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[chilla1]

Pepper, my 6 year old who I've now had for 5months will happily take treats from me inside his cage but  won't when he's out,  will this just come with time or is there something I could do...
Thanks!

[GrayRodent]

Sounds like your chinchilla is not very well adjusted. After five months I think he should be used to you. How was he handled before you got him? What do you know about his previous owners? I'm guessing he wasn't handled much if at all or was possibly abused.
Also what kind of cage do you have and what does his routine look like? Also what kind of treats are you giving him and how many?

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

I agree with GrayRodent; he may be scared to accept treats from you when he's not in the safety of his own home. Do you play with him frequently? You may want to try luring him out a bit more every day, putting the treat farther and farther from the back of the cage.

[chilla1]

I adopted him because had not been handled for almost a year, he's happy to be picked up, scratched and sit on my shoulder and he comes out for half an hour twice daily... he has a pet's at home cage and he likes flat peas and raisins mainly... I was wondering if a smaller room would help him feel more secure, he could be agoraphobic? He's normal with everything else, just this....
Thanks for the reply guys ...

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

I'm no expert, but I'll guess: maybe he's just being selfish. My own chinchilla, Snickerdoodle (1.5 year old standard male), will grab treats from me when he's out and runs back home to eat them. I think he does this because I've had to confiscate some of his "treats" (my phone has a bejeweled case and he once bit off one of the plastic gems; I had to pry open his mouth and take it away!) before and thinks I may do it again. Also, it's what many animals do. Maybe he thinks you're going to take it away?

[GrayRodent]

So it doesn't sound he's being skittish if you're saying he'll sit on your shoulder and get scratched.
It looks like he has a decent sized cage if it is one of the two cages on the website.

I do know that one chinchilla I had acted tamer in the bathroom than in the bedroom but he was not very tame compared to yours when I first got him. It wouldn't hurt to try a smaller room and away from the cage and maybe it will help condition him to accept a treat in other places. It is odd though that he doesn't go right to eating it because most chinchillas are not patient about treats. What does his diet look like? He could be getting too much of the wrong thing and not be hungry.

It sounds like he has a nice routine and that he has bonded and adjusted. Perhaps this is just one of those quirks that pets sometimes have.

When you give him a treat outside his cage does he just reject it or does he take it back into the cage? I know some chins will exhibit hoarding behaviors and will take all kinds of things into their cage like clothing and papers.

[chilla1]

Things starting to look better, took him into small bathroom and because he likes chewing while out - I gave him a birch leaf and he was taking them, running back to hoard them like you''ve mentioned and coming back for more...
Thanks for the help