Bringing Home a Second?

[Cruezer]

I got my first chinchilla about 6 months ago, when he was around 6 weeks old. He's been by himself ever since then and he seems fine with that, but I can't help but feel like he needs a friend or companion. Would it be too high risk to bring a new chinchilla home at this point?

If I were to get a second one, it would be another male, because I don't feel like I'm properly equipped to handle a breeding pair. It'd also likely be an older chinchilla; the breeder I go to has older chinchillas that don't have anything wrong with them, they just weren't taken home as babies, so now they're a little cheaper than the babies are and I'd wanna give one of them a good home. Would there be too many dominance issues with two males and that age difference?

Lastly, my cage is a two story 30x24x15" cage. Would that be too cramped for two animals to share together?

Any and all advice is much apprciated

 

[Shooper]

My only advise for you is be prepared to have 2 seperate cages incase they dont get along. Even if everything is fine for a while (even years) they can just decide one day to not like eachother and start fighting. This may not happen, but there's no guarentee that they will always be buddies.

 

[jess32247]

I personally wouldn't risk it, for the sake of the chin/s. If he's doing fine by himself, why get another chin and put everything in jeopardy?

That's just my view though.. besides, he has you to be another chin friend for him!

 

[Cruezer]

Hmm... if they could randomly start hating each other, then it's definitely not worth the risk. I'd want them to be friends forever, hahaha. I feel so bad that the little guy doesn't have any other little furry friends, but he does get a lot of attention and he probably likes not having to share that.

 

[Lillybabe]

Also, if you get a second chin you will need a second cage. The new chin would need to be quarantined in a second room for at least a month. Then you would need to put the cages near each other so the chins get use to each other. It is a slow process introducing two chins. You can't just throw them in the cage together when you bring the new one home and hope they get along. This goes with breeding pairs or same sex pairs. With any sort of animal there is always a chance they will fight. Because they are in a cage they can't really escape from each other and fights can become deadly.

 

[jess32247]

Chins can be paired up or single, he wouldn't miss having another furry friend if he never had one. Like Lillybabe said, it's a long process getting two chins together, then theres no guarante that they will like each other, even if they did though fights can break out at any times.