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[ChinnyGirl]

Hello,

I have not been on  here in a while, my daughter jumped into my spot to talk about Cheerio with everyone.  I have a question, since our little fuzzball now has run of the house in the evenings and this presents a whole new set of adventures (although I have to say, she is fabulous about going back in her cage when its time for us to turn the lights out, and using her litterbox, we never had to clean up after her evening romps).  My concern is my Christmas Cactus, she is madly in love with it.  She has managed to take a few chunks from it on previous evenings before I could get to her, and tonight she made off with a dried up flower than had fallen on the floor without my noticing.  Can any of this harm her?  She also went after my African Violets a few times but I cut her off in time  before she got anything in her mouth.   Do I have to get rid of my plants!?!?!?

[Stacy]

I would put them in another room when she is out. I am not sure what it would do to her but I don't think it would be good.

[Jo Ann]

In the wild, cactus is one of the plants chinchillas get their food/water from ... but it is not the same cactus plant ... I would be very weary of what might happen, should she continue to chew on plants.  Many plants are poisonous to chinchillas, but I do not know which ones, and would not want to chance it/find out. I would suggest the same thing Stacy said "put them in another room when she is out."  And close the door.

...  I have a question, since our little fuzzball now has run of the house in the evenings and this presents a whole new set of adventures ...

     The "run of the house" could be dangerous for any chinchilla ... they will chew and consume almost anything they can get their little teeth into ...including, but not limited to: metal, cleaning supplies, plastic, wood and any thing they find ... they do not know what is good and what is not good for them. 
A plugged-in wire can produce a crispy critter!      
They can often get into a place that is to small for them to get out of and get stuck.   
They love to hide in small places ... including under and in the padding of the chairs, couch and/or bed ... have a seat and or lay down, and ... smush!   
They do not judge depth distance well ... a jump off the upstairs balcony and splat!   
OK ... OK ... I know I am being a bid graphic ... but not as graphic as it would be if you had to see it.

Keep the holiday season happy and safe for everyone ... including your chin!   


 
Jo Ann

[Debbie.nl.ca]

On that note some go wild and wear themselves down. Their sugars can drop as they are not used to so much activity being caged.
I do believe a couple of hours of free run would be very exhausting and could be very dangerous.
I left them playing in the laundry room one night to dart a few feet to the fridge. One shimmied up the side of the cage to the top, and jumped to the washer. After several days of trying steroid injections I had to put him down. His spine was injured and he was paralyzed from the waist down.
I have one that has had seizures from exhaustion, and just had a call last night from a lady who's chins seems to be suffering the same.
She told me he is usually out from 7:30-9:30 running around the house, but this night he was out from 5:30, went missing, and after being found suffered some kind of episode.
I recommended she not leave him out so long.
Keep on eye on her, don't let her over do it, and never take your eyes off her while she is out. They will and can get into anything.

[ChinnyGirl]

She doesn't run around much when she is out, just perches herself somewhere and watches us go about our nightly routine.  I have moved the plants - she finds them  - but we never leave her unattended to keep her out of trouble.  There were just those couple of times that she managed to find part of the plant, like the dried up flower on the floor, and I didn't get to her in time.  We gate off the stairs and close the doors to the other rooms, so she stays with us, usually for about a half hour or so.  Once we tell her its time to go back in, she scoots right in and waits for her craisin.  We were thinking that we'd like to give her more time outside, but now that I read that this could be detrimental rather than good for her, we will definitely keep it to the half hour we are doing now.  It has always seemed to be enough for her, but we thought we were depriving her of free time.  Glad I asked!!!  THANKS!!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

If you want her out more I'd splint shifts, but if she is a calmer one, your the best judge.
You can handle her as much as you want ::kiss99::or as much as she'll let you.

but we thought we were depriving her of free time

I know and when they look at you with that sweet face they can talk you into almost anything.