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[mevachiu]

hi to you all,

i come from hong kong and i am a new comer of this web page. i am very glad to find this website cos there is no such good quality website in hong kong.

i would like to ask why my chins( 2girls 2boys) bite me and my husband. One of them wounded my hundred's finger. It's not just painful, but also cause his finger bled.

can anyone in this forum had the same experience and can teach me to fix the problem. i really want to hug them but now i am a bit afraid of their teeth.

[null]

Did you just get the chins or have you had them for a while? Are they youngsters or adults?

You'll have to be patient with them. Don't just stick your hand in there to grab them. If you sit in front of their cage with the door open they'll usually come out to see you once their curiosity overcomes their apprehension. Then you can start to interact with them. A lot of chins will never enjoy being picked up though.

[Leslie]

Also....chinchilla don't like to be hugged.  You might be able to hold them after they  trust you but not many like being squeezed.  If they bite so hard you are bleeding, they are probably scared of you and you need to give them more time.  Sometimes it can take weeks or months....even years before they trust you.

[mevachiu]

Thanks to null and leslie.

Two of my chins( MaMa, grey, 4 years old, Female and ChaCha, 3 years old, Male) have been with me for almost two years. Cha Cha is very grumpy, he not just bit me and my husband, but also the vet and the vet assistant. The vet said he has never seen such a bad temper chin before. He said Cha Cha has mental problem. It is too nervious.

MaMa is single-armed because she was very active and trapped her arm between the wire grid( i don't know how it happened exactly, it was raised by my friend before). She doesn't want to share with others.

Another two are Snowball(pink white, 4 months old, Male) and P( 5 months old, female, half grey helf white, MaMa's girl) live together. I raised P since she borned then i bought Snowball back to stay with her a month ago. Snowball bit me when i first met him at the pet shop. Despite he bit,  he looked so beautiful and had the colour i longed for, besides, the shop assistant said snowball bites because he is hungry( i wonder why i am so stupid to believe such bullpoo) so i bought him home. Snowball was first lived with MaMa and P. But because MaMa bit and hit him, he lost much fur, i seperated MaMa from P and him. Somehow, i think snowball bites me for curiosity instead of bad intention.  It like to sniff my finger. After that, it will bite me. Though that didn't make me bleed,  i don't like this kind of behaviour.

For P, she is a fast runner, i can't get near her....

So, for my situation, can anyone give me some more advice cos i find that local hong kong have little knowledge about chin, even the pet shop assistants, they are saleperson only, they even give false information!!

[null]

I had a grumpy chin, while he didn't bite he would bark and would lunge at my fingers trying to intimidate me from putting my hand in there. What I would do is kneel in fron of his cage and rest my arms and head right by the door to his cage and stay still. Eventually he would come over to check me out. After a while he started to climb on me I would slowly brush my finger against him. After a few months I could pick him up without too much protest. He still doesn't like to be handled and probably never will but he's not aggressive tward me at all.


The other chin that is nibbling at you is just checking you out. A lot of my younger chins did this and after a while they figure out that you don't like it and stop. I haven't personally tried this method of getting them to stop but it sounds like it would work. When he tries to nibble on you pull your finger away and try to immitate the little "yelp" sound that they make when they're hurt. He should get the idea that you don't like what he's doing.

[Stacy]

I have a female that is 6 months and she still nibbles on me, and some times it really does not feel that good. I also have a male that is about 1 yr that did not bite up until a few weeks ago and I really don't know why he does it now.  I have only had 1 to bite me because it was scared and I new he was going to do it before he did. I had just brought him home and was trying to get him out and into his new cage and he got me good. If they start making the barking sound you need to back off and give them some room. It takes time for them to warm up to you. I still have 1 that I can't really pet or anything and I have had him for about 6 months.

[null]

Your female might be comming into heat for the first time. That might be what's settig off your male.

