1 chin or 2?

[Lucy~Caitlyn]

Ok, I was all set to get 2 because I know Chins live in extended groups and I think it wrong to keep any creature from it's own kind unless a) it's own kind are naturally solitary, b) the individual is a hermit, c) there is a good reason for this course of action.
In my research I've read that yes they do like company, no they are happy with a human, they can have company and then demand a divorce.
I'm just about to put my foot on the path of this long journey I and my potential fur babies could really use some help ~ Please.
I'm out of my home at the longest 5.5 hrs every other Sat, 4.5 hrs Wed during term time. Other than that it's 2 hours Tues & Fri.
This very rarely changes as I'm disabled and unless the weather is dry I can't get out on my own. I can't put my waterproofs on alone without excruciating pain.
So my furry family have me home a lot of the time, and they have each other in terms of the cats.
So my question is, could/would this be enough for a Chinchilla? Or should I get 2?
I would only have a same sex pair because def no breeding :facepalm::no:
and I don't want to risk neutering a male.
Thanks for reading

 

[IceMaiden]

It depends on how much time you have to spend with your chin. If your not in a lot or don't have much time to interact with them, then two are better as they can keep each othe occupied. If you do have plenty of time to devote to them, then one is just fine. You will find that if you only have one, it will bond to you more because you become its companion and playmate. If you have two they will bond to each other and not be so bothered about you. I have heard of several people who got a second chin and discovered their current one was no longer as cuddly or affectionate towards them. They do still have a bond with you, just not the same as a single chin does. Personally I would only ever have one at a time.

Also, if you have two you have to be prepared for them possibly falling out suddenly one day, and possibly requiring space for another very large cage. Their not robots, there are no guarantees two animals will remain friends and co-exist peacefully anymore than you can guarantee two people will, or any other living creature. With one chin there is no chance of this problem ever arising.

I only have one chin, she's doted on, very spoilt and gets loads of attention and free time as I work from home. She is very loving and playful and we have a wonderful bond between us due to her having my undivided attention. She's happy with me and I'm happy with her. I know for a fact she would not be at all pleased if I had another and she had to share her time with it, she sulks for England if I take notice of the hamster!

 

[Cass C]

I think a chinchilla can be perfectly happy on its own, but if you decide you have to get two beware they can have a falling out over seemingly nothing or even slight changes. I've re-bonded my chinchillas once and dread the day I may have to do it again. They hated eachother for about two months after my boy got neutered. I had tried to just put them back in the same cage and to my (uneducated) shock the female tried to attack him, after two months of cage swaps and eventually play dates I was able to put them back together where they have lived in peace for 5 years. In the mean time I had two huge cages setup just in case I had to split them permenantly. I've also heard of chinchilla fights seriously hurting or even killing eachother in a bloody mess. Rule of thumb is once blood is drawn the bonded pair can never be together again.

 

[IceMaiden]

I think a chinchilla can be perfectly happy on its own, but if you decide you have to get two beware they can have a falling out over seemingly nothing or even slight changes. I've re-bonded my chinchillas once and dread the day I may have to do it again. They hated eachother for about two months after my boy got neutered. I had tried to just put them back in the same cage and to my (uneducated) shock the female tried to attack him, after two months of cage swaps and eventually play dates I was able to put them back together where they have lived in peace for 5 years. In the mean time I had two huge cages setup just in case I had to split them permenantly. I've also heard of chinchilla fights seriously hurting or even killing eachother in a bloody mess. Rule of thumb is once blood is drawn the bonded pair can never be together again.

It's almost impossible to believe such cute fluffy things will fight so viciously or even kill each other if they fall out, especially as their strictly vegetarian and have no taste or desire for meat whatsoever! Their odd things rodents, lovely with people but will turn into savage killers towards each other in seconds if they decide to fall out. I had dwarf hamsters who I thought would live happily together, until I found a bloodbath in the cage and an almost headless hamster uke:....never, ever again..One pet per cage only now so there's no risk of waking up to that type of horror scene again.

 

[Dani3264]

That one thing I just do not understand....if they are pack animals and live with many others in the wild, how it is so possible for them to reject each other when together as pets..

 

[Cass C]

Think about it this way imagine you have a person that you don't really like but you tolerate when you have to. It's easier to deal with them if you have several miles to get away from them when they annoy you vs being trapped in a small room with them with nowhere to go.

 

[Amethyst]

I think it really comes down to chinchillas have much more personality variety then other rodents, probably because they are smarter. You have shy chins, brave chins, dominate chins and subordinate chins, and every thing in between just like humans. As said in the wild they can get away from each other, in a cage or even a whole room (I do NOT advise living free roaming just using the size as an example) they can't really. However just because it doesn't get along with one chin doesn't mean it wont get along with another. To better answer Dani3264 using another herd animal as an example, horses commonly split from a herd when they decide they want to no longer be a follower, that's how new herds are formed or it joins a herd better suited to it. Similarly with chins one might decide it doesn't want to be dominated anymore, since it can't leave, it fights back.

Basically it comes down to is it a risk you are willing to take, many chins live happily together their whole lives, others don't. From what I've seen success rate is higher then failure, but you should still always be prepared for possible fallout. There is normally signs of fights before it gets deadly (not always though), so long as you watch for them, like aggressive chasing, excessive mounting, fur pulling, biting, excessive barking or spraying each other, things like that. Unless you are gone for 12+ hours a day or leaving them alone for a day or more then you should catch an issue before it gets out of hand.

So long as you are able to spend at the very minimum an hour a day with the chin it will be ok even alone.

In response to IceMaiden, hamsters are almost always solitary animals, some form bonded male/female mating pairs, but in general being housed together causes stress, which is probably why you had an issue. If you got the idea from seeing them all in a tank in a pet store, hamsters (and other rodents) stores get are generally young and don't have a problem with each other until they are older and want their own territory. Hamsters are also not vegetarians, they are omnivores, like most rodents.

 

[Lucy~Caitlyn]

Thanks IceMaiden for your reply. I'm pretty well housebound except on days I have a Support Worker. Taking care of pets is no prob it's taking care of me. I can't get my wet weather (of which we have so much) gear on in my wheelchair without help so I stay in.
This means I'm home a lot! The times I am out would most likely be sleep time for Chin.
Though I tend to need to sleep a fair bit too, as I said to Amethyst I'm sounding more and more like a Chinchilla myself :~)
I've been concerned at 1 being all alone, but I'm realising 2 may not mean company.
To be honest I prefer humans in small, measured doses (see what I mean :~) so I can understand being in a cage could be 2 close for 10-15 years!
So sorry you had that experience with your hamsters, can understand your 1 cage policy.

 

[Lucy~Caitlyn]

Thanks Cass C. I absolutely get your point. With my late SO I loved him absolutely but I couldn't have shared our 3 bed home 24/7/365(6) days without taking breaks from each other.
I'm widowed and much as I miss him, and I do tremendously there is also something to be said for my own space :~)

 

[Lucy~Caitlyn]

I agree with what you said Amethyst though I would point out that Rats are very smart too and really enjoy having a variety of activities. One of my twin sister's rats could distinguish between colours and she often set complicated mazes for them which they mastered very quickly. If she repeated a design even after several months they remembered it.
I can offer a Chin a lot of me time, that is one of the reasons I considered this as a pet. Apart from needing extra sleep I'm home a lot and I look forward to making safe toys, set ups for exploration.
Re IceMaiden in UK Chinese hamsters are sold specifically as hamsters that "love to live together." So her horror was not one she could have in anyway expected. Syrians are sold as singles only and I don't know about Russians.

 

[Kokorobosoi]

I have four chins, in three cages. I personally believe in attempting to pair- but life gave me hermits! My singletons are much friendlier though, so there is that to consider.

