My Chinchilla Hates ME!

[BassetHound08]

Okay, I got my Chinchilla 2 days ago and I'm convinced he hates me. He always runs away from me and makes this really loud high pitch noise when I try to pick him up. And the other night when I was holding him he started to make that noise... dose he hate me? IF he dose how can I make him love me?
!!HELP!!
~Cait

[AdoreMyDogs]

Be patient. Chins are not the most cuddly, affectionate pets anyway, but you need to give your chinchy time to adjust and to trust you. Be careful, that loud chattering noise is usually followed by projectile spraying of urine. They will stand up on thier hind legs and shoot pee at you. It's one of their natural deffences.

Start slow. If you push it, then you are actually taking a step backwards in the taiming process. Start slow by giving the chin small amounts of raisins through the bars of the cage **but only give up to 3 raisins a day as they have very sensetive stomaches and it may bind them up**. May want to also try to take the hay feeder out of his cage (if he has one, which he really should) and hand-feed him strands of hay.

Be patient. Pushing the chin to "love" you will not help at all. They are beautiful and so soft but they are not as cuddely as they look. It takes time to gain their trust. For a week or so start by feeding the chin timothy hay, raisins, and small slices of dried bananna through the cage bars. Then after a week or two, open the cage and offer your hand with some snacks inside of it, something yummy that the chin likes like the above mentioned treats, and the chin will begin to walk up to your hand and take the food out. Then put the food a bit farther up your hand and eventually on your wrist or even further up your arm so the chin has to actually put his paws on your arm and reach up to get the yummy. I would say that within 3-4 weeks the chin will trust you enough to step right up onto your hand without fear, granted you don't push or force the chin, breaking the trust. Until you have fully gained the trust of your chin, don't grab it out of the cage. That will just stress it out and make it distrust your hand.

Good luck. Please be patient, and don't push that chin to warm up to you. I had several chins, and in fact, I bred 2 of mine so I am pretty knowledgable about their problems. I had one that I had a hard time with. She was very unfriendly and untrusting, but doing what I recomended to you really worked. She was the one that taught me that chins could shoot pee to defend themselves....ick. She was never as friendly as the others, but she was full grown when I got her so I was pretty unsure of her history. She warmed up to the point where she stopped shooting pee at me and she did step on my hand but it was more cautious then the others.

[Karen]

I concur - patience, patience, love and patience!
Good luck and keep us posted ...

[BassetHound08]

Thank You both for giving me advice, I'll be sure to try them, and hopefully they'll work. I'll be sure to keep you guys up to date w/ how it's going w/ me and mt chin.

~Cait

[BassetHound08]

Okay Last Night around 3 in the morning, My HCin started making thin really loud squeaking noise while I was sleeping, and woke me up. . . what dose that mean?
Sigh I'll never understand him.
~Cait

[Daisylover]

I'm not a chinchilla expert but I've been following your thread.... have you tried going to the Pet Store or library and get a book on chin's? Also you might do a search on the web..it's invaluable. Most pet magazines have a section in the back regarding "pet clubs", for the want of a better term... you might check there too and see if you can find another chin owner.

I have rabbits and each is different in trusting....some will trust right away and others you really have to work hard at, and unfortunately, some never trust it all. I think it depends on their earliest experiences with humans. As ADM advised I think patience and persistence is going to be the key. Good Luck!!!!!

[AmandaShadow08]

your chinchilla does NOT hate you. chinchillas are just naturally that way. when it runs from you it's just because all chinchillas are born scared of people. when it makes the noise it is probably just picking it up wrong, don't try to grab it just put one hand under it and the other on top and the just pick it up.