesley]

Yeah, I have been thinking about getting some cardboard boxes and making a fairly large playground for him in that room with levels. I usually let him play for about 30 minutes at a time a few times throughout the day. Sometimes I am in there with him, sometimes I just let him enjoy running around by himself. He does a lot of wall bouncing, where he jumps off one corner to another wall and then runs clear across the room to the other side to do it again.

[dianah]

it's brilliant. mine have their own room (mostly because i have dogs that would kill the chins if they got the chance) but there's "stuff" in there like aircon (during summer) & little radiator so cables and they also like to eat walls so you need to discourage them from certain areas!

you could put some terracotta pots in, ones without a draining hole, different sizes, upside down.

do you sit on the floor sometimes when he's running around? mine quite like sitting on my knee when i'm sat cross-legged.

[Gallardo_Puff]

My chin, Gallardo, sleeps up against his bars sometimes too. Other than that, he's all over the place! He'll sleep laying on one of his ramps, on his wood perch, inside his wood box, inside his hay box  , and even on his flying saucer!

[DustyBlakesley]

Haha, yeah he seems to like sleeping against whatever wall I am closest in the room. A few more quick questions. I heard that toilet paper rolls could make interesting toys for chinchillas, so I am stuffing some with hay and giving it to Dusty. He chews the roll almost in half in one night and it seems to be his favorite chew toy, but I just want to make sure it is safe for him to do that. Also, recently he has been sticking his nose out of the cage and dragging his teeth on the wires, is that normal? I know they chew on something but it seems like he is going frantic when doing it and will nibble at my fingers if I put it near him during that. And last but not least, I bought some raisins from the store the other day, but they are the sun-maid raisins, are those fine for them? I want to start giving him treats when I bring him back from playtime so he doesn't get mad at me.

[dianah]

toilet rolls are good, i think you can give him as many as he likes as for teething the wires, i don't know. i don't think it's very good for their teeth - i'm sure someone else on here has experience with this, perhaps creating a new topic would help?
as for raisins, sundried are ok but you need to be really quite sparse with them. mine get a raisin a week and if yours is less than 6 months old, it's advised to hold back with the raisins. make sure you monitor his poo if you start giving him raisins as the sugar content can make them have diarrhoea so as soon you see the poo's going soft (i.e. sharp ends), stop giving him raisins.
i would suggest, if you want to give him a treat when he stop his play time, it may be an idea to give him something like an apple branch or a little willow/vine ball - something he'd enjoy but can actually have lots of rather than raisins.

he won't be mad at you for ending his play time. he may not be happy about it but he'll soon learn that he can come out every day. i know they can sulk!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Why should he sleep in his hut?
I think he's very comfy with you to be sleeping out in the open. The only time mine go in their huts and houses is to hide from me. LOL
Most of my chins sleep out on the shelves, right out in the open. They have absolutely no fears. 
He'll use his hut for playing in, but be glad he's so comfy in his new home.