How long does a chinchilla get used to new owners. Teaching a chinchilla to hands: learning to be friends with a pet. Problems of taming chinchillas

Charming chinchillas can bite at first. But everything changes as soon as the owner manages to make friends with the animal. An obstinate "girl" or a wild "boy" with an independent character turn into affectionate pets. Let's talk about how to tame a chinchilla to your hands.

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Life in the wild

The history of friendship between a chinchilla and a person has almost a century of history. The term is considerable. But not enough to instill in the animal a fear of people at the gene level. - Such as is, say, in cats and dogs. But in the hundred years that have passed since the first successful attempt to domesticate wild animals, we have learned quite a lot about their character.

Where do they live in nature?

The natural environment in which chinchillas live is mountainous terrain. The geography of habitat in the wild is Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. Their home is cave niches. In them, rodents hide from enemies: snakes, foxes, birds of prey.

Numerous enemies have influenced the character of chinchillas: by nature they are cautious. After all, apart from sharp teeth, they have nothing to oppose to stronger animals. But more often than teeth, when faced with danger, they launch a stream of urine. Once in the eyes of an opponent, the foul-smelling liquid temporarily blinds and disorients them, while the chinchilla flees.

However, rodents of the chinchilla family try to avoid collisions. In this they are helped by a very beautiful gray color. It makes wild chinchillas almost invisible against the background of stones and rocks. Festive fur coats of exhibition animals - blue, purple, snow-white - are the result of many years of efforts of breeders. In the wild, such outfits are an unaffordable luxury for animals of a family that is on the verge of extinction.

Rodent life at home

In nature, chinchillas live according to the colonial principle, grouping in flocks from four to five to one hundred individuals. Here is another reason why friendship between these animals and people is possible. After all, by nature they are not loners, burdened by any kind of communication.

Most often we get one pet. But some owners, for humanitarian reasons, decide to take him (or her) a pair. So to speak, for health. It must be remembered that the behavior of the animal in relation to the owner changes if he has a friend or girlfriend.

In order not to get into a mess, arranging the personal life of a pet, it is important to be able to determine the sex of a chinchilla.

How to determine the sex of a chinchilla?

How to determine the sex of a chinchilla? It can be difficult to distinguish a girl from a boy if they are just babies.

But even in an undeveloped state, the external genital organs of chinchillas are distinguished by:

• by the distance to the anus (females do not have it);
• according to the shape of the anus (horseshoe-shaped in females and round in males).

Character and behavior

The character of a pet is formed under the influence of the conditions in which he was from the moment of birth. If he was “born in a family” and he was taught to handle from birth, the behavior of such an animal in relation to a person will be friendly and open. He will willingly play with children and eat out of hand, because he does not see them as a threat.

The nature and behavior of animals that come to the owner at the age of several months and older may be different. First of all, they depend on the experience that the animal received when communicating with a person. If the previous owner for some reason made mistakes in matters of maintenance and care, it can be difficult to tame a pet.

It was mentioned above that the behavior of chinchillas changes when they become a couple. Let's clarify: the character of the male is changing. When She goes into heat, He shows aggression. For example, if in the normal state the male does not bite, then during estrus in the female his teeth should be feared. Chinchillas are in heat for two to three days, the frequency of heat is every one and a half months.

Trying to "build relationships" with pets during this period is pointless. But after all, the aggressiveness of males during estrus of their girlfriends is absolutely normal not only for rodents of the chinchilla family, isn't it?

Taming Secrets

To accustom a chinchilla to hands means to win her trust. Building a trusting relationship is easiest with a small pet. Why? Yes, simply because he does not yet have a negative experience of communicating with a person. Don't "reward" your chinchilla with one by acting wrong out of ignorance.

1. Do not try to catch the chinchilla by the scruff of the neck. She is afraid of hands raised above her, associating them with her enemies in the wild - snakes.
2. When teaching a pet to eat from your hands, stretch them with your palms up.
3. Barking, targeted urination, standing on hind legs means protest. If you encounter this behavior, delay taming.
4. Rodents of the chinchilla family are very fond of raisins. Use it, but don't overdo it. Raisins can be overcooked.
5. If you consider your pet to be wild or aggressive, tame it on its territory. Do not let your pet leave his home before he gets used to your hands.
6. When talking with a pet, watch intonation. She should be friendly, and your voice should be quiet.

