Freedom... Almost.

Tonight was a fun night for Sally! Thankfully I had a handful of food ready. I was hand feeding her like I have done everynight when I get home and we are slowly working our way closer and closer to my body. So tonight we were on the cage door about halfway out and she decided to do a little wandering. First she came at me, which is ok because that means she is getting more comfortable around me. Then, she decided to jump over my hand and onto the floor. Instead of panicing I just let her wander a little and then held out my hand of food next to the cage and pretended I was going to pick her up. This, as planned, had her scootin back in to her safe area. A few minutes later she did allow me to pick her up and hold her. It was only for a few seconds but it was the first time she calmed down and just kinda sat there. I'm glad I have gotten so much time to play with her so she is getting comfortable. My work schedule is perfect for hers since when I get home it's her peak playtime hours.

I also found out today that not only has she been wrestling her hut, but she has eaten the roof off the top in the back. This was all hidden from the front and the side of the cage. It took a good glance to see something looked different. Upon further inspection I realized that a good amount of the roof, and the hay I have been givng her, is now inside her little hut where she has made a bed for herself. I found this to be so precious... And then realized that she does a good amount of sleeping on the top shelf in her cage. She never falls asleep first in her hut, it's always on the shelf. She will wake up crawl to the bottom shelf, sleep a bit there, and eventually make it into her hut. So why the bed is in there I have no clue! It's also supposed to be dark in there since Chins are supposed to sleep during the day, but with chewing the roof off it's allowing a good amount of light in. I guess she's just a silly girl!

Tomorrows task: I am hoping to get some time on the net to look up more on Chinchilla behavior. So far I can tell when she gets tense and everything, I would just like to read her a little better. I also have a few more pictures I'd like to post.

Company

Sally had her first visitors today, and of course she did amazing! She was a little more timid than normal but she let them touch her without taking off and ate out of their hands as well. She didn't try to hide when she say people walking up either. I do hope a few more people start coming over though. She needs to like people in general and not just me. I know that's going to take a ton of work though, and I don't have enough company for it to work, but I can dream big!

Hand Feeding

I've been working on hand feeding Sally so she makes the connection that I am the one who feeds her and is trustable. She has really caught on! Tonight I got home from work to her doing her laps around her cage. I then went up and pet her nose like she has been almost begging for and she was smelling my hand; got her first nibble but it didn't hurt or draw blood so no biggie. I'm guessing it had something to do with my hands smelling like oranges and Chins liking fruits. I proceded to go and get her food which I decided tonight to eat it she was going to have to sit outside of her cage in one hand while eating it out of the other. She did just fine! As soon as I opened the cage she came right to the door and started looking for her food (in a way this worried me, she's so fast that one of these days she's just going to book it to run around the house.) Well she wandered to my hand crawled on and found her food in the other hand. She sat there for 15 minutes eating away, comfortable as can be. When she was done I sat there and go to pet her, really pet her, like rub her back for a good minute before she would start to move away. This too is progress since last night she would take off to her little hut and hide for a second. Tonight she'd move away, I'd back off, and then she'd come back! I'd say we are doing alright! Well, I am, since I wasn't too sure what I was doing when I got her, good thing I did my research!

Today I also gave her her first dustbath. Which, for those of you that don't know, is the way they keep themselves clean. It's a specially formulated dust that helps keep their coat shiny and non-greasy. I don't know how their instincts tell them to roll in it, since it's not what is found in the wild, but she did it! I put it in a larger fishbowl and she was stoked! She came flying from the top level and dove in! She then just rolled around and would pop out, shake off a bit, and then dive back in. She played in there for about 15 minutes and I had to remove it from the cage when she was trying to sleep in the bowl. But at least I know she loves her baths!

That's it for tonight since it seems like she's starting to wind down a bit. But, there will be more tomorrow since I can't help but share this adventure.

Welcome to your new home!

A few months ago I got my own cozy little apartment knowing it wouldn't take long for me to realize how lonely I was. Unfortunately I am not allowed cats or dogs. So, I got a chinchilla! I bought her on Monday the 3rd of August and she was 10 weeks old. Which is perfect for chinchillas. When getting a "chin" you want them either very young or 3-4 months but only if they have been pre-tamed! The older they are the less apt they are to learn to trust! I named her Sally and she has been nothing but a joy the past few days! Lots of people had lots of questions on how to raise a chinchilla and what I'm doing with her. My blog is now dedicated to her and I'm going to let everyone follow my adventures. So, I hope you all enjoy and if anyone has anything they'd like to add let me know!