Introducing a New Chin Concern

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SneakyPotato

New member
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
2
Hello! I have a 9 month old Chinchilla named Schneebly and was comfortable with how much attention she was given, so I felt no need to get her a companion. However, a friend of mine is planning to move back home and can’t bring her chin with her even after caring for her no longer than a week. The new chin doesn’t look any older than 4 or so months and is significantly smaller than Schneebly. My friend didn’t give me much of a warning before handing off the younger chin, but I don’t currently have another cage and I’m nervous about housing her with Schneebly so quickly.

I gave them about an hour of playtime together and they seemed indifferent to each other, so I put them together in the same cage and have been watching them for about an hour and a half. They’ve eaten together, but have mainly stayed separate. However, when the younger gets close to Schneebly, Schneebly mounts her or chases her around to do so even if they’re both females. I’ve read that this could be dangerous, but the younger doesn’t run once mounted. Schneebly does sniff around her ear and I thought at first she was biting the younger, but she’s still didn’t try to escape and there’s no fur being pulled out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
I would first get a second cage, housing two chins together quickly without bonding them can be dangerous. Chins can and do fight to the death, I would not leave them unsupervised together yet. Normally you should quarantine a new chin for 30 days away from your current so that it gets time to settle in and for any illness to show up before spreading it to your chin.

Second, I would make sure they are both female, it can be hard to tell on some chins, especially when young. If they are actually male and female I would prepare for having kits. Same sex do mount too though, it's a dominance thing, but if the one being mounted gets annoyed with it you could have a fight.

Just curious, what was your friend housing the chin in if they don't have a cage to go with it?
 
Thank you for your response! I think the second cage would be the best option, I was just in a bit of a panic last night since I had nowhere else to put the younger other than in the same cage and no pet stores were open. I think I’ll get her a cheaper rat cage temporarily for quarantine, then maybe I could introduce them a little everyday through playtime and if they can’t get along I’ll upgrade the younger to a full cage. The last thing I would want is either of them to get hurt or sick, let alone killed.

They do squirm a lot when I try to check, but Schneebly would be easier to tell than the younger since she’s so small. Is there any sure way to check, or is it mainly a sight-based thing?

They were housing her in one of those plastic bins, but they said that she knows how to jump on the hut and jump out of the bin, which wouldn’t be be a problem if I didn’t have dogs.

Thank you again, I’m going to have my grandfather watch them while I go get the cage.
 
To check gender is a sight thing. The easiest way is to hold the chin by the base of the tail and lift up their back legs. Just did a quick google search and this site shows a good example http://www.huggablepets.com/huggablepets/sexing.shtml. If you are still unsure you can try snapping a pic, have one person hold the chin and the other take the pic and then link it on here.

Oh ok, yeah a plastic bin wouldn't work even temporarily anyway, a chin can easily jump 5 ft high, lol.
 
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