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[sarahlydear]

So I'm a student and I'm gone all day and then i work and have other chores so I'm usually not there in the evening and Herby doesn't get out until about 10ish. In the morning he is let out to run the room while i clean his cage and i try to come in to say hi when i get home from school before running to work, also i try to keep talking to him and paying all attention to him at night. Another thing i do is bring him out to visit the family sometimes at night, but he still seems lonely and will get depressed. He also has a really soft, fuzzy teddy bear in his cage that he sleeps with (it is SOOOO cute!!). I will be making a bigger cage after Christmas, but i probably wont be able to get another chin until about April. What else can i do to help him out? Last night he just got so depressed and wouldn't come out of the cage, but he perked up because we had some visitors that loved on him a bit. I just don't know what else i can do and it breaks my heart to see him so sad sometimes:(.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Give him lots of toys to play with, and interchange them for night to night.
Does he have a wheel?
Leave a radio or TV on for him, some love watching TV.

[dianah]

you could get him a stuffed friend - something like http://www.hammockyhammocks.co.uk/store_stuffies.htm - when i had to separate my baby boys (because there's girls in the same area), i put stuffies in with them, i must say, they don't cuddle up to them but they do like to sit on them.

my friend kim became an accidental chinchilla owner - she found a chinchilla outside in the rain and no one claimed him, she thought he was getting lonely and gave him a solid teddy and apparently he absolutely loves it. just make sure it's something he won't chew.

here's my little boy with a strawberry stuffy

[sarahlydear]

He does have a wheel and a bear and he loves both very, very much. I try to keep things interesting, but I'm not the most financially blessed person in the world, and most of what I do have is going to be going towards his new cage so I can get another one :/. Any ideas on very cheap toys?

Awh how cute! i love it, beautiful chin by the way.

[1newChinmom1]

cheap toys? Oh Yeah! We use empty toilet paper rolls, and paper towel rolls, empty mailing boxes (clean) empty canned goods boxes and cereal boxes. you put all that together and you have an amazing maze, all free! Also, grape vine wreaths from the cheapo store, and twigs from cherry and pine trees, wrapped together with wire. She loves to take these apart and show them who is boss,lol. Food grade baskets, willow, pine, grape vine - not painted. No cedar, that is important!  A cheap piece of wood, kiln dried pine - not treated can be cut into smaller bits for them to chew on and rearrange also. Just sand down the corners to avoid splinters. I have also discovered they like the round style Oats boxes stuffed with the alfalfa and timothy hay (and ONE raisin in the middle) they need to eat the hay anyways. They pull it out and play like that. You probably know most of this, but I hope I help a little. Good luck and just keep your eyes open, get inventive, that's what ChinMoms have to do!

The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know 

[dianah]

thank you

some people stuff toilet/kitchen towel rolls with hay and hang them on a string - hours of fun! mine chew through the string first and get the whole thing down but it keeps them entertained for a bit!

[Jenova]

Cardboard boxes. Hours of fun.

[Hoppinchins]

putting hay in toilet rolls is a good idea. I just give them the rolls. I also take shoe and cardboard boxes and cut holes through them. They love that.

[sarahlydear]

thanks y'all i havent heard a few of those, but i plan to give them a try.