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[Ichigo Kurosaki]

My pet Ichigo is a baby chinchilla, and he jumps like a noob. So he is jumping, and wants to come out, but I have work to do and I let him out twice today. He jumps and falls on his tiki hut, and he cries. That scared me half to life! So I let him have a 10 minute run. I removed the hut from that spot and placed it where he can't get hurt again. Nothings broken, he is fine now. Anyone who owns a chinchilla experience this?

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

He did it again, he jumped to the tallest pot of his cage, all of his legs holding onto the cages rails, and falls back landing on the food bowl. He cried again. But he's not limping or anything. Do I have to buy another chinchilla? I put the hammock back in there to make sure he can't fall on anything hard again and kill himself. How do I fix this problem? I need help! I can't get any sleep from this situation.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

I have a bad feeling he is going to commit suicide. He keeps on doing it. I don't understand. The hammock is blocking him from hitting a hard surface, but he jumps on the rail at the top of the cage.

[Abby W.]

How old is he?

[Stacy]

You may need to put another floor in the cage so he can't fall so far. 2 of mine climb to the top of the cages and then they will kinda turn and jump onto one of there ledges. If you have a very young chinchilla he does not understand not to just let go.

[Jo Ann]

Chinchillas, especially the young ones, climb up, and sometimes even sideways, but they can not climb down, so they just turn loose and fall.  This is why I always suggest cages 15" tall or under and lots of bedding in a cage for mom to deliver her kits and they spend at least the first 6 to 8  weeks there, then slowly move up to a larger cage ... or close off levels to a large cage and move the floors/open up the floors appropriately as time goes by and the chin get bigger ... leaping ledges are also good for them to climb to and jump from one to another ... the more the better, this way they can jump to a lower one instead of to the bottom of the cage.
     The falls all the way to the bottom and/or on top of something can cripple and/or kill a chinchilla.

 
Jo Ann

[ChinchillAZ]

I'm not sure what getting another chinchilla would do, other than make you have to worry about two of them falling and injuring or killing themselves...  I like to make sure that there is no way for chinchillas to fall more than 18" at the very most and even less if they are very small.  Putting in additional shelves is the best way to avoid this, as Stacy mentioned.

[Ichigo Kurosaki]

Thanks everyone. He is very young. I just let him out today, and he learned how to jump onto my bed. They can jump up to 6 feet correct? Just when they get a little older? He only does it when he has a good time outside the cage. Also, he likes to wedge between the dresser and the wall, is this normal?

[Debbie.nl.ca]

I like to up grade cages for kits as they grow. Some can be very klutzy to, so keep a close eye.
Yes keep on eye on where he can get. They can shimmy between any 2 surfaces close enough together. That means they can get high and fall.
Only let him run in a small area like the bathroom until he's older.
I don't let my kits on the floor until they are 6 months old. I'll let them have a little romp on a set of stairs I have that are closed in, or put them in a larger cage for play time when they are real young.
Kits spend most of their time out of the cage up in my arms, and climbing through my cloths. ::kiss99::tickles too.

[ChinchillAZ]

I've personally never seen a chinchilla jump over 4 feet, but anything is possible.

[Pookahsmom]

 :2funny:We have 2 that will do the shimmy thing between the door of the bathroom and the wall.  i have also read that young chins have no fear of heights and not a good concept of it either.  Loki likes to jump from his cage, vault to your shoulder, run across the top pof the girls cage and then scale down the back side of their cage using the wall and the cage wall.  Once out, all we have to do is tell him to go find the bathroom and he runs there.

[Jo Ann]

Chins like it cozy and feel secure in small places.  The first chin that got out and lost, after 2 hours of searching, I had given up on finding him, then I heard a "chomp-chomp" comming from the filing cabinet.  I found the little stinker in the top drawer of the filing cabinet.  He was chewing away on papers ... he had shimmed up between the back of the drawers and the back of the cabinet ... all the way to the top drawer!
      You'd be surprised at the places they can get into ... but can not always get out of.  All time outside of the cage must be closely supervised!

 
Jo Ann

[chinclub]

Chinchillas can jump 7 feet!  If they don't get a lot of time outside of the cage they don't develop that skill, but chinchillas who get out regularly will figure it out quickly.  I know of one chinchilla that will jump onto his owner's shoulder from the floor.  He is between 5 and 6 feet tall.  I have seen pictures of chinchillas that have jumped onto the top of dressors and hutches higher than that.  Those kangaroo hind legs are amazing!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Yes Jamie, and even the ones that are not good at jumping, think they can.
I had one way back shimmy up behind his 5 foot high cage and jump across the room to the washer.
He broke his back and I had to put him down.
In the taller cages I always stagger shelves so they can't fall very far.
If he's continuously falling on the hut take it out and add loads of shavings for him to fall on.
Sounds like the cage maybe a tad large for kit.