tcraighenry
Well-known member
I thought this might be helpful for anyone else trying to introduce two chinchillas.
We're cheating, a little bit and going against our vet who advised 6 weeks in quarantine. As of this Saturday it will be 6. But we couldn't bare to let Cinnamon stay in her lonely little room anymore.
A little background, Vincenza has mostly been housed alone since we lost her daddy. She's a year old.
Cinnamon was part of a larger herd. She was housed with another chinchilla but was alone after her cage mate died.
- We started last week by holding Vincenza near Cinnamon's cage so they could smell and nibble at each other. It went fairly well, there were contact sounds. But we found Vincenza was more interested in Cinnamon than vice versa.
- We let them play together for about 5 minutes. Again we found Vincenza was the more dominant one, humping occasionally.
- We moved the quarantine cage downstairs. Cinnamon spent most of the night ignoring Vincenza while the little one freaked out and hopped everywhere. We couldn't tell if she was anxious or excited. She spent a lot of time staring, some time popcorning. No contact sounds or barking.
We're cheating, a little bit and going against our vet who advised 6 weeks in quarantine. As of this Saturday it will be 6. But we couldn't bare to let Cinnamon stay in her lonely little room anymore.
A little background, Vincenza has mostly been housed alone since we lost her daddy. She's a year old.
Cinnamon was part of a larger herd. She was housed with another chinchilla but was alone after her cage mate died.
- We started last week by holding Vincenza near Cinnamon's cage so they could smell and nibble at each other. It went fairly well, there were contact sounds. But we found Vincenza was more interested in Cinnamon than vice versa.
- We let them play together for about 5 minutes. Again we found Vincenza was the more dominant one, humping occasionally.
- We moved the quarantine cage downstairs. Cinnamon spent most of the night ignoring Vincenza while the little one freaked out and hopped everywhere. We couldn't tell if she was anxious or excited. She spent a lot of time staring, some time popcorning. No contact sounds or barking.