Why does the animal bite?

Rodents from the chinchilla family can bite not only during the rut. Animals also show aggression in a stressful situation. Animals may be frightened by noise, they may experience psychological discomfort due to a change in ownership. Even an insufficiently spacious cage (usually it becomes such after the birth of chinchillas) can cause dad's aggressive behavior.

To prevent the animal from “having” to bite you or your own family, provide him with comfortable living conditions. 8 weeks after the birth of the cubs, place them in a separate cage. During estrus, do not take either the male or the female in your arms.

Don't let it scream. Be patient, do not impose your company on your pet if he does not want it. Your patience will be rewarded. Having settled into a new place and starting to trust his owner, the chinchilla will become that affectionate and gentle animal, as we all want to see it.

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Features of training

Chinchilla training requires patience. The main principle of education is the voluntariness of actions on the part of chinchillas. Avoid any physical punishment. Why? - Using the "whip" you only restore the animal against you.

But "gingerbread" will not spoil things. Reward any kind of chinchilla friendliness towards you with treats like fruit tree leaves or dried apple slices.

The author of the Chinchillamania channel shares his experience in raising chinchillas in this video.

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Video "How to train a chinchilla"

Chinchillas are considered to be decorative animals. And even though they have been kept at home for more than a century, many still have questions about how to tame them. The natural distrust of these animals to a person is easy to overcome if you show a little patience and attention. In this article, we will focus on the main points of adaptation and training of chinchillas, which everyone who wants to buy this animal as a pet needs to know.

furry animal intelligence

Most owners of chinchillas admit that they are quite smart animals with a developed intellect. However, in terms of their mental abilities, they are significantly inferior to dogs and very few cats. At the same time, chinchillas are smarter than rabbits and rats. They have excellent hearing and sense of smell.

These animals have an organized nervous system and the rudiments of thinking. Experienced breeders confirm that they remember their name, recognize the owner and even get bored if they are not engaged for a long time. If you release a rodent for walks around the apartment, he will quickly learn to open lockers and explore all the nooks and crannies.

Before proceeding with training, you should observe the rodent, explore its character and temperament. These furry animals, like people, differ from each other: among them there are choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic and melancholic.

Sanguine people lend themselves best to learning - positive and negative reflexes are quickly fixed in them. Cholerics appreciate positive signals and react poorly to negative ones. Phlegmatic people learn longer than others, but their skills are better fixed. The most difficult thing to work with is a melancholic chinchilla.

How to tame a chinchilla

Taming a chinchilla is a long and laborious process. But having gone through this difficult path, you will get real joy from communicating with a cute fluffy animal. Many people initially make irreparable mistakes without learning the basic rules of taming.

Did you know? Chinchillas love to watch TV.

Early domestication of a chinchilla is a guarantee of successful communication with a pet. It is also possible to train an adult rodent, although it will take more effort.
Follow these simple guidelines:

1. Always feed the animal treats directly from your hands, and do not stick them through the bars of the cage (or display case).
2. Periodically put your hands under your pet's nose. Give it a sniff and watch its reaction. The animal should show interest, perhaps even he is trying to get on his hands. If the pet is afraid, bites or moves your hand away - do not insist, try again the next day. Accompany the taming process with hand feeding. In the end, the chinchilla will give up and climb onto his arms.
3. As soon as the animal gets used to your hands, you can help him climb onto them by gently moving the second handle or placing your hand under the tummy.
4. As soon as the rodent of your own free will be in your hands - immediately fix its action with positive reinforcement (scratch the animal, then treat it to your favorite food).

Important! Chinchillas are naturally shy and extremely cautious animals, so you should not try to pick them up right away - this can be a lot of stress for them.

Chinchillas have a habit of throwing feces all over the cage. To prevent this from happening, try to accustom the animal to the tray. Use a tray with 5 cm sides. As soon as the pet relieves, collect waste and place it in a tray with filler.
Do this every time so that the animal sees and remembers where everything should fit. After some time, the animal will figure out why there is a tray in the cage, and go to the toilet already in it.

