habitat upgrade: success!
We did a little renovation of the chinchilla cage, and they love it! It's a tall cage but not too wide and when we got it from the SPCA it only had one extra level in it. We got some wood and made extra shelves and installed them last night. 
Cecilia and Fernando, the bolder of the two boys, were zooming and jumping all over the place on the new levels. Even Ramon, who is more reserved than his brother, was zooming and bouncing back and forth on the original shelf, caught up in the excitement.
Cecilia is getting to know us and will let me pet her on the back now with no fuss. She is quite shy of being touched around the head or neck which I found odd, as chinchillas normally like being scratched behind their ears. It may be due to the fact that, until the SPCA took her in, she lived life with a metal plate around her neck. This was to keep her and every other female confined to their own little cages.
There were openings between all the cages so that the males could have free run among all the females, but due to the metal collars the girls were confined to their own quarters.
It's amazing how many miserable things happen to animals - but it's also amazing how many people there are out there who are trying to make a difference and make things better.
So we have one more level made that we haven't put into the cage yet. I'm a bit hesitant. The boys are so young and the cage is so tall - I don't want to give them the opportunity to fall from too great a height, so we may just leave it alone until the boys are back at the SPCA.
Cecilia came out of her cage for a while this evening and went running around the room. Arlo the dog was in with us and he was soooo excited watching her run around the floor. He knows how to treat the foster animals though, and laid still on the floor watching her. She ran right up to him a few times and gave his nose a good sniff. She also jumped onto
his front paws, which made him nervously shuffle backwards. Poor wimpy puppy! These chinchillas have no fear whatsoever of the dog. Even the two babies will run up to him and sniff his nose through the cage bars. Weird!
Cecilia and Fernando, the bolder of the two boys, were zooming and jumping all over the place on the new levels. Even Ramon, who is more reserved than his brother, was zooming and bouncing back and forth on the original shelf, caught up in the excitement.Cecilia is getting to know us and will let me pet her on the back now with no fuss. She is quite shy of being touched around the head or neck which I found odd, as chinchillas normally like being scratched behind their ears. It may be due to the fact that, until the SPCA took her in, she lived life with a metal plate around her neck. This was to keep her and every other female confined to their own little cages.
There were openings between all the cages so that the males could have free run among all the females, but due to the metal collars the girls were confined to their own quarters.It's amazing how many miserable things happen to animals - but it's also amazing how many people there are out there who are trying to make a difference and make things better.
So we have one more level made that we haven't put into the cage yet. I'm a bit hesitant. The boys are so young and the cage is so tall - I don't want to give them the opportunity to fall from too great a height, so we may just leave it alone until the boys are back at the SPCA.
Cecilia came out of her cage for a while this evening and went running around the room. Arlo the dog was in with us and he was soooo excited watching her run around the floor. He knows how to treat the foster animals though, and laid still on the floor watching her. She ran right up to him a few times and gave his nose a good sniff. She also jumped onto
his front paws, which made him nervously shuffle backwards. Poor wimpy puppy! These chinchillas have no fear whatsoever of the dog. Even the two babies will run up to him and sniff his nose through the cage bars. Weird!
posted by Julie at 7:06 p.m.
2 Comments:
Ugh, that metal collar looks miserable. Poor things! Like living life attached to a ball and chain. I bet they're all so much happier now.
Is Cecelia pregnant?
Awww, they are so cute! I love chincillas! My favourite is watching them sand bathe. Adorable!
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