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[GrayRodent]

My new chinchilla has always been very vocal especially in the early morning hours like 4-5am. Sometimes he'll squeak and squawk when he's running around and playing so I'll squeak back at him. Lately it seems he responds to my squeaking by squeaking back. If I do it in succession he'll imitate the pattern sometimes.

This is not the same as his barking and he does it when he seems content although he'll make similar sounds when he is annoyed. Although some nights he does bark for what seems like no other reason than to entertain himself.

I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

Snickerdoodle will often sit on my back and "talk" happily My father, who is up all night because of his job, (he stays in the living room near the chinchilla) tells me that when he leaves the room at night, Snix barks as if to say "come back and play with me".
We also chirp at the chinchilla, and he knows what we're doing (obvious by his shocked look), but he doesn't talk back.

[GrayRodent]

That cool. My chinchilla doesn't seem to be as social as yours.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

Didn't you just get him?

[GrayRodent]

I've had him for 28 days now so he has a ways to go.

[GrayRodent]

I am finding my chinchilla is making a wider range of sounds that are not usual. I also think he is imitating the inflections of the sounds I make at him. Like my mom's parrot he recites them sometimes the next day. It is very freaky.

[cuculet]

My chin is also talking when playing and when angry but i do not recall him talking back to me when i make a sound.

[GrayRodent]

It is almost consistent enough that I can make a video of it. Perhaps in a couple weeks from now it will be engrained enough to attempt that. I got him to do it twice today and both times he went on for about 30 seconds.

[chinclub]

I would love to see a video of that.  It is funny how animals can adapt to new things vocally.  It reminds me of a donkey I had that would constantly bray whenever she saw us.  Later we pastured her with horses.  It was almost like she was embarrassed that she sounded different from them.  She began to bray with shorter bursts as if she was trying t sound like them.  It was so funny.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

Do chinchillas learn their sounds from other chinchillas? If they are separated from their mom at birth, will they sound different? I ask because my friend has a cat that was never near other cats, so she meows like a human trying to imitate a cat

[GrayRodent]

I'm not sure it's quite like that but I don't know. With chinchillas there seem to be some sounds that seem to be universal. From what I've read about them they are like cats in the way that most of their sounds are inaudible but they get louder when they are socialized around people.

I wish I could make a video of some of my chinchilla's sounds. He is still very vocal but the sounds are too quiet for a built in camera mic to pick up clearly. It will take some recording equipment I don't have for any video to come out.

There are times when I will chirp at him repeatedly and he will start doing the same thing. I tried making high then low pitched sounds to see what he would do and sometimes his chirping would get lower. It's still kind of like having a parrot. They don't usually mimic on cue unless you specifically train them but they'll mimic on their own time sometimes moments later if they are being vocal and are excited about a particular sound.

Sometimes when I put my hands around him when he sits on the shelf he does his annoyance squeaks when he wants to sleep. I started imitiating those very high pitched sounds and made lower ones as well. Now he will often make both sounds when I pick him up or put my hands on either side of him whether or not he is annoyed. And he really gets into it when I chirp back.

There were other times I heard him make some low frequency raspy sounds alone in his cage that sounded almost like a person talking. I heard this only twice since I've had him and it really creeped me out. I need to set up a microphone in that cage! I think I have a freak of nature.

[FranklintheChin]

Our Chin seems to randomly squeak, he usually seems content. I'll have to try squeaking back next time. When he does this his younger/big sister, a cocker spaniel, always runs over to check on him! It's really cute!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Mine talk back to me all the time. I just talk and they peep back. I have videos but finding them in my albums isn't easy. I'll have a look though