How to Get a Chinchilla to Use a Wheel

How to Get a Chinchilla to Use a Wheel. Chinchillas are fun and interesting pets, but they can be somewhat difficult to train. Though some will naturally have an interest in running on their exercise wheel, others will need to be encouraged and taught what to do with it. Doing so requires some patient training, and with any kind of chinchilla training you need to know some basic facts that will make the entire process more successful.

Things Needed

• Chinchilla treats
• Chinchilla-specific exercise wheel

Step 1

Get well acquainted with your chinchilla. If you just got the pet a week ago, it is not yet time to try any kind of training. These animals can be nervous and easily frightened; you'll have a hard time working with them if they don't trust you completely.

Step 2

Introduce the chinchilla-specific wheel to the animal's surroundings once you are well acquainted with one another. Do so slowly and without much noise or movement. A chinchilla can develop phobias fairly quickly, and it will be all the more difficult to teach it to run on the wheel if the animal is afraid of the toy.

Step 3

Wait a week or two for the chinchilla to be completely comfortable with the wheel. Start luring the animal onto the wheel by holding a treat in the opening. Repeat this step for several days, progressing until the chinchilla is comfortable stepping on the wheel, and then with sitting inside the wheel.

Step 4

Stop rewarding the basic behavior of sitting on the wheel and begin giving rewards only when the wheel turns. You may have to wait a little longer for the chinchilla to move the wheel at first, but after the first two or three rewards, the animal will put it together very quickly.

Step 5

Continue to reward the chinchilla frequently as it learns to move the wheel. Once the animal seems to have a thorough grasp of the concept, begin delaying rewards so that more and more time moving the wheel is necessary to earn a treat. Eventually, you can quit giving treats altogether and just begin giving the chinchilla its customary meal after a certain amount of exercise on the wheel.

References

• Petplace.com: Training Your Chinchilla
• Critter Hut: Chinchilla Info