Is it true that you can't put two males together in a cage if...

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Shana

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Mar 4, 2012
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...there are female chins close by?

I was told (and have also read) that even if the two male chins are extremely bonded, they will eventually fight and turn on each other when the neighboring female chins go into heat.

Does this mean that I can't put two males together? Or I can't put both genders in the same room? If I have to put them in the same room, how far apart should the cages be? Is putting the male-female cages side by side just asking for trouble?

I have a sweet four-month-old ebony boy that I want to pair with my dark tan boy (one year old). Both chins are very laidback and non-domineering. The ebony is currently housed alone while the tan is with his possibly preggie mosaic mate. My goal is to put the two boys together (and in future to add any male kits that the tan may have), but I get so nervous thinking they might fight with each other because I have female chins in close proximity.
 
I have a bonded pair of females in the same room with my two boys. I have had no problems with either pair fighting. My girls are on the opposite side of my bedroom, away from my boys.
 
If that rumor was true, it would be a nightmare for ranchers and breeders, they do not segregate their chins into his and her barns. That rumor has been around the internet and spread by "informational websites" one of which the owner does not even own or have ever owned male chins. Chins no matter what age or gender will fight for no reason at any time, its just the way it is. You need one chin cage set up per chin at all times as a spare.
 
You know, it was because of this rumor that I never got a second male for Tribble to be friends with. I keep all of my chins in the same room and I was just too afraid that Tribble and whatever chin I got would fight. I didn't want to take the chance, so now Tribble is just on his own. It is probably better this way because he is soo much more friendly than the girls. He is really bonded to me.

That does make sense though. If this was the case, ranchers and breeders would be doomed!
 
We often have two males in a cage around females. We keep our through-quarantine rescue chins in the same room as our breeders and pet chins, and there are both males and females in the room. Never had problems. We usually try to pair chins up that come in as singles, if possible, so we usually have male pairs living together with no ill effects.
 
Just a rumor. All chins may fight, males and males, females and females or males and females. I have had Jasper (11 years old) and Raisin (atleast 11+ he is a rescue) housed together the last 8 years.... They've been sitting right next to my breeding runs :)

I also wean in same sex pairs when I can. I currently have 2 male/male pairs that are "holding" and weaned together who are a few months old =)
 
Most ranchers don't keep multiple males together. But the concept is the same I suppose.

I have a group of three males, all adolescent age in a cage right below 4 females which are about 4 feet from a cage with three adult females with a male. The only time there is fighting is when I put in fresh hay or something they all want and then it's pretty much a "king of mountain" shoving contest.
 
I don't know about it being just a rumor because I read it on multiple places, such as this one, for example:

http://www.chincare.com/HealthLifestyle/IntroductionsDynamics.htm

That article has a lot to say/warn about territorialism and most of it kinda freaked me out. I've been very lucky in my 10 years as a chin owner and have never experienced aggression or fighting. In fact, never even been kacked or sprayed at! Of course I've always had just a few chins and never had boys together in the same cage.

I feel much more confident now after all your advice (thank you!) and will start introducing the boys this week. I have spent many hours reading about introduction methods and will go about it slowly and cautiously. Wish me luck!
 
Problem with websites is the owners of them are too lazy to actually DO real life research and they just parrot info of other sites, I find it all the time and frankly it pi$$es me off since often its wrong info that gets parroted and I mean exact paragraphs being parroted. People who make websites really need "real world" experience and need to ask breeders, ranchers, rescues, vets etc before making a website, rather than just cruising websites and copy and pasting info into your own website.
 
It doesn't have to be a female nearby. 2 male chins (or 2 female chins, for that matter) may live together happily for many years and then suddenly, for God only knows what reason, turn on and (possibly) kill each other. This has happened to members of this forum.

I have been very fortunate to catch the bullying early, have them both neutered and successfully bond them again. I do, however, remain vigilant at all times, since they could once again decide to hate each other. Any time you have more than one chin in a cage, it is a MUST to have an emergency cage just in case you need to separate them.
 
I agree with all that has been said. I have paired males next to or near females (some familes of all females) and the males couldn't care less.

I have had only one pair of males in all my years that seem to get a little cranky with each other once they reached about 1 year old and they were next to a pair of females. I moved their cage near other males and next to a single female and they have never bickered since. I really don't know how much had to do with the original females they were near or just their age and working out who was the boss.

I have found that the issue of 'territory' that is sometimes mentioned is BS because I have males and females in cages that are next to each other throughout my entire rescue and have never had a problem.

They even talk to each other and will try to steal each others hay if it is poking through the wire so they can eat together.

If a chin has the personality to have issues with other chins, it usually won't matter what the gender is.
 
Last edited:
Shana said:
I have a sweet four-month-old ebony boy that I want to pair with my dark tan boy (one year old). Both chins are very laidback and non-domineering. The ebony is currently housed alone while the tan is with his possibly preggie mosaic mate.
Click to expand...

As has been stated, any chin can fight at any time regardless of past history or who they are caged near. I think your biggest problem is that one of your boys is currently housed with a female, so even if you take him out of her cage he may still be in a dominate 'protective' mode for awhile. You say that they are both laid back, however I've found that my chin's personality is very different depending on if they're interacting with a human or another chin. I was trying to re-pair two boys, and it was actually the 'submissive' one that gave me the most trouble and forced me to give up on the pair.

In theory your idea of housing any male offspring together is a great idea, but it doesn't always work out. You need to realize that in a worse case scenario you may need cages for EACH animal if they can't get along.

Also, side note not related to your post, you may want to do some more research into breeding before you continue with this endeavor. Most people start out with standards and one or two more common mutations. What is your goal for breeding a tan and mosaic together?
 
I wean my baby males in a large cage together at about 8 weeks, but have had to separate them almost everytime at about 6 months of age because they start to get aggressive with each other. The female babies I can leave together.
 
I was worried about this too, but I have several male pairs near females presently, definitely all in the same room. I'd imagine that, like most things, it depends on the personality of the individual animals.
 
I was very nervous about this when deciding to get a new chinnie, but after thinking about it, like all the people who also answered this, many breeders would have a lot of problems if that was the case! I think you'd be fine! Seeming that everyone here says that it shouldn't be a problem, I think you'll be fine! The chins may not get along, however, for any other reason aswell! It's a 50/50 chance! I just picked up my new chinnie today and am hoping to-after quarrantine- pair him with my other male, and their cage will be right on top of a male/female pair cage! Hopefully it will work out *fingers crossed*
 
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