I'm yelling "UNCLE!!!!!"

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CTChin

CTChin

defender of all animals
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
646
Location
Conn.
FEMALES!! Uggghhhhhh!! After three days straight of trying to pair two adult females, I GIVE UP!!!
:tantrum:

:hair::hair:

I use the method of one chin in a small carrier inside a cage and the other chin having the run of the cage. Then I switch off every so often. These chins HATE each other. So FINE they each have their own cage now! I tried FIRST the slow method of introduction during playtime and it was instant fight. Over the years I've rarely been successful in pairing adult females. Males...no problem. I can do adult female to baby and adult female to older baby but rarely two hormonal adults. I know they would be thrilled to have a companion but I'm not having that many babies LOL

People, what are your secrets? Am I the only one with opinionated females?
 
We've just found that some females don't want to be paired.... on the other hand, some do fine.

I just bought several female chins from a breeder who's used runs... chins that are 5-8 years old and were never housed with another chin... and were able to successfully intro 4 of them into a large cage. We just did a group playtime, and they all got along, so in they went! And they've been fine ever since, no scuffles, no nothing.

Versus my mom's devil-chin, which we've tried every intro method in the book, including the slow method, which we slowed down to the speed of watching paint dry, and she won't get a buddy. No matter what we do, she attacks the other chin that's there.

I think a lot of it just depends on the individual personalities of the chin. Sorry, I realize that's not really helpful, but I think some chins just don't want to be together. But you are definetly not the only one with witchy, opinionated females.
 
greychins said:
Versus my mom's devil-chin, which we've tried every intro method in the book, including the slow method, which we slowed down to the speed of watching paint dry, and she won't get a buddy. .
Click to expand...

Thanks.

This paragraph cracked me up LOL
 
Ok I have only paired once in my life, so I think I just had beginners luck, but when I paired my girls I had them in a carrier together in a car. They bonded pretty much instantly under the stress of a car ride. If she is past her quarantine period you might be able to give this method a try!
 
I'm gonna agree with the smoosh and car ride method. I haven't had horrible problems pairing females, but I was determined to put two young boys together who didn't quite seem to like each other very much. After trying every method possible, the only way they finally bonded was by putting them in one hole of a ryerson carrier and driving around til the kacking stopped, which was about 30 minutes. After that, I never had another problem with those two. Albeit I have only used this method once since it was sort of a last resort to get these two together. If they hadn't bonded after that, I would have just left them separated.
 
Now that I think of it, most of the time I have been successful pairing adult females is when they are new to me. It's the established girls that give me trouble.
 
Ash, have you seen a Ryerson carrier? With two chinchillas in one hole, they are very effectively smooshed against each other. I've also done that intro...mainly when I'm bringing chins home and I know they'll go in a cage together. A long car ride has never failed me.
 
I've done the car ride but I didn't smoosh them. I personally don't like the idea of the smoosh but that's just me. The two times I did it, they were in a cat carrier and did fine. I just recently did it with Bostin and Moose and they have been together without instance for a little over 2 weeks.
 
The only suggestion I have is to trim both girl's whiskers. I've seen this work when nothing else has. Of course there are some chins who refuse to accept another chin in thier cage. They prefer to be alone.
 
I didn't think of that Cathy. Thanks! I'll have to give it a try after I give them a good rest and a cool off period.
 
I've honestly never had a problem, I have a free run group of about 15 males and another one of about 14 females, i've never had any fights. ALL of my chins get along, I think i've been really lucky. REALLY lucky. I do have one pair that I keep seperate because they are 11 years old and have been together forever.
 
I have one girl here that will always be alone or with a male. She hates other females and has seriously injured two of them. I won't ever put another female in with her.

To introduce, I use the smoosh method minus the car. I put them together in a small cage and keep it where I can watch them. I leave them together for about 15 to 20 minutes and then put them in their big cage. If they start squabbling, I repeat the process. I have never had to repeat more than 2 times.
 
I have one huge 12 hundred gram pink-white female who will not let me pair her with any male. Of course she is one of my best chins, was under serious consideration for mutation GSC at the OKC show last year. She will manage to bite the male no matter how smooshed she is, she is the most malehating female chin I have ever seen, lol.
I have tried about everything, but I will not give up.