[Leslie]

I have a grumpy, nervous chin now and I know what you are talking about, mevachiu.  My guy bites hard....not just nibbling.  He has always been very scared of everything and impossible to pick up.  I have had him for 4 years and he is still that way but we found peace together by taking it slow.  I do not try to pick him up, I let him come out to me only.  I figure if he tries to bite me when I pick him up, why should I force him?  It makes me sad that I can't cuddle him but he is not that type of pet.  He loves to be scratched now but only after years of slowly getting to know my hands.  I just put them in the cage and let him explore them.  If he starts to bite me I just say "OUCH" loud and he learns what I don't like.  If I scratch him and he makes a noise like he doesn't like it, I stop and learn what he doesn't like.  It takes a lot of time and patience but you can be friends in the end...

[Jo Ann]

Hi Mevachiu,

Each chinchilla has it's own personality and feelings just like humans do.

  Always try to imagine how you would feel if some giant came and got you, took you to a strange place, then tried to chase you when you would not come to it.

Sounds kind of drastic, but if you look at it from a chins point of view, it makes a lot of sense.
Let the chin come to you ... rest your hand inside or just outside of the cage door, talk to him, very softly, like you would a baby.  They are curious little creatures and will eventually come to you to check you out.  Do not make any sudden moves, but offer him a treat.  He will soon learn he can trust you.  Once he can trust you, he should quit biting you. 

Chinchillas usually give warnings before they bite:
(1) run away from you
(2) fuss at you
(3) push your hand away with their paws
(4) females may spray you
(5) bite you gently as a warning
(6) give you a good hard bite you will remember

When your chin is warning you ... pay attention ... do not get mad at it ... figure out what you are doing wrong and do not do it again.

Never yell at, hit or chase a chinchilla ... they have very long memories. 
No loud or sudden noise, music or t.v. please ... this will make your chin a nervous wreck.

Always support the hind legs and hold a chin close to you ... the sound of your heart beating is soothing to your chin.

 Never hold a chin by the upper body ... just under the arms ... they have floating ribs and you can easily break them, killing your chin.

 
Jo Ann [/i]

[mevachiu]

 
hi all,

you are all very supportive!! I will try the methods that you suggested.

and again, millions thanks

Meva Chiu

[Jo Ann]

Hi Mevachiu!

   That's what we are hear for ... to provide information ( or to send you in the direction to get a proper answer).

    We also enjoy being able to talk to others that have given their hearts to chins, as we have done.

     Third, but definitely not the least important, we are hear to learn from others.  You can never learn it all, but the more you learn the safer your chinchilla is. 


 
Jo Ann

[Leslie]

"No loud or sudden noise, music or t.v. please ... this will make your chin a nervous wreck."

Jo Ann, do you mean no noise around the chinchilla ever?  I agree that you should not have loud music or a blaring TV, but if you keep the room too quiet, that will also make your chin a nervous wreck (unless you have keep the room quiet all the time).  My chins are in our living room and they are very accustomed to house noise.  I think they are such social animals, they need to have movement and chatter around them.   

[chinchillagrl06]

My chinnies love to listen to the radio softly. It keeps them company while we are sleeping.

[Jo Ann]

Hi Leslie,

   

No loud or sudden noise, music or t.v. please ... this will make your chin a nervous wreck.

      Maybe I should have been more specific ... No Loud, sudden noises, please.  Such as:  loud music, or a loud t.v., people screaming or fussing around the chin, dogs barking at the chins, or big birds to squawk loudly around the chins, or any other loud or sudden noises around a chin that you can avoid.

     The t.v. in the chin room is on when I am in there, but not loud.  The radio is on when I am not in the chin room, but not loud.  I even run the vacuum cleaner in the chin's room, but I start it in another room and bring it into the chin room instead of sitting it next to the cages and then turning it on scaring the living daylites out of them.

 
Jo Ann

[FluffBall]

I even run the vacuum cleaner in the chin's room, but I start it in another room and bring it into the chin room instead of sitting it next to the cages and then turning it on scaring the living daylites out of them.

that is not fun at all and I am a grown up

one of my kids thought that it would be funny to turn on the vacuum by mommy who was sleeping on the floor    and if I was a cat I would be on my last life and permanently attached to the ceiling
I can't stop laughing from that even though I was made when it happened
sometime a chin will nibble at you and wounder if you are food or not they are also trying to get to know you