akaangela

I rescued 2 chinchilla's on sat. There is a male and a female. The female is so sweet and friendly. She hops into my hand and is bright eyed and fun to watch. The male is very reserved. He is not as active as the girl. I know they are nocturnal but I haven't seen him move too much. They are in a very small cage (16x12x22) with one shelf. She will jump up and down off and onto the shelf but he just stays on the shelf hunched up. He cuddles up to her all the time.

I am going to build them a bigger cage (24 x24 x36) this week. I plan to start on it tomorrow.

They didn't have hay in the cage when I picked them up and their fur was greasy. I let them take a dust bath sat and again today. They seemed to really enjoy it. I heard one of them make a strange squeaking noise. It sounded like a what a ball python does when they have a terrible respiratory infection and it was long. It obviously was some kind of call because they don't do it all the time. I have grass hay in with them at all times now and am feeding them what they where getting when I picked them up (kaytee chinchilla mix)

I have been reading all I can about them but there is a LOT of contradictory information on the web (more so than most). What can I do to make them comfortable while I am making their new cage? I have not handled them much, just into and out of the dust bath and I let her hop into my hand run up my arm and then turned her around and put her back into her cage.

The day I got them the male was making funny calling to her and was swishing his tail. It looked (from what I found on the net) like he was mating with her.

Please any help with these two would be greatly appreciated. The guy I got them from didn't even know how old they where.