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[Jenova]

This has been happening for a while, but I just put it down to Cheech being young but he can be very clumsy at times. Usually he has very good depth perception and will judge a jump before he takes it, standing on his hind legs and moving up and down, I presume judging the height. However, sometimes he just runs crazily at thing and misses them, either jumping right over them or into them. He even does this in his cage when he gets excited and will run, splat, into a shelf instead of jumping onto it, falling back down. Do I need to be worried about this? He's only just over year old, so is it just inexperience?

[Romeosgirl]

I'm certainly no expert, but I also have a young chin and he does exactly the same thing-
He'll jump to try to get onto a shelf, and hit it with his chest instead of his feet, falling to the ground 

I was never sure whether he was inexperienced or just lazy, thought he could make those jumps, and didn't put enough effort in.  He's also really bad about running into people when I let him out to play-it's like he can memorize where the furniture is, but the people keep moving so he can't figure out how to avoid them.

Since there are also plenty of times when he impresses me with his acrobatics and his agility, I never really thought to worry about his clumsy moments.

[Jo Ann]

A chinchilla's depth perseption/vision is usually not very good, as a general rule.  But ... their memory is very good.  I have heard, that in the wild, if one jumps over a cliff, the rest will follow him. 

If it continues (especially if you re-arrange the furniture), you might get the vet to check his eyes.  I have one that has cateracts and another that is blind in one eye from an injury. 

Another thing it could be would be an ear infection ... this, as with humans, will make them loose their balance.

Usually it is just their normal lack of good vision, but sometimes it can be something else ... never hurts to check it out.   

 
Jo Ann

Keep us posted!

[Jenova]

Thank you. 
From what you've said it sounds normal. His eyes are bright (if I'm right when you have cataracts the eyes go cloudy) and his ears are nice and clean. It only happens sometimes, much like Romeosgirl  said.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

I sure have a few like that, and yes move something and they'll smack right into it.
Some think they can fly and will try anything. Thankfully it's usually a lone chin.
For these reasons I never leave them alone while they are out for their run.
I know folks whom let them run free alone in a chin safe room, but even jumping from the top of a cage can cause injuries, and or death.
If they return to the room and find a dead or injured chin they have no idea on how it happened.
I went for a water bottle one night, 10 pases from their room, only to return and find one had tried to fly and broke his back.
I'd keep a close eye on this one. Make sure he can't get up on things, and has a clear run with out obstacles.

[Jenova]

He has a run in our bedroom and luckily the only place he can get to is the bed, which is bouncy, which is quite fun to watch, but sometimes he makes a running jump for the foot board only to miss and go clear over onto the floor. He doesn't think he can fly, in fact he's quite cautious when he's thinking... that's the problem though, when he's thinking.