Hi all! My name's Ash, I'm 20 years old, and I'm a first-time chinnie owner. The chin in question is a three-year old female named Tia who I found via an ad on Craigslist. She was owned by a nice, rich retired couple who wanted to travel and couldn't find anyone to take care of her.
I was just wondering if what has been happening is normal, and any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
When I met the couple, the husband was at work and the wife was at home. She showed me Tia, who was kept in a nice big airy cage in the foyer. They sold me all of Tia's stuff and her cage, and it was crazy cheap - a hundred bucks. Dang good deal, I think.
Anyway, the lady showed me Tia's cage and reached in and scooped Tia right out and plopped her in my arms. I guess she wanted to show me that Tia doesn't bite. She didn't bite, but it did scare the heck out of her. She started throwing fur, which surprised the lady, and I told her that it was a defensive move that chins do when they're scared (I did a good deal of research before coming to pick Tia up).
They really didn't know anything about chins at all, just that it was a cute pet. They took good care of her though, she has really expensive food and good quality wood shaving bedding (at least as good as wood shavings can go, anyway. I don't use shavings - I use Kaytee Soft Sorbent, because it's so wonderfully dust free!)
We put Tia back in her cage, and covered the cage with a dark brown sheet before moving her out to the car. I read that that would help keep them calm, but she was scared anyway. I can't blame her. It was an hour and a half drive home, and she took it well, I guess. She sat in the bottom corner on the floor the whole time - in fact, she had been sitting there when I first saw her. A friend of mine who also has a chin advised me to put a shirt in there with her so that she'd get used to my smell. There was a small, open plastic box in the opposite corner, which I put my sleeping shirt in (later I found out it's her potty box - whoops!).
The cage is still covered with the sheet - the top, back, and right side are covered, but the front and left side are open. I read that this helps them feel enclosed and safe.
Tia will take bits of craisin (I cut them into five or six pieces so they go further, I know they can't have many treats) from my hand, and she just stayed in that bottom corner. I noticed she didn't have any hidey huts, so I got her one and put it on the third floor of her cage, with the opening face away from the front. Within minutes, she had plopped her fuzzy butt in it. When she was still there the next morning, I realized that I didn't want her sitting on the mesh like that for hours at a time - I've had guinea pigs and rats and bumblefoot is *not* fun to treat. I cut two pieces of cardboard, and shooed her out of the hidey hut so I could put a piece underneath it. When I shooed her, she scampered to the second floor - where the door was - and put her little hands on the jam, sniffing out at me, then scampered back up to her hidey hut. She was also making these cute little peeping noises later that evening.
Today is the second day I've had her (I got her yesterday), and she is starting to explore and sniff around. I added a wooden platform to the top of her cage, and moved a little one that she came with that had been three inches off the ground previously (how pointless). Literally, within a minute of me moving the original, small shelf, she had come out of her hidey hut, sniffed the shelf, and then leaped onto it and perched there like a little fat bat for about ten minutes.
I've offered her her dust bath twice, once yesterday and once today, but she won't go in it. She'll sniff at it, pop her head in, and then go back to her hidey hut. I figure she's just afraid because it's enclosed (it's one of the bath-house types) or something, but... I don't really know.
I've been sitting in my bed in the room, letting her get used to my presence, talking to her and reading and just pretty much being there for her to get used to. My room is right over the woodstove we use to heat the house, so my room is the warmest. Because of this, I now keep my door closed and the window cracked, and I also got one of those granite slabs for Tia to sit on (but I haven't added it yet - I don't want to mess with her house too much just yet).
What do you guys think? Is this all pretty standard chinnie behavior? Comments and opinions would be really, really appreciated!!
Sorry I'm a little long winded, I just wanted to explain everything so that you all knew everything. Thank you!!!
