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1

Health / Re: Horribly Aggressive Chin Behavior, HELP

« on: December 01, 2013, 07:02:16 PM »

I see no difference in his fecal output. His diet is timothy hay, and we give him the Kaytee brand food, which is "Fiesta mix - gourmet variety diet". When we originally got him, he was just fed plain pellets, nothing with variety. When we had him examined (about 1 month after we got him), the vet did not see anything wrong with his food choice. He also has fresh water available to him whenever. There has not been any change in his eating habits either.
I think a big problem may be the way we do respond to his behavior. At this point, I don't even know how to respond anymore. When he starts barking, how do we respond to that? Is it best to back off, and leave him alone? How long until you try again?

Also, with the vet check up. I was thinking of doing that, but wasn't sure if I should really pursue doing that. So that was another reason I posted on here, to see if anyone thought that I should maybe try going that route. Is this something that I should still pursue going to, or do you think it could mostly be my response to his behavior?

Thank you for your response.

2

Health / Horribly Aggressive Chin Behavior, HELP

« on: December 01, 2013, 03:55:17 PM »

Hello,
My boyfriend and I are still fairly new chinchilla owners. We bought him from a friend of a friend about 6 months ago. The chinchilla's is a male, and is just over 4 1/2 years old. All was going well at first. We had no problems. He was fairly hesitant of us, which we expected. About 2 months ago though, all was fine. He was much more comfortable with my boyfriend (who he lives with), which I also expected. For the last month though, something has happened to my chin. He is no longer the chin we've had for the past few months. He is now extremely mean. There has been no change in his routine. He has a very large cage, playtime every day, with many toys and a wheel inside his cage. Anytime we open the doors to the cage, and even start to put our hand in it, he barks. Consistently, until we take our hand out. As of lately, my boyfriend cannot even look at him by the cage without him barking at him, and getting very angry. We used to be able to pet him inside the cage, without him running away. That is no longer the case. Last week, our chin actually bit him for the first time. We have had small nibbles, but never anything large. This time, it was a very firm bite, and then followed by more and more barking. We can no longer pet him, he backs up, barks and start to kind of lunge at us. The only time he is not mean and aggressive, is when he thinks he hears the treat bag opening. Then he can be the sweetest chin, fully accepting of being pet.
At this point, we are kind of at a loss of what to do. For the last month, it has been hell just trying to take care of our chin. I love him so dearly, but I don't understand what is going on. I don't want to have to get rid of him, but he is clearly so unhappy with us. I don't know what we are doing wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Backstory on our chin: His previous owner had him from birth. They said he was a nice chin, and never had any problems. He was with the previous owner for a few years, but was for the last few months before we took him, he was living in their basement. They did mention that dogs had been around him, and that it never seemed to bother him. I don't know if that could be playing into any of this. But now, our chin is in a large cage, not anywhere near any animals, in my boyfriends room. So, he receives daily attention.

Thank you!