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[LYChinchillas]

Hi all! I've wrote a big long post about chinchilla playtime basics!

I wanted to share my basic points with you!
* Get to know your fluffball
* Be present at playtime
* Set your boundaries
* Chin-proof the playroom
* Train
* Enjoy and take your time

The entire article can be found here:
http://lychinchillas.com/2014/11/19/tips-for-chinchilla-playtime/ if you'd like to delve in further 

[mb30]

Very good post again...your blog is nicely done.
Love all the pictures too. The banner is awesome.

My chin room has cardboard lining around the whole room to protect the skirting boards. Once they figure out they can move the cardboard to chew the skirting board it is all over haha. They never forget either. My younger chin found out how to get on the window sill today after watching how the older chin did it. She is up there all the time now trying to chew the sill haha

[LYChinchillas]

Thanks so much  Glad you stopped by  - that banner was a fight to accomplish haha! That's so funny about the window sill, they'll definitely help each other out when it comes to escape plans.. Sometimes I wonder if they would come back to me in an open field. Unfortunately, I doubt it.. maybe Mitty.. but the rest would be lost to the world 

[mb30]

Haha...they are a joy to watch. It's really cool to watch one learn from the other...even if she is learning bad habits

[GrayRodent]

That's really neat. That's way more than I do with my pet. I'm fearful he's going to get electrocuted because my room is crammed with electronic equipment and it's a small room so there's plenty of places to disappear into and munch on power cables which is very dangerous for a chin. The only place I intentionally let him out to run around is in the bathroom but he does manage to jump out of his cage if I'm not careful and gets to run through the house a couple of times a week. It's no big deal because when I chase him he'll end up the bathroom in seconds if I do it right. He's very predictable. He goes straight to the tub where he takes his dust bath and sometimes it's still set up and he'll roll in it.

And I do attest they will destroy anything they will get a hold of if you don't catch it. I was able to train my chinchilla to respond to the word "no" when it comes to chewing on baseboards. He's never done any real damage because I keep a very close watch.

[LYChinchillas]

A watchful eye does more than chin-proofing any day, and that's great that you got him to respond to "no" - my first chin will listen to me, but I'm still working on the rest of them. Sometime it feels like we're making progress but then they'll get that empty look in their eye and bite away AS they're looking at me. 

[Jasonred79]

I gave up on teaching popsicle "no"... he's being selectively stupid about being disciplined/trained.

At one point I decided to be less subtle, and when he chewed on wires I reached over and smacked him a little. He barely acknowledged it and went back to nibbling. I smacked him again on his side, and he turned, gave me a look that made me think I was imagining him saying "hey, roughhorsing is fine but you're overdoing it mate!". ... I THOUGHT I had just imagined it... he went back to chewing, 3rd smack, and he stopped, gave me a look which clearly said "IT WAS ON PURPOSE???" and then he gave me a glare, then he ran back across the room, went into his cage, and sulked in his metal cooler house. Utterly completely sulked.
...
I gave up.

[GrayRodent]

The way it worked for me was that every time my pet would go after the baseboard I'd pull him away and say "no". After doing that about 50 times I resorted to stomping my foot and that got him to jump. After a couple of months he started responding to the word "no" but not consistently. It's still not consistent and lately he's been out of practice since most of the time I close him in the shower stall where he can't hurt anything and let him run around on his own.
It is a very long process. I've found that a light slap doesn't do any good either. Chinchillas are very sensitive to noise and vibration though.