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1

General Chat / Re: Little Rambo

« on: December 22, 2009, 04:33:45 PM »

Hey guys!  Sorry about the long delay since my last post about Rambo.  After a few days, it seemed like the clicker started making him more nervous than I'd originally thought.  He knows that he gets a treat after the click... but he always jumps when I click it. 

Rambo is, however, doing MUCH better.  Over the past couple of weeks, I've been making it a point to sit next to his cage and talk to him 4-5 times a day.  During those times, I usually give him a cheerio.  He's learned the word Cheerio lol!  He doesn't really bark anymore unless you really make him angry.  He's really impressing me with his behavior recently.  He let me hold him for 10-15 minutes today and didn't squirm at all.

I'm going to be getting another chinchilla at the beginning of the year (a baby).  He will be a male as well (don't want any babies lol).  I've got two cages to keep them in until the get used to each other and (hopefully) move into the new cage that I'll be building for them after christmas.I'm pretty excited and I hope that they get along!

2

General Chat / Re: Little Rambo

« on: November 30, 2009, 06:46:39 PM »

 

After 5 months of care, he still is very skittish and barks/cries/gets scared when I try to handle him or anything.  If I can pick him up, he will (1) let me hold him for a few minutes before getting to squirmy.  He doesn't bark or anything while I'm holding him.  (2) He will let me scratch his chin a little through the bars but, after a few seconds, he runs and barks haha.

(1)  Any time a chin squirms, it is usually for one of two reasons ... He needs to go pee-pee and does not want to do it on you ...
      OR  You are not holding him properly, and he thinks he is going to fall.  {a chins feet must be supported at all times}
(2)  If you are accidently touching his whiskers, you art tickeling him ... chins tend to not like being tickled.

   Jo Ann

I've been making a strong effort to support his hind legs and just let him relax on my chest/stomach while holding him.  I think he just would rather explore than be held by me.  He's a curious little guy hahaha.

He seems to be responding quite well to the clicker training.  I've had three or four short (10 minutes or so) sessions with him today/last night.  The first few, I just would present a piece of a cheerio (or raisin to him) and when he'd ALMOST grab it, I'd give him a click then let him have the treat (to establish the connection between click = treat).  During my last little session, I decided to try to step it up a notch.  I stuck my hand into his gave and very gently rubbed his chin.  The first time he wasn't very fond of it but tolerated it.  I gave him a click and a treat.  The second time he still wasn't very fond of it but, once again, allowed it.  Click & Treat.  By the third time, he'd realized that he'd get a treat if I could rub his chin.

Rambo is progressing very well to this type of training.  The main concern that I'm having with him is that he doesn't like any type of vocalization (from anyone but, especially, me).  Any time I get next to his cage and talk to him, he immediately starts to bark/cower.  I've never yelled at him or anything.  We're very rarely loud in our house... so I guess maybe his previous owners yelled a lot or something.  Is there anything I can do to calm him when he gets like that?  I've been trying to talk to him more and hopefully get him used to my voice.  Aside from that, I'm out of ideas.

3

General Chat / Little Rambo

« on: November 30, 2009, 03:35:29 AM »

This is Rambo.  He's my cute little Chinchilla that I rescued in June of this year (2009).  I made a couple of posts about him a while back.  Long story short, he had a rough life prior to my rescue.  He had been caged with another Chinchilla that beat up on him a lot apparently  .  His ears have little bite marks out of them in a few spots and he's missing half of his tail.  It's pretty obvious that he's had his share of battles.  Poor little guy.

Since I've had him, I've tried my best to show him love/good care (given some unforeseen circumstances).  I limit him to two raisins per day which I hand feed him.  He eats Timothy Hay bricks and Alfalfa Pellets.  I try to let him out of his cage daily to run around my room a bit (notice the picture of him sitting on my Wii haha).

After 5 months of care, he still is very skittish and barks/cries/gets scared when I try to handle him or anything.  If I can pick him up, he will let me hold him for a few minutes before getting to squirmy.  He doesn't bark or anything while I'm holding him.  He will let me scratch his chin a little through the bars but, after a few seconds, he runs and barks haha.

I'm mainly making this post to document my plan and progress on my plan.  I have started, tonight, clicker training him.  The first thing I'm training him to do is take a treat from my hand (not me handing it to him).  After that, I plan on teaching him to come to my hand (once he gets to my hand, he gets a treat/click).

