Hello All!
I have been a "chinparent" for about 8 years. In mid-October, my ChiChi unfortunately passed away. She was my second chinchilla, and I had her for about 6 years (previous owner had her for about 4). ChiChi was incredibly social, and loved chin rubs and riding around on my shoulder. I knew it would be hard to find a girl as great as she was, and I was devastated at the loss of my companion.
A few weeks later, my siblings surprised me with 6-month old mosaic beauty named Violet. Violet came from a family where she got lots of playtime to run around and explore, but was very rarely held. Violet came with an awesome CritterNation one-story cage and not a lot of fondness for being held or pet. I gave her space and tried all the tips for bonding - keeping the room quiet for her, letting her explore, sitting near the cage and talking to her, and slowly introducing myself. She has never sprayed urine, but she almost always releases an odor (my boyfriend calls them "angry farts") when I reach towards her or need to catch her to return her to her cage after playtime.
AND THEN! One week ago (before Thanksgiving, as I had a week off from school), I took her to my parents house for my school break (I'm a graduate student living on the opposite side of the state). I didn't bring her cage with me, as I already had one set up in my room at home. The Violet I saw during that week was a full 180 - she let me hold her, pet her, she'd run towards me during playtime, and she was happy to be pet inside her cage by me and my family members. She even jumped onto my shoulder for a ride one day! I was so surprised and thought we had had some sort of major breakthrough in our bonding, and I was so excited to get back to school and continue to love on this little lady.
However, now that we're back at school, she's gone back to her old ways. She has similar amounts of ambient noise, same amount of playtime, same room temperature - pretty much everything is the same, except now she is back in her original cage.
I'm wondering if this antisocial behavior is then related to the cage? Is she more on-guard in this cage for some reason? Would a thorough cleaning (like, back to brand new) and a complete overhaul of all cage decorations help bring her around? Is there some sort of scent association or something with that cage?
I have been a "chinparent" for about 8 years. In mid-October, my ChiChi unfortunately passed away. She was my second chinchilla, and I had her for about 6 years (previous owner had her for about 4). ChiChi was incredibly social, and loved chin rubs and riding around on my shoulder. I knew it would be hard to find a girl as great as she was, and I was devastated at the loss of my companion.
A few weeks later, my siblings surprised me with 6-month old mosaic beauty named Violet. Violet came from a family where she got lots of playtime to run around and explore, but was very rarely held. Violet came with an awesome CritterNation one-story cage and not a lot of fondness for being held or pet. I gave her space and tried all the tips for bonding - keeping the room quiet for her, letting her explore, sitting near the cage and talking to her, and slowly introducing myself. She has never sprayed urine, but she almost always releases an odor (my boyfriend calls them "angry farts") when I reach towards her or need to catch her to return her to her cage after playtime.
AND THEN! One week ago (before Thanksgiving, as I had a week off from school), I took her to my parents house for my school break (I'm a graduate student living on the opposite side of the state). I didn't bring her cage with me, as I already had one set up in my room at home. The Violet I saw during that week was a full 180 - she let me hold her, pet her, she'd run towards me during playtime, and she was happy to be pet inside her cage by me and my family members. She even jumped onto my shoulder for a ride one day! I was so surprised and thought we had had some sort of major breakthrough in our bonding, and I was so excited to get back to school and continue to love on this little lady.
However, now that we're back at school, she's gone back to her old ways. She has similar amounts of ambient noise, same amount of playtime, same room temperature - pretty much everything is the same, except now she is back in her original cage.
I'm wondering if this antisocial behavior is then related to the cage? Is she more on-guard in this cage for some reason? Would a thorough cleaning (like, back to brand new) and a complete overhaul of all cage decorations help bring her around? Is there some sort of scent association or something with that cage?
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