Can they ever be friends?

[Mystic]

About 3 months ago I tried to introduce my 2 boys, Toby and Tucker. Well Toby was the more dominate one, humping and fur pulling on Tucker. So I pretty much gave up but trying something today kind of gave me some hope.


Today I took Tucker out for playtime. I put his dustbath and hidey box in there so he would have something to do in his little play area. Well about ten minutes into playtime I tell JT to get Toby so I can see something just on a hunch. I set Toby down IN with Tucker and....they get along! They sniff and everything. I put the other dustbath in there as well so they can both each have their own dustbath. Well after about 15 mins of playing Toby gets a little more active and jumps on Tucker a few times. He pulled a little bit of fur out once.
Is there still hope they could become friends in the future? I was so happy when they were getting along for the first 15 minutes. They didn't really fight or anything....Toby was just being his dominate little self.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

There might be hope. It's all about patience. When I was introing my boys, I was about to give up then *poof* perfect buddies. My best advice is to try all the different techniques without stressing them boys out. Tunes way works really well and I know she just posted it in another into-ing thread. You can be hopeful as long as you're practical. Some chins never get along and some chins are bonded for life...just how it works...


Good luck and any questions just ask!!!:hug2:

 

[alli713]

I'd say just keep doing the play times and see how it goes. If they continue to play nicely, then they will get their dominance issues worked out. Once there's no chasing and humping then you can try putting them in a completely cleaned cage.

So, I'd say there's hope, but of course they could always decide to hate each other either tomorrow of 5 years from now unfortunately

 

[Mystic]

Should I try the dustbaths again? I heard that dustbaths can help mask their scents. Or should I try without the baths just to see how they react?

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

Should I try the dustbaths again? I heard that dustbaths can help mask their scents. Or should I try without the baths just to see how they react?

to mask their scents, put a dab of vanilla from your kitchen on their nose and the bottom of their tail... that'll mask it without hurting them-but don't bathe them in it:thumbsup:

 

[Stackie]

I always use a dust bath when introducing chins, but I make sure I have it in a large dish or pan so that both chins can fit comfortably in it. If it is something small like the superpet dust house sometimes chins can get in an argument over who gets to take the bath first.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

I always use a dust bath when introducing chins, but I make sure I have it in a large dish or pan so that both chins can fit comfortably in it. If it is something small like the superpet dust house sometimes chins can get in an argument over who gets to take the bath first.

I know that Rick also has used the dust bath. I agree with Stackie though, I have to have a bath for each chin at bath time or I have fights...so I'd either get one of the big fish bowls if you want to try this or you might want to do with something different

 

[Bekks]

There's another thread somewhere called "Chintros" or something like that, where Peggy gave some advice about intros. I used her method to get two girls together that I had totally given up on. No matter how many dust baths or play times I gave, they weren't having it that way.

 

[jmdebb]

I also heard from someone that has been breeding for a long time you can also put the vanilla on their nose. ALso what you can try is getting a small cage and putting the more dominate one in that one, then put that cage in the bigger cage so they can get to know each other that way, then give it about a day and switch.

Also, something I learned from CNQ - which works wonders for me - is cutting his whiskers. Makes them less dominate for some reason. BUt I had a female that went through some tough days and she got really nasty, and when I started to cut her whiskers, she stopped biting me, spraying me, and just overall wasn't as mean. It's just a thought. Again I'm not as much a pro as some of these people that have had chins for tons of years.

Oh I also heard that you can use a dab of vicks vapor rub on their noses also from a breeder, and I trust her.

So best of luck to you, and yes someone else wrote about patience, it is very important, don't give up.

Try everything you have too. There is something also called smooshing, you can try that. Look it up (I'm bad at explaining or I would).

Again, best of luck
jean

ps keep us posted.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

Smooshing is done by having two chins in a carrier etc. that is just big enough for them to fit and not big enough for them to fight. Some people don't like this method because if done incorrectly, the chins can get hurt-this is the only method that worked for my boys though.


