How to Tame a Chinchilla

How to Tame a Chinchilla

A much used instruction or reminder from chinchilla care guides is that you must use patience on your chinchilla. This is a good reminder as it will be less aggravating for you and your pet. Forcing the issue of trust would most likely break any chance of that happening thus making it a very unhappy relationship.

First, let us start from when you purchase your pet and are in fact about to bring it home. The minute you bring the little rascal inside your house, place it inside of its cage and leave it alone so as the chinchilla can familiarize itself with the surroundings. You might notice that it still appears frightened for most part. Do not worry, this is natural. After all, imagine being the chin and just being whisked from one place to another with an unfamiliar person. Scary, isn’t that right?

A good way to build the trust is to show them you are in fact not a threat to their lives. Open the cage and just place your hand by it. This allows the chin to familiarize itself with you. Chins are mostly curios animals so you won’t have to wait too long to see a reaction. If it shows no positive reaction and just keeps away or hidden from you, try bribing it with a raisin. Remember that you are not to feed them with more than two. If it’s a younger chin, it should only be one a day.

Once the initial trust of feeding has been passed, the first hurdle as some might call it, we can move on to the next one, keeping the trust. Once your chinchilla has decided that you are not going to hurt him or her, it will move closer to you. In case it becomes frightened or startled, it will hide back in its cage. Do not chase after it. That will just end up frightening it even more. Keep your hand still and try your best to look harmless. After he decides that you are okay, it will first sniff your hand, or taste it and then finally, it will touch you or climb on your hand. Congratulations! You’ve just gained the trust of your companion.