Be sure to praise your pet - these rodents are very sensitive to the intonation of the voice and understand well when they are praised and when they are scolded. If you are patient, then over time the animal will learn to go to the tray.

to the name

The first thing to do after acquiring an animal is to give it a nickname. Until the pet learns its name, it is better not to let it out of the cage. When choosing a name, follow a simple rule: the nickname should not be too complicated or long.
It is enough that the name consists of 3-6 letters. It is best to choose a nickname in which there are hissing and whistling sounds (“S”, “Sh”, “H”, “Sch”) - the animal will get used to such a name faster.

After the name for the pet is successfully chosen, you need to accustom the chinchilla to it. It is advisable to start doing this from the first days of the appearance of a pet in your home.

Did you know? The birthplace of chinchillas is the slopes of the Andes in South America, where they live in crevices at fairly high altitudes.- 4 km or more.

In order for the pet to quickly remember it, you must adhere to a simple algorithm:

1. Call your pet by name every time you pass by his cage. Watch your intonation during this time. She should not be threatening, you should not shout or speak rudely. The name should be pronounced in a gentle voice. Also, do not call the chinchilla every time a new diminutive name. It will be difficult for a rodent to understand what his name is if you call him in a new way every time.
2. Feed the animal according to the regime, at the same time in the evening. When pouring food, repeat the name of the chinchilla several times.
3. At first, encourage a response to the name with your pet's favorite treat.

A few weeks are enough (it all depends on your perseverance and your patience), and your rodent will respond to its name, run up to the bars of the cage and show its friendly mood.

Sleep at night

Teaching a chinchilla to sleep at night is not as difficult as it might seem.
To do this, you must follow a few simple rules:

1. If it gets dark early, turn on the light in the room with the pet an hour or two earlier (this will help extend daylight hours for the animal).
2. Organize a nutritious diet.
3. After six o'clock in the evening, do not feed the animal with concentrated food (it is advisable to give such food at four or three in the afternoon).
4. The method works great when the animal is released for a walk around the apartment at six o'clock in the evening. At the same time, close the cage so that the pet does not have the opportunity to get a rest. Open the cage only at eleven o'clock in the evening - by this time the tired animal is unlikely to have the strength for night games.

Did you know? As a defensive reaction, chinchillas sometimes fire at the enemy with a stream of urine.

Chinchilla training

Remember that a trained chinchilla is a happy chinchilla that loves and trusts its owner. If training is not done in time, the animal may develop bad habits (the animal will adapt itself to new conditions).

What commands can be taught

A chinchilla can be taught many commands, the recommended ones are: “home” (or “in a cage”), “walk”, “no”, “come to me”. The rest is at the discretion and depending on the conditions of the walk.

Conditioned reflexes (including the performance of actions at the command of the owner) are quite simply developed in these animals. However, such reactions should be developed based on unconditioned reflexes (food, mechanical, orienting).

The principles of chinchilla training are gentle handling and constant encouragement. At the beginning of training, you need to give a treat for every correctly performed action, later - for every fifth. At the end of training, treats are replaced with verbal rewards.

Important! Start teaching young chinchillas the simplest skills should be at the age of three weeks. Pets should have time to fully get used to and learn to trust the owner.

Chinchillas are very good at distinguishing tone of voice, so praise will also be a reward for them. This is how strong skills are formed in practice.
It should also be understood: it is not enough to conduct a training course. In order for the acquired skills to be preserved, it is necessary to regularly engage with the chinchilla, since they are also capricious, cunning creatures. They are like small children, they need to be brought up from the very appearance in the house, otherwise they will not respond to your prohibitions.

Education

So, let's proceed to the direct teaching of the chinchilla in simple but important commands.

1. If you plan to let the animal go for a walk around the apartment, first of all you need to teach him the “home” or “cage” command. Every time after a walk, say the command and take the animal to the cage. There must be something tasty waiting for him. If necessary, by the same principle, you can teach the chinchilla the “walk” command.
2. Another important command is “to me”. Say it in combination with a nickname. For training, gently call your pet and lure him with a treat, repeating the command.
3. When the animal gets used to the apartment, you need to teach him the “no” command. Chinchillas are very fond of ruining wallpaper and digging in flower pots. With the “no” command, you can wean the animal from biting, chewing furniture for a walk and other dangerous objects. This command must be pronounced quite strictly, you can slightly influence physically - for example, gently push the animal away, pick it up or drag it away from the crime scene. You can combine this command with the “come to me” command so that the rodent turns its attention to the owner. Ideally, the animal should not only stop the forbidden action, but also run away from this place.

