Hi everyone! I've had my little homie Tofu for about two weeks now and we are getting along great.
Here I was, prepared for my new chin to be shy, scared of me, etc. However, after 2 days he was soliciting me for scratches, after a week I was able to pet him pretty much wherever I want (even his back) and he's asking for petting regularly.
He has hopped on my shoulder briefly, and is really close to feeling comfortable walking around on my arms, but the second I try to move, he hops off the giant human bus and back into his cage. He seems to be comfortable in the environment and has explored the room and while he's not quite to the point where he's getting out of cage time EVERY day, I feel pretty comfortable letting him out to run around in my chin proof room for an hour or two on most days. He's already found his fave hidey places in my room and knows where I keep the treats. (In a tin box with a latch, but nice try with your tiny paws there, buddy.)
Now, i've read about two different schools of thought on the whole picking up your Chinchilla thing. The first is that you should just always wait until the chin is comfortable getting into your arms on his own and you should just quietly work with them, and if they never feel ok being held, that's a bummer but it is what it is.
The other camp seems to suggest that I should try picking Tofu up carefully in a safe quiet environment weather he's into it or not, so he gets used to it.
I do NOT want to manhandle him because we are really getting along great. I did have to grab him a few days ago for safety reasons, (i had to use the hold the tail base and lift the body method and I learned that tail grabbing makes me feel like a huge jerk.) and my roommate didn't know he was out and opened my door to ask me a question and I had to catch him before he went out, and he was pissed at me for like a day, (I can tell because he has one corner that is his sulking corner, where he'll go and turn his back on me and ignore me if he's angry at me.) but he got over it after a day.
Anyone want to weigh in on this? I don't really need him to be a cuddly lap pet, I just need to be able to hold him safely without him freaking out when needed. Eventually I will need to do a hair ring check and other matinence stuff where I'll need to hold him. Is it better to try to gently pick him up regardless to get him used to it? Or is it better to just wait out as long as it takes to get him to be ok sitting in my arms?
Here I was, prepared for my new chin to be shy, scared of me, etc. However, after 2 days he was soliciting me for scratches, after a week I was able to pet him pretty much wherever I want (even his back) and he's asking for petting regularly.
He has hopped on my shoulder briefly, and is really close to feeling comfortable walking around on my arms, but the second I try to move, he hops off the giant human bus and back into his cage. He seems to be comfortable in the environment and has explored the room and while he's not quite to the point where he's getting out of cage time EVERY day, I feel pretty comfortable letting him out to run around in my chin proof room for an hour or two on most days. He's already found his fave hidey places in my room and knows where I keep the treats. (In a tin box with a latch, but nice try with your tiny paws there, buddy.)
Now, i've read about two different schools of thought on the whole picking up your Chinchilla thing. The first is that you should just always wait until the chin is comfortable getting into your arms on his own and you should just quietly work with them, and if they never feel ok being held, that's a bummer but it is what it is.
The other camp seems to suggest that I should try picking Tofu up carefully in a safe quiet environment weather he's into it or not, so he gets used to it.
I do NOT want to manhandle him because we are really getting along great. I did have to grab him a few days ago for safety reasons, (i had to use the hold the tail base and lift the body method and I learned that tail grabbing makes me feel like a huge jerk.) and my roommate didn't know he was out and opened my door to ask me a question and I had to catch him before he went out, and he was pissed at me for like a day, (I can tell because he has one corner that is his sulking corner, where he'll go and turn his back on me and ignore me if he's angry at me.) but he got over it after a day.
Anyone want to weigh in on this? I don't really need him to be a cuddly lap pet, I just need to be able to hold him safely without him freaking out when needed. Eventually I will need to do a hair ring check and other matinence stuff where I'll need to hold him. Is it better to try to gently pick him up regardless to get him used to it? Or is it better to just wait out as long as it takes to get him to be ok sitting in my arms?
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire