Training your chinchilla to do tricks can be a very time-consuming process. Plus, if you screw up and break his trust, he might regress and make it an even longer process to teach the little guy to do the simplest things. If you're new to training chinchillas, this article will give you a good place to start and build a solid foundation of trust with your chinchilla. This will get you started off on the right foot and make it easier to train him in the future.
Chinchillas will live up to 20 years and have long memories. Like all animals, they form habits that can be very hard to break, which is why you better train them right the first time. Training your chin to do a trick when he's small will be much easier than trying to retrain him not to do something once he's 10 years old.
These little creatures also scare very easily. When you first bring him home, you shouldn't start immediately trying to teach your chin parlor tricks to impress all your friends. The first thing you should focus on is bonding with the little guy so he will come to love and trust you. Once he is comfortable coming out of his cage and being around you, then he is ready to start learning simple tricks.
You should be prepared to spend a lot of time with your chinchilla if you expect him to learn even simple tricks. It's going to take time and commitment if you want to succeed. But doing so will help you bond with him and he will come to love you more and be more and more comfortable with you and the things you do, which is worth it!
The first trick you should start with is getting your chinchilla to eat out of your hand. This doesn't take a huge leap and as long as you have been spending daily time with him, should be pretty easy to do. First, take one of the treats that he likes the most and place it in the center of your palm. Open the cage door and put your hand right outside of it. When he sees the cage open he will probably think it's time to play outside his cage so he will go check it out. When he notices the treat in your hand he will be very tempted to go get it and may or may not go for it the first time. If he doesn't don't get impatient with him, but be consistent and keep trying.
If he won't even come up to your hand to check it out, then you may need to start by just feeding him a treat that you are holding in your fingers, making it as easy as possible for him to come up and grab it. Once he comes to trust you more he will venture further and eventually jump into your hand and even climb up your arm to get the treat. The key is to have patience, never get angry with him , and take it slow.