 

[Amethyst]

I agree with what you said Amethyst though I would point out that Rats are very smart too and really enjoy having a variety of activities. One of my twin sister's rats could distinguish between colours and she often set complicated mazes for them which they mastered very quickly. If she repeated a design even after several months they remembered it.

I'm not saying rats aren't smart, they are one of the smarted, I'm just saying chins are smarter. I've had rats, hamsters, mice, gerbils, and guinea pigs, and chinchillas seemed the smartest. I think it may be one of those "you have to have one to understand" situations. The 15-20+ year lifespan of a chin probably plays a role in the intelligence, they have time to learn and develop more complex social relationships and behavior.

I actually did a science project on rats vs chinchillas when I was in grade school (I think I just wanted to show off my chins ). Although a rat can more quickly learn to do tricks or a maze, the chin has to see the point of the behavior or of actually doing the maze. The rat would follow the maze, the chin tended to try to figure out how to get to the reward without going through the maze. I used identical mazes for the chins and rats.
Chins also will train you if you aren't careful, for example, cry and the human comes running, throw a tantrum to be let out and the human lets you out, throw your food and you get fresh stuff. Basically a rat knows how to get to food, a chin knows how to command humans, lol.

 

[Cass C]

My chinchilla Rocy started training me to come when she barked in the middle of the night, so I had to start ignoring her when she barked.

 

[IceMaiden]

That one thing I just do not understand....if they are pack animals and live with many others in the wild, how it is so possible for them to reject each other when together as pets..

I think, as people have already said, it's because they can't get away from each other. Gerbils are another rodent that live in it groups in the wild, but as pets in a tank they can fall out badly and refuse to pair up again. When you think about it, it's like people, if a person is stuck with someone they don't like or have argued with and can't get away from to go and calm down, their temper starts rising, and depending on how controlled they are, it often ends in a slap or a punch up. With caged animals no matter how big the cage is their still contained and can't truly get away from the thing they don't like or won't leave them alone so a fight breaks out. Why they will fight to a point of it being fatal though I'm not sure unless it's a case of 'kill or be killed'.

I agree with what you said Amethyst though I would point out that Rats are very smart too and really enjoy having a variety of activities. One of my twin sister's rats could distinguish between colours and she often set complicated mazes for them which they mastered very quickly. If she repeated a design even after several months they remembered it.
I can offer a Chin a lot of me time, that is one of the reasons I considered this as a pet. Apart from needing extra sleep I'm home a lot and I look forward to making safe toys, set ups for exploration.
Re IceMaiden in UK Chinese hamsters are sold specifically as hamsters that "love to live together." So her horror was not one she could have in anyway expected. Syrians are sold as singles only and I don't know about Russians.

Apart from Syrians, all the dwarf hamsters in Pets At Home are sold as 'extremely sociable and can live happily together':banghead:. I've even had one store try and refuse to sell me one on its own. Russians can be truly nasty towards each other. I had one and it managed to escape out of its cage, then climbed down and squeezed itself into another cage and proceeded to tear the poor hamster in that cage to pieces.

I honestly think Lucy, that with the amount of time your at home, that one chin would be ideal for you as you will develop such a bond with it from being able to spend so much undivided time with it, and especially if you get one from a breeder whose handled and socialised their babies properly, you should end up with a friendly, fun and truly wonderful little companion).

 

[Lucy~Caitlyn]

LOL Amethyst sounds like my cats who absolutely have me trained :~) Even my Hamster who's been here less than a week is working on me :~)
One of my rescue Baby Barn Owls learnt pretty quickly that if he
hunched himself up I'd scoop him up and cuddle him. He had no breast feathers until he was 2 years old. Every other feather was fine, so I made him little wool waistcoats but if I thought he was cold he'd get popped in a fleece sling round my neck which he loved being in.

 

[Lucy~Caitlyn]

IceMaiden, thanks for your input. I think your right as I can give a Chin at least 8 hours on a bad day I should be able to give them enough time for us to bond and still have space from each other :~)
Getting impatient now for litter to arrive :~)