HELP ! Aggressive Chinchilla

Hello folks. I'll try to keep this on point and as specific as possible.

My 7 m.o. male chinchilla is housed alone, and my new 3 m.o. and 10 m.o. females are together. The girls bonded on the ride home and are fine. I have been switching items in their cages for scents. I let the boy run alone in his room first, then let the girls out together in the same room, then i'll switch who goes out first the next day. The male constantly approaches the girls cage. He and the baby lick faces and seem fine, however, the older female showed no interest beyond the first few days, and when the male approaches her in her cage, she clicks/chatters her teeth every now and then, or bites at him through the cages.

Yesterday, my fiancee and I sat in our neutral large walk in closet with no hide outs, just 2 toys, and a time out carrier cage. We let the older girl and the male out, prepped for anything. The male chased the female for a few moments. Attempted to mount her 2 times. She ran. the third attempt she got mad, stood and sprayed at him. He discontinued attempting to mount, but was trying to quietly follow her for a minute. She tried to bite him. I put her in time out.

Last night, the male approached the girls cage, and when i put him away i noticed a fur-less red mark on the left side of his "upper lip". No blood. Just raw and red, the size of half a pencil eraser.

IS that enough injury to never attempt to bond them in the future? Can and should I still attempt to bond the 3 month old through scents and supervised meetings until she is at least 11 months old and can breed healthily? I figure they can be friends with no influence on the older female not tolerating the younger female anymore. Should i keep the 3 month old in the cage with the other girl forever? I dont want to deprive the older female of a bonded cage mate just because she's being a jerk. illowfight:

Some of their personality traits if it helps the "combination" . ......

The only male chinchilla in the house, 7 month old Brody, is the most hyper, "people-curious" chinchilla ever. He's good with human hands, comes to me when called, no biting, pees in the corner, etc.

The two new girls, 3 month old Fiona, and 10-15 month old Cake, are now on week 2 of living with moi. Fiona is shy but enjoys approaching me and being held, Cake is timid, easily frightened, seems to like my hand in her cage, not on her body, and seems to slowly be warming up to me.


THANKS TO EVERYONE IN ADVANCE!

First of all chins don't understand time outs. However it is good to seperate them if they are fighting or don't like each other.

Second just having the male near the females he could get them pregnant. Are you really wanting to go through the financial and potentially emotionally difficult situations that happen when breeding or giving birth? Have you read much about breeding?

Why are you trying to introduce the male to the females? To live together? I don't think it's advised to house male and females together unless the male is neutered for some reason.

I am new, but these are things I've read, but others may be more helpful.

I personally wouldn't try to introduce them. The females get along already, not sure what else you are hoping to do with the introductions and possibly impregnating your females (how old are they?)

Yes . The potential was to bond and breed. I am financially stable, with ample space and extra rooms I keep neutral rooms strictly for bonding (and reading). and I have done more research on breeding, pre and post natal care for the female, and the housing requirements than I have on bonding, apparently. This is my admitted flaw.


You can house one male with females with no potential issues. When there is an additional male around multiple females, they will battle for the female, whether or not she is in heat. Even if they are neutered they are still capable of aggression for sexual/alpha dominance.

I mentioned multiple times in my post how old they were. I stated that I was prepared and considering just leaving the two females together with no permanent male roommates. Your response seems concerning, I appreciate that; however, there is no constructive professional critique or experience to your post, so this was not too helpful.

The female was defending her cage. She sees it as her home, therefore the male approaching it is threatening to her.

Do these chins have pedigrees? You shouldn't be breeding chins unless you know they're from healthy lines. You could be passing on genetic issues that you wouldn't know about otherwise. Did you just get the females? Was there a quarantine period?

Each chin is different so you may want to try different methods. The cage within a cage is a good alternate. Personally, I wouldn't try it. Her reaction is enough to make me worry about her turning on the male later.

Fiona is too young to be around a male. Hold off on any more introductions with any male until she's 10-11 months old if you really want to breed her. I encourage you to read and research more about chinchilla breeding.

They do have pedigrees. Yes.
I only recently got the girls. I have the boy since he was 12 weeks.

There was a quarantine before the initial vet appt. I then kept the girls separated to avoid stress. Now they are in the boys *room*. Since he seems the less dominant one.

I am more nervous to try smooshing so I did try the cage within a cage. I have placed her in the cage brought her home in and the time out cage on his cage. He's curious and not aggressive but he did get on top of the cage which h probably made him seem dominating. I have not placed him in the girls cage with that method because I am worried for their reactions. I have a brand new two level ferret nation and a chinchilla townhouse that I was also hoping to use as a bonding platform since there are no scents or claimed property.

Both of the females are too young to be with a male. Letting them out together is just asking for a pregnancy that could be disastrous considering that they are not fully developed. Wait until the females are at least 12 months old to begin putting them together with the male and then try an appropriate introduction method.

The male already having humped one of the girls makes it likely that she is already pregnant at way too young of an age. I would mark my calendar for 111 days from now and watch both girls for signs of pregnancy. I hope that neither one is pregnant

I would recommend that you separate the male from the females now and keep them separate until they are a year old and also do more research on breeding since you seem to be lacking some information on when it is appropriate to put breeding chinchillas together.

If the chins are pedigreed and appropriately paired I see nothing wrong with putting a 10 month old into breeding. The problem I DO see here is trying to keep both females together... There is a BIG age gap between the two females. The 3 month old is WAAAAAAY too young to even have supervised playtime with a male. 8 months is the MINIMUM I would even try. If you are serious about breeding you can put the 10 month old with the male then switch them out when the 3 month old grows up. Sounds like you were attempting to have a colony however think about what happens down the line... Yes sometimes females will help raise each other's kits and all of that. When I have done colonies I put females who are close in age together then when they litter I separate them so as to BE CERTAIN that I won't have any issues. So in a nutshell there are a few different ways to do what you are wanting to do. As for the female attacking the male...some of mine will do that initially and then get over it. You DO have to watch carefully and neutral territory is important.