Claudia
 
I would like to try the smoosh method, but like Pash, I worry a lot about them fighting. Mostly it's Tala that's grumpy about it. She will go as far as climbing up the cage to try to get to Raven when she's out for play time. I've already tried putting her in a small cage inside Raven's cage, and she does eventually stop trying to get out and calms down, but I've tried letting them share a playtime with a bathtub full of dust and she still chased and attacked Raven. I grabbed her a few times and she came away with mouthfuls of Raven's fur. Her whiskers are already cut very short, that didn't seem to have any effect. She's otherwise a nice chin, and has been around other chins (was caged with Groo when I got them). Do you think she would still try to attack if I crammed them in a tiny cage? I would really like them to be buddies, but Tala's such a nasty little brat about it!
 
I'm very familiar with the smoosh method but I'm a bleeding heart I guess. The last time I tried it I felt bad. The method that has worked most times for me is to put one in a small carrier inside of a cage while the other runs around loose in with her and then switch off. New chins are easy also. They will bond because they are scared and out of their comfort zone.

Letting them run loose in a room is not an option for me but I'm sure having all that extra room alleviates the fighting over territory.

Hmmm.....I wonder if I should bring them to the show with me in Sept just for the car ride together? lol

Sorry about your girl Claudia. She must be waiting for Mr. Perfect LOL
 
It's usually females that have huge problems bonding, right? Because I've had my huge personality male for less than a year now-he's in a cage pretty big for one chin-and can be dominant with my human daughter if she's too touchy with his stuff. I want to adopt a male buddy for him soon, but am afraid he'll never like him. Reading your methods has of course given me a million ideas how to go about it, but do you come across males who won't bond often, or is it mainly the females-I once read females are more territorial, but don't know how true that is?!

Oh, they'd be sharing his cage...or if I end up having to build/buy another one, I will.
 
You never really know what a chinnie is thinking. I've tried playtime with my first girl and "The Twins", and sometimes they completely ignore each other, sometimes they share the dust bin, and sometimes it's a free-for-all. I'm close to throwing in the towel because my beautiful standard has lost a lot of fur around her hips. No injuries yet...

We still have not tried the CWAC method, and I read somewhere that smooshing is a bad idea. Can't they just turn their heads and bite the other chin in the face?
 
KristinC1983 said:
It's usually females that have huge problems bonding, right? Because I've had my huge personality male for less than a year now-he's in a cage pretty big for one chin-and can be dominant with my human daughter if she's too touchy with his stuff. I want to adopt a male buddy for him soon, but am afraid he'll never like him. Reading your methods has of course given me a million ideas how to go about it, but do you come across males who won't bond often, or is it mainly the females-I once read females are more territorial, but don't know how true that is?!

Oh, they'd be sharing his cage...or if I end up having to build/buy another one, I will.
Click to expand...

Sex doesn't seem to be a determining factor of whether or not 2 chins will become friends. It would be nice to be able to determine which chins will get along and which will not without having to put them together.
 
I find that a car ride works best for me if initial intros don't go well.

I start with playtime together while I clean cages. Sometimes they interact with each other, sometimes they ignore each other. Then I put them in the same new-to-them clean cage and watch. You can usually tell within the first 10-15 minutes how its going to go. If its not working out, we go for a car ride and try again.

I don't put them together in the car as I'd rather focus on driving than making sure chins aren't fighting (of course a second person in the car could help). I just take them for a ride in their own carrier to stress them out a bit and then put them in the same cage when I get home. It usually works. They're happy to be home and don't really care about the new roomie.

I do have a few old girls who refuse to live with anyone though. They like being solo and that's ok.

Also, I try to never house younger chins alone. I prefer to have them live with a group of other chins, including at least one older chin of the same sex. They also get group playtime weekly. It makes sense to me that just like kids and puppies have to learn the rules and boundaries of interacting with their own species, so do chins.

Its worked for me so far. I have a much easier time introducing chins that were born here and lived with other chins, than introducing chins that came to me out of breeding runs.
 
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