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1

Q & A / Re: Angry Chinchilla

« on: May 03, 2009, 05:16:27 PM »

Thank you! And I'm sorry about some of the sarcasm in my comment, I just get cranky when I have urine all over my shirt. I really don't feel that way towards Lola - my negative feelings are more directed at the situation. 

She's not an animal for petting or display, but rather in a section for animal presentations in education programs - which is totally NOT the place for her. Lola's definitely NOT going to be used for presentations  - we're just taking care of her. And due to bureaucracy issues [  ] , I'm not sure how the zoo would deal with the idea of someone taking her home.

This chinchilla usually sprays first ask questions later. I'm thinking - because I happen to have met the previous owner a few times in the past and I know she's temperamental - that this is a result of experience; I can see the owner ignoring getting bit or scratched or squeaked at, but totally freaking out at being peed on. The chinchilla probably thinks that urine is the best way to get humans - specifically that owner - away from her.

Today I had to hold her for a bit and she took a while to calm down - but then I began petting her, she relaxed a bit, and then I began scratching behind her ear - and she became putty. Her eyes were closed and she was calm. It totally made my heart melt 

In the future, I'll stop actually holding her in my hands and more stuff like just sticking my hand in to pet her, giving her some positive attention, a few treats, and then see if she starts to warm up. I'm going to have more time this summer to see her, maybe every early morning since they're sort of nocturnal?

And this really isn't a bad zoo or education department, our plate is full with a lot of unnecessary reorganizing, dealing with a bad person-in-charge, and are changing supervisors, AND receiving a good deal of new animals. 

2

Q & A / Angry Chinchilla

« on: May 02, 2009, 09:12:29 AM »

I'm not personally a chinchilla owner, but I do take care of a few of them at my job, a zoo internship. Usually they're shy animals that need to be coaxed out, but I'm used to having to deal with that. But we have this new chinchilla I'll call Lola who is - well, I've grumbled about her being pure evil.

But that's not true because Lola was neglected by her previous animal owner. As sad as it is, the owner was a very busy woman who never handled Lola and as a result, Lola has no idea why we keep trying to handle her. She jumps and runs everywhere, has jumped over my shoulder and run around the animal room before I can catch her. And she has peed - from at least a foot away - into someone's mouth - direct hit - TWICE. And she's hit my jaw with her foul urine before. She's a skilled chinchilla warrior. As good as exercise is, this obviously isn't healthy for her to be in constant fear - and it obviously isn't good for us to have urine in our mouth.   

The regular animal keepers - the ones who are paid and went to college - are having trouble with a lot of new animals, and tend to avoid her, so I've sort of made it my goal to try and get her to at least tolerate people by the end of the summer.

Any advice is much appreciated.