So you put the chins in the container and some drive around in the car while they are being smooshed-chins will bond under stress. It is important not to leave them in there for more than 15 mins, they will overheat otherwise. I did it twice-once on Monday and then on Tuesday and it worked wonders! I had trimmed the whiskers of the agressor before putting them together as well...


but I would suggest reading up on all of them, I know that Peggy's (tunes) intro method has worked very well for many people.

 

[jmdebb]

Smooshing is done by having two chins in a carrier etc. that is just big enough for them to fit and not big enough for them to fight. Some people don't like this method because if done incorrectly, the chins can get hurt-this is the only method that worked for my boys though.


So you put the chins in the container and some drive around in the car while they are being smooshed-chins will bond under stress. It is important not to leave them in there for more than 15 mins, they will overheat otherwise. I did it twice-once on Monday and then on Tuesday and it worked wonders! I had trimmed the whiskers of the agressor before putting them together as well...


but I would suggest reading up on all of them, I know that Peggy's (tunes) intro method has worked very well for many people.

Thanks for getting explaining it for me.

Jean

 

[Chinchillatron]

Also, something I learned from CNQ - which works wonders for me - is cutting his whiskers. Makes them less dominate for some reason. BUt I had a female that went through some tough days and she got really nasty, and when I started to cut her whiskers, she stopped biting me, spraying me, and just overall wasn't as mean. It's just a thought. Again I'm not as much a pro as some of these people that have had chins for tons of years.

I read about this one on C&Q as well. Then I tried it for myself on the girls I use to have. When they first met (without whiskers cut) the both of them stood up on their back legs and challenged each other with lots of spraying and cacking noises. I was at my wits end. All I did was cut their whiskers to the same shortened length (about an inch or so long, you can burrito them an do this effectively) and I don't know, after that they just didn't seem to care about confrontation without their prized whiskers.


Same thing with my boys! At first I put their cages next to each other, then I held them close under supervision, eventually after the girls were gone I let them have play time together (it was not pleasant, lots of fur pulling/humping) after a few play times together though they seemed to get along in a large space, so I clipped their whiskers to the same shortened length and put them in a newly cleaned and rearranged cage. There was very minimal humping and fur pulling. Now they groom each other and give kisses like they were best friends! (I just put them in the same cage 3 days ago.)

I still keep my eye on them. I continue to add new toys (that I make) to their cage to keep them interested and I just added a new wheel. So far so good.

 

[Mystic]

I know about the smoosh method but I don't think I feel comfortable doing that with my chins. Toby gets REALLY upset when he gets put in the carrier for cage cleaning time (I have a JP 2 hole carrier)
I think I will order a show cage soon though and try that method, but first I'm going to try playtime again soon and see how that goes.
On a side note, I had there cages side by side for about 1.5 months but I think it just stressed them out more than helping them out so now they are in a ferret nation split in half. They can smell each other but can't see each other. When they were side by side they would try to bite at each other through the bars. I think having them this way works much better.
Thank you to everyone who answer! I will keep everyone posted on how playtime goes from here on out. =)

 

[JennyBug]

My husband and I are going through a little bit of a difficult intro process with our two females. We have been using the method under "Chintros - Not going well!" in another thread (Tunes saved us on this one!), and it works very well. The two girls are at an uneasy truce, and part of what we did today was give them side by side dust baths (two bowls, right next to one another), and it forced them to be near one another. They did very well and switched back and forth between each other's baths. We are still working, but check out Tunes' method in the aforementioned thread... it worked WONDERS for us!

 

[jmdebb]

My husband and I are going through a little bit of a difficult intro process with our two females. We have been using the method under "Chintros - Not going well!" in another thread (Tunes saved us on this one!), and it works very well. The two girls are at an uneasy truce, and part of what we did today was give them side by side dust baths (two bowls, right next to one another), and it forced them to be near one another. They did very well and switched back and forth between each other's baths. We are still working, but check out Tunes' method in the aforementioned thread... it worked WONDERS for us!

That's one I haven't heard of yet, that sounds like a great idea, so they don't fight at all doing it this way? It makes sense, they go nuts over their baths.

Jean