Important! When training, give not ordinary food, but special treats - dried apples, sugar-free bread, seeds. These animals are especially fond of raisins. However, do not overfeed them during the training process, otherwise they may develop indigestion (diarrhea). More than 1-2 raisins per day should not be given to the animal. Or use tiny pieces of apple, carrot, cereal, food, or complementary foods.

- What treats to give chinchillas during training?

You can give banana chips (small pieces), dry apples, dried rose hips, peeled seeds, unflavored bread rolls (piece 6x6 cm).

I read that many chinchillas bite (bite their hands). Should the baby be weaned from these bites and is it possible?

Biting must be weaned!
It is easiest to wean kids, but adults can do it too. As soon as the animal stings painfully, you need to move your fingers and say strictly, but not loudly, "No, no," while lightly tapping your nose with your fingertip.
If the chinchilla got angry, and nevertheless grabbed her teeth so that she hung on her finger, you need to endure the pain with the palm of your free hand to clasp her head, covering her eyes and pressing her ears. Don't squeeze too hard, just cover tightly. After that, do not let go, but arrange a "dark" beast, wrapping it, for example, in the floor of your clothes for a minute. Then take it out, if the beast has calmed down, talk to him affectionately, treat him with something tasty and only then, let him go free.

Is it possible to train a chinchilla so that she recovers only in her cage, and in the remaining time she walks around the apartment?

It is unlikely that it will be possible to teach a chinchilla to go to the toilet only in a cage.
Sorry, they poop constantly and everywhere. As for urine, for example, I watched my mice for a very long time and determined the places where they most often relieve themselves during walks, and there I equipped them with something like toilets. Most often they now pee in the toilets, but there are also punctures.
When the house contains only a couple of chinchillas, the probability of puddles outside the cage is reduced to almost zero.

- How to play with a chinchilla?

What a person understands as training is a game for a chinchilla!
When you release a chinchilla for a walk, sit on the floor, pick up a box of treats and call the chinchilla.
A chinchilla will come to you even without treats, but if you like some behavior of the animal, fix it, i.e. give the appropriate command and immediately reward the correct performance with a treat.
You are for a chinchilla and a “stove” (the animal will warm its paws), and a “mink” (it will hide in the folds of your spacious clothes), and a “chinchilla” (if you put your hand palm up, the beast will come to walk on your hand, smell, touch ).
Chinchillas running around the room will usually try to run over your legs as well, even if they have to make a hefty detour to do so!
Although they write that chinchillas cannot be touched and squeezed ... This is not true! Animals are very fond of being scratched under the muzzle, chest. If a chinchilla is affectionately squeezed by the butt, she will most likely say "Whoo!" with displeasure. jump away... but not far away and immediately look back, and may even run closer!
If a chinchilla really doesn't like something, she won't stand it for a second! She will immediately run away and hide somewhere in the shade. Most importantly, do not make excessive efforts, trying to keep the chinchilla! If the chinchilla is torn from your hands, let it out, it will come in a couple of minutes by itself!

- What is the best way to train a chinchilla to handle? Or are there animals that can not stand touch?

In general, there are no such chinchillas that would not tolerate touching at all. A chinchilla may be afraid of human hands because of the negative "experience of communication." In this case, it will simply take more time to gain the trust of such an animal ...
You can’t cover the chinchilla with your hand from above or grab it by the sides!
You can "offer" your hand with the palm up and touch the chin or chest. The sooner you start this conversation, the better!
If the animal necessary to inspect, fixing it in your hands, then you can “through I don’t want to”. Prepare a viscous treat in advance, accompany the inspection with a command (for example, "Teeth, let's see the teeth ...") and affectionate praises ("Good" or "Well done" + name), after the inspection, treat the animal with a treat and reinforce with praise again.