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[Maysie]

 Hello all,
I joined awhile ago when I first got Zeus, sadly my computer died and I had no way to get back on. I'm back now (obviously) and I'm excited to say that we're doing even better than before.
 As the subject says, Zeus is a very clumsy and noisy little buddy. He's bonded to both my boyfriend and myself even more than before, still seems to prefer me over anyone else but "daddy" is acceptable if I'm not around now. 
I regretfully must say Zeus is spoiled rotten , though it was to be expected. We allow him to run free in our living room for several hours at a time (supervised) which seems to give him plenty of exercise... We have yet to get him to consider running on the wheel my dad bought for us when we first got him (which I don't mind, it might be chin size, but he's not a hamster). He still seems to love him ball though... We never put him in it unless he asks and when he does we let him run inside so it's never forced at all. When he wants out he starts bumping into our legs and we just take off the lid.
 Does anyone else have a chin who enjoys being in a ball? Zeus loves it and I really do not understand it.

He's taken to chewing his cage bars a lot, which as much as I love him is getting really annoying... is there any way to stop this from happening without stressing him? I usually poke his nose when it gets to be to much for me, but that only works for a minute or so (during which time he's glaring at me with this 'how dare you' expression).

My last few questions are... How large do chins usually get? What age do they stop growing? Zeus is very close to a year old and he seems to be growing still...

 My biggest worry and question right now is about food, more like treats really...
Zeus recently stole a fruit loop out of my boyfriend's bowl and ran off with it. It was a dry bowl of cereal being eaten as a snack. Until then he had never shown interest in human food beyond dried fruits so we didn't think anything of having him out while snacking. Before I could get the cereal away from him he had already chowed over half the loop, he freaked and barked at me when I took it away. I don't know if he should be allowed to have this from time to time or not. He's doing fine now, I watched him rather closely for a few days after the incident and he never seemed to have any problems....
 So what are your thoughts ladies and gentlemen? Anyone know if this is okay from time to time? Or should he just be kept in the cage when my other half is snacking?

Thank you for your time!
 XxXMaysieXxX

[GrayRodent]

Sounds like you have a really nice pet. My first chinchilla (who was euthanized this year with malocclusion) liked his chinchilla ball although I've never tried it on my second 4 month old chin. There is a risk of heat stroke related deaths with them and our house is usually kept above what I consider safe limits so I haven't used it much. (We usually keep it around 73 degrees but it gets up to 78 on sunny days. I think 73 degrees is the maximum you should allow but no more than 5 minute sessions inside the ball) The ball was useful to help me tame the first chin. Even below those temps you have to be very careful. Your chinchilla may not be able to tell you if he's overheating so the best thing to do is take him out of it frequently and watch for signs.
If your chin does run on a wheel it should be 14" or larger to prevent injury to your chinchilla's back and joints. I do know that some don't take to a wheel.
As far as chewing on cage bars I'm not sure if there's really anything you can about that. My first chin, Blue, would chew the bars when he wanted me to take him out. At the time I felt it was a good thing because he wasn't all that tame and he didn't do it very often. Sometimes if you try to push them away from something like that an animal will treat it like a game and do it all the more. I doubt it is stressful to a socialized animal.
Chinchillas usually do their growing in 6-8 months although some will grow slowly for over a year. Your pet probably won't get much larger. A male chinchilla usually grows to around 600g from what I've read but I've seen some show quality chins for sale around 700g. Females tend to be larger.

A single fruit loop isn't going to cause damage but I'd certainly not encourage that. Sugary foods can cause bloat in rodents. If your chin is going to take food I'd keep him caged in case he has something potentially more harmful like chocolate or meat.

[Maysie]

He's overly sweet when he feels like it. Other times you can really tell how he earned his nickname (Zeusifer, though my boyfriend occasionally comes right out and calls him Lucifer when he's being a terror.)...
I'm sorry to hear about your first chin, I know that losing a pet in incredibly hard on a person.

 We keep our house between 65 and 67, he rarely wants in his ball for more than ten minutes at a time and we watch him closely the entire time he's out of the cage.
 Zeus came to us pretty tame, he's just come to show more of his personality now that he's been with us for a few months.

As for the chewing... I suppose I might start ignoring it completely, I always feel bad to ignore him but it does seem to be what might be best. I know he just wants attention and to be let out, but he has terrible timing. He tends to start up as soon as we start watching a movie, or eating dinner, or getting ready to go to bed... or his favorite WHEN we are in bed.

When we got Zeus he was 6 months old, he has more than doubled in size since then and even though he looks like a pudgy monster it's not really fat (I've checked according to the vets guidelines of how they should feel when you pet them, looking for spine and ribs) he's just really fluffy (as are most chins). I am hoping he does stop growing soon, I feel like if he does grow to much more we'll have to get him a larger cage.

Zeus is never allowed out if we are eating anything more than a snack so he'd never actually have access to meat unless it was jerky but even then we prefer him to be away... Something about how there is no way to eat jerky fast and sometimes you have to toss whatever you might be munching on in your mouth as fast a possible to run and stop your chin from getting into something he shouldn't. We also know better than to let him near chocolate. I know that it's terribly harmful to cats and dogs so I just assume that it's deadly to all other pets as well. In fact the only thing we've had to eat with him out tends to be chips and dry cereal... Now it looks like that shall not be happening anymore.
 Thanks for the answers! It's always helpful to have someone to bounce things off of when you really need answers to the small questions.

[FranklintheChin]

Our chin too LOVES the ball ( I know a lot of ppl say not to use it, but we keep a very close eye to make sure he doesn't get too hot, we keep the place cool anyway)!! But he NEVER runs in his chin appropriate wheel, instead it's a toilet! Our Franklin is going on two and he still seems to be growing!!