Secondly, I want to train him on "play time".  I've set an alarm on my phone (10:00PM) that plays a specific "Ding" sound.  Eventually, I'm sure he'll pick up on it and get anxious when he hears the alarm.

So far, after just a few clicker exercises, he is starting to come to come to my hand/take the treat more and bark less.  Hopefully he'll continue to "come around" as they say.

4

Q & A / Re: Angry little man

« on: July 17, 2009, 08:48:36 PM »

His sound is really more of a "Get away, I'm scared" sound.  The next time that he starts up like that, I'll grab my camera and try to record it.  He also makes this really wheezing breathing sound when he gets agitated.  He did a lot better today.  I've been making an attempt to hold him for a few minutes everyday and give him a raisin while I'm holding him and he's being good.  I think he's starting to come around a bit.

He's never attempted to bite me.  He did nibble my finger while running around my room.  It was pretty cute lol.

I think holding him is really getting through to him.  I guess he's adjusting to my smell and touch.  My main question is... when he's mad and fussing, should I continue to talk to him and fool with him or just leave him alone until he cools off?

5

Q & A / Re: Angry little man

« on: July 16, 2009, 03:54:27 PM »

He had a log thing in his cage as well as a little house (that he loves to sit on top of).  I put those in his new cage and he uses them.  He also really likes the wood perching block that's toward the top of the cage.  He seems to be liking the cage I think... just not me.  I haven't had any problems getting him back into his cage.  When he's done running/exploring, he'll usually just go back to his cage on his own and sit.  There has been maybe once or twice that I've kinda had to shoo him into his cage but it's never been a huge issue.

I will probably get one of those surgical masks and see if I can find some kind of air filtration system for my room.  I don't really mind taking him outside for his dust baths.  It kinda forces him to hold him for a few minutes.  He's never super hard to catch (while he's in his cage at least).  I can usually just grab him.  He kicks a bit but not enough to slip loose.  Once I get him in a comfy position, he's usually okay.

My main question is: When he gets mad and starts barking/grunting at me, should I continue to talk to him or just leave him alone at that point.  Is it a good or bad idea to offer him treats when he's acting like this?  He's usually okay for a few seconds when I talk to him and rub his chin.  Then, all at once, he'll just act huffy.

6

Q & A / Re: Angry little man

« on: July 15, 2009, 10:42:14 PM »

He takes the treat and then goes back to being an angry/grunting little guy.  I think a lot of the problem really is his cage.  His old cage just had shavings in it for him to run on.  This one has the grating with shavings below it.  Maybe he's grumpy.

I have mixed emotions about giving him treats when he's like this.  I think giving him treats would, maybe, entice him to like me more.  At the same time, I don't want to reward him for the type of behavior that he's displaying.

I'm also having some serious problems with the dusting powder.  The first two times that I've given him dust baths, my blood pressure has shot way up and my lungs have just felt rotten.  Very painful to breath and very labored.  I'm, apparently, allergic to the dusting powder.  Is there any type of home-made (or non volcanic ash/pumice) dusting powder solution?  My only option has been to put him in a smaller cage outside with the dust bath.  This, obviously, isn't helping our relationship (since I have to catch him etc... to get him in the other cage).

7

Q & A / Angry little man

« on: July 15, 2009, 09:38:23 PM »

I've recently gotten a chinchilla (His name is Rambo).  I saved him from, what seems to have been, a bad home.  From what I'd heard, he'd lived with another chinchilla that he didn't get along with.  He lost about half of his tail in a fight with the other Chinchilla.  Long story short, he's had a rough life.  The problem is, he's not friendly.  When I first got him, he seemed to tolerate having his chin rubbed and letting me talk to him.  I purchased a new cage for him a few days ago.  Since then, he's been nothing but angry.  If I sit next to his cage and talk to him, he tolerates it for a minute.  I can stick my finger in and, occasionally, scratch his chin but, after a second or two, he starts kinda barking at me and acts really angry (showing his teeth etc...).  If I try to talk to him, after that, he just continually grunts and acts angry.

I try to let him out of his cage every night or every other night for a little while at least and I've tried to be friends with him.  I realize that a good portion of this is due to him missing his old cage and/or the fact that he's had a hard life.  Is there anything that I can do to win his trust?  If I put my hand in his cage and just leave it there, he will usually just ignore it.  If I put my hand up next to him, he will smell it, then continue ignoring it.

Any advice would be great.  I've heard of people having trouble getting the trust of their little friend... but I've not heard of a case this severe