Oh Great Og—this is embarrassing. :rolleyes: I feel almost like the guy who spilled red wine on his cat. My chinchilla got out of her cage last night, crawled into a floor vent, and is now scampering around inside the heating and air conditioning ducts. Does anybody have any ideas whatsoever as to how I can coax her out of there? I’m guessing that there’s really nothing I can do but just pray and hope she comes out during the night, but I just thought I would throw this out just in case one of you brilliant Dopers knew of some sort of trick to use in these situations. I’ve removed every floor register in the house, but I haven’t seen her since this morning, when I heard her crying and peeking up through one of the register holes. I’m at a complete loss here, except for the obvious things like laying food out next to every hole, and putting her cage on the floor in case she gets out and sees her house—any ideas here?
Leave her cage open and available on the floor…open, so she can get into it easily. She’ll be back. Just put some food and water in there.
This is how I got the hamsters back when they got loose when I was a kid. They came back during the night, and they were on their wheel…you could hear it spinning…then I would go and shut the door on their cage. LOL LOL Simple, but it works!
Good luck!
This happened to my sister with a Guinea Pig. Put out special odorous treat by open vents. Open up some extra vents. Run AC cold for a while and pray she comes out. Do Chinchilla’s like Peanut butter? I know it works for most rodents, Squirrels and Cavvies.
Good Luck,
Don’t leave the AC blasting for more than and hour.
Hi!
Chins like cool/cold weather and I’d think running the AC will neither harm her nor drive her out.
I haven’t faced this issue with our chinchilla. We reecaptured hamsters with a smooth-sided steel bowl out of which they couldn’t climb back out, but chins are such leapers they are likely to be hard to catch this way.
I’d uncover / open all the vents so it’s easier for her to find a way out.
Sorry I can’t be more help – good luck!
Sailboat
I have to say this was my favorite thread title of the day. I read to everyone in the room.
Chinchilla will get hungry. I know my parrot has certain foods that are like crack to him-- absolutely irresistable (rustling of a plastic bag suggesting safflower seeds gets instant compliance with ANYTHING)-- is there anything like that with said chinchilla?
'Zat what the young folks’re calling it now?
Better than having a Gerbil in your plumbing.
Ducks and walks away.
When I opened this thread, we had a contender for a sequential thread title:
My Chinchilla is Stuck in the Ductwork
Deep sea cable laying
Well, if you know how the ductwork is arranged, you can probably restrict the range of her wandering by sticking towels (or pillows) in the duct. If you can trap her between two floor vents, then I assume she’d eventually get bored and come out. This would also open up the possibility of going down in the cellar and physically disassembling the ductwork, which would be a minor pain in the butt, but probably would only require a screwdriver.
But probably what you’re doing is the right thing. The only thing I can think of that might be needed is, if this is a floor vent, you might put in a sort of ramp so that the critter can climb out easily.
Oh, did I mention that I’d absolutely turn off the heating/cooling system? If she’s in a cold air return, there’s a chance she could end up in the fan. You don’t want that to happen unless you’re raising your chinchilla for fur!
(If the furnace is off and she ends up down there, that might actually be a good thing, as you can open it up, take out the filters, and hopefully she’ll be sitting there.)
Keep us updated.
Tres amusing. 
Water should be her most urgent need. So, block off all other sources of water (put tin foil over toilet bowls, completely dry sink & wash basins, rubber band on foil over spouts, etc.) then in the evening, when the house is fairly quiet, set up a bowl of water and a bowl of some nice smelly food that she likes (peanut butter? cheese? fruit?) near one of the vent openings, but not so close she can reach it while staying inside. Settle down beside the vent with a good book and wait.
Worked for us, at least for various hamster and white rat escapees.
Oh – besure to remove toilet covers while using, yes?
“Perhaps you should send in the ferret.”
::discretely passes microfilm to Washoe::
I hope you can get your girl out safely! I know I’d be worried sick if one of my rat girls was stuck somewhere.
May I suggest calling the animal control unit in your area? They have equipment that’s designed to get into areas like that to get critters out (without harming them). I don’t think it would hurt to give it a try.
HEY!!
For the record, it was he who spilled my red wine on himself.
Must be a small chinchilla or the holes are abnormally large.
Try to get some small “Greenies and GreenieGranules” from the pet store. Granules first to get a taste for them then a Greenie to lure her out of the ductwork.
My miniature Shih Tzu is nutz over them.
Next best is puffed rice. She will turn handsprings for them.
Raisens.
My chinchilla didn’t like it at first. I smothered a raisen with pb and when she smelled the raisen she ate the pb with it. Now i can put a little blob of pb on her bowl and she’ll go for it.
Can a chinchilla climb out of a vent herself? In my house - a ranch - our vents are in the floor and upon inspection I can’t think of how a rodent would be able to hoist herself up out of that hole. Do your vents come out of the wall or something? (perfectly reasonable)
If they’re in the floor…maybe she needs a ladder, too
Little Belladonna has finally come home to roost. About half an hour ago she stuck her head out of the same hole she went down, saw her open cage just a few inches away, and scampered right in—thus ending her nearly 2 day long adventure. Thanks all for the advice. I’m sure glad I didn’t have to resort to disassembling the ductwork or summoning County Animal Control. :rolleyes:
Ah-relief! Glad the critter is safe at last. 