Chin Bonding Probability?

[Josh.Hill]

I currently have an 8 month old, little girl chinchilla. She seems perfectly happy, especially since I have been doing a lot of work from home so she has most of the day with her cage door open, able to run around the room at will. Anyway, I still wonder often if she might enjoy the company of another chin. I possibly have the opportunity to bring home another female who is 3 years old. From the information I have read it seems she has had at least one litter and was a "great mom and does bite so not great to handle".
I was hoping I could get some input on what everyone thinks the chances of these two bonding after a slow introduction period? I'm not worried about her "biting" and I have never had a chinchilla that was particularly fond of being handled; hopefully she is not quick to respond with urine when one tries to hold her though. I have a second cage because I attempted this a long time ago when I had one male. Sadly, the addition and he never got along so I then had two chinchillas, in two cages and I would hate to have that happen again. Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you and Happy March!

 

[Amethyst]

With any additional chin there is always the chance that they wont get along. Basically the chances they will get along is about the same as any two random humans will get along. Similarly the chances they will stay together forever is probably about the same that two humans will remain friends forever. You can have two living together for years and then one day decide they want to kill each other and need to live separate.

If you are not ok with the possibility of two separate chins then don't get another. Some chins do enjoy having friends but not cage mates too though, so they may live separate but can have playtime together, so it's not like they are completely alone. On the other hand some chins don't want anything at all to do with another chin.

Also in case you don't know you'll want to have the new chin in it's own cage in another room for quarantine for 30 days. That gives you time to learn the chinchilla's behavior, how often it poops, pees, it's awake/sleep cycle, etc. and gives the chin time to settle in without the extra stress of another chin around. Also it gives time for illness to show up before you expose your current one to anything.

Another thing is it's not possible to do intro too slow, but it's easy to go too fast. Bonding two chins successfully can take anywhere from days to years.

 

[Josh.Hill]

Thank you for the information, very helpful and useful.