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[CritterLady]

I am a new chin owner, my oldest gifted me with an 11 week old female last week on my birthday.  She is adorable! Her name is Lucy and she is pretty smart having already figured out that open cage door means out to play.  However, once she hops into my arms, I don't quite know what to do.  I feel sad that having already gained her trust that she will come out to me so willingly, I am at a loss as to how to entertain her.  My bathroom is small and I don't have another room safe enough to allow her to roam freely.  Right now she is gnawing her cage bars in frustration that I have put her back into the cage already.  Please, any suggestions would be great! Thanks.

[chinclub]

You are her best play thing.  Sit on the bathroom floor and let her crawl on you and jump off of you.  You can even lay down or get down on hands and knees to make crawl spaces for her.  Chinchillas love that sort of thing.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Awww congrats, she's just a baby.

And well on her way to being spoiled. 
You don't need a lot of room for her to play,the fun is getting them to play with you.If that's all that's there she'll climb all over you. Just sit there and let her for now.
Push the shower curtain inside so she can walk the edge of the tub, when she gets a bit bigger.A shower stall can be left open.She'll be able to jump up and down from the toilet so keep the LID CLOSED 
Many of us have had chins take the plunge.
A simple cardboard box is great entertainment. Cut a couple of hole from the side and you have hidy huts. Coffee trays, paper towel tubes, egg cartons... etc anything will keep her entertained.
Get her a stuffed safe toy and see if you ca get her to fetch, I haven't tried that one yet.

[sarahlydear]

go to lows or home depo and ask for the cardboard rolls they use for carpet, they should have some that they will give you for free, go home and cut it into diffrent sized separate tubes and she will "tunnel" though them, my Herbs love them. she may also enjoy it if you put them on an incline so she can climb, but only do it with the small sections until she gets bigger.
also i made Herby a cardboard box castle, it just sits in a corner pretty much out of the way and its 3 "stories" high a vaccum box(i kept the appliance holder thing inside), then a medium regular cardboard then a slightly smaller box and he has access ways to each level through the roofs and holes on the outside, he spend most of his time in there and seems perfectly content to not have a huge room to play in.
another thing, you have to be careful with this, but i got him a ball to roll outside in, like hamster does. you have to make sure she doesn't get stuck in a dangerous spot but again Herby seems to really like and will get defensive if you try to take his ball away
you could get her a wheel that will be on the inside of her cage that will help her get ride of some energy inside and build endurance, just be sure it doesn't have spokes but is a flat, even surface all around.
my chinchilla is stuck in my room which also isnt to big, but i cut it in half and he comes out to play in his castle and run through his tubes then he jumps in his ball to ask to be set loose in the house by then hes usually tired and takes a nap, drinks a bit, snackes and then runs back down to do it again , its cheap easy and keeps him from being to bored.  
also toilet paper and paper towl rolls, they enjoy playing with them and chewing on them.

[smokie]

My chinchilla is in my bedroom and her absolute favourite thing to do (except for chewing wires, handbags and shoes) is to come under the covers!  She totally loves it.  If you take a blanket into the bathroom and put it over your knees she'll have a grand old time and you can read a book in warmth  
Incidentally, my chinchilla has already had fun chewing the bristles on my toothbrush so beware!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Same idea, I put them in my fleece and let them walk out the sleeve 
Some will curl up behind my neck under my hair, inside the fleece 
All I have to do when I take them out is step outside to shake out the droppings 

[CritterLady]

Thanks for all the suggestions.  My husband came up with a way to put some cardboard in front of the kitchen opening, blocked access to the back of the fridge and now we let Lucy play in the kitchen with us!  She loves to run back and forth, using us as mountains to climb and slide down our arms  and also running through the tubes we got for her.  she just cracks us up with her silliness. 

[jmdebb]

yes congrats from me too..
its so neat when you are int he room and they jump on you.. i love how it feels when they walk all over you...

jean

[Jo Ann]

   Chins are as easy to please as a baby who has just learned to crawl and is just as curious ... anything they get to play with seems to make them happy.  You do not want your little one to have anything that would not be safe for a baby, so watch him carefully!

Empty oatmeal boxes seem make perfect hiding places ... cardboard boxes with doors and windows cut out gives them places to explore.  Tissue boxes make great disposable huts.  

Hand feeding her her own food pellets makes her the "center of attention" - a most delightful thought for any chinchilla!    

Chinchillas learn that certain noises mean certain things ... one of the best ones they can learn, is the one made by shaking a plastic container filled with treats, this will bring most any chin running to you once he learns the sound.

A word of caution ... kitchens often offer some dangerous places to hide ... behind/under the refrigerator and/or stove ... in the area under the sink will sometimes provide a small opening in the wall ... you definitely do not want your little one to explore any of these places.  Chinchillas can often squeeze through a hole as small as one inch square/round.  

   Be very careful not to let him play where there are insect poisons and/or on a rug that has been cleaned and still holds a tiny bit of moisture from the chemicals used to clean it.

   Jo Ann