Happy Trio - add a 4th?

[MelodyR]

I originally posted this in the FN thread, but I realize it would probably be better here ----

After quarantine, I just intro'd my 5 yr old male (cagemate died) to 2 adorable 5-mo old brother chins and moved the whole trio into a new FN cage. They've been together 2 weeks and absolutely so very happy together. No problems at all. Nothing. They play eat and sleep together and no one gangs up on anyone else. Three peas in a pod.

They are in the FN 143 - 3 level. There is soooo much room in there, even with all the toys, etc. They spend very little time on the top level.

My question is -- has anyone tried 4 boys together? There is plenty of room, but I have never seen a 4-male group caged together on here, only trios. Would the dynamics be destroyed?

Of the three, two are dominants, and one is submissive, but there is no fighting at all, which kind of pleasantly surprised me. None of them displays any aggression at all.

Again, any thoughts on adding a 4th chin? I have found one I really like, but the only two choices would be to add him to this group, or start another group, but a whole new addnl setup would get costly!
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[Stackie]

Honestly, if they are happy, I'm not sure if I would add another. No one can say whether or not they will accept another chin, but in my experience, adding a new chin to an already bonded pair has caused that pair to fight.

Plus, they've only been together two weeks..I would wait and let them figure out their dominance and where they rank before even thinking about introducing another. I'm sure they are still a bit unsure of each other and still trying to figure things out.

I had a trio that got along great for a few months, then one decided he wanted to be the boss which in turn caused the others to be on edge, so I had to separate all of them.

 

[AZChins]

I have had up to seven boys in a cage at any one time. It's hard to get them to get along, it takes a lot of patience and introducing the right chins. All the personalities have to mesh properly or there can be a problem. It really just takes one little stinker to throw off the harmony of all the chins. Right now I think I have one cage with four males, but they were all introduced as babies.

The problem with babies is that they can enter their puberty time and go insane anywhere from 6 to 18 months of age. Brothers usually do well together with no problems. MOST chins aren't evil and get along and don't cause problems...it's something like one out of every 10 to 20 decide to go crazy at a certain point.

With any chins that are in the same cage together there needs to be a level of monitoring their behavior. Right now I have a cage with six females in it, they all are lovey dovey...the cage with four males is good...all my pairs are getting along... Yay.

In this case with the two brothers and the older male, you probably have a really good match. An older, more patient male with young baby brothers will probably work out great. Adding another chin could add a whole new dynamic to the interactions between them. It's like dominoes falling over sometimes...it takes one action on the new chin's behalf to set into motion discord! One chin gets ticked off, but does nothing...but then gets mad enough to lash out a few days or weeks later...then another chin gets mad because another one is grumpy. Soon there can be a cage of very mad little chinchillas! Just be very careful if you are adding another one - make sure that you have a chin that isn't very dominant. Maybe a three month old kit...but still, they're happy - they have plenty of buddies as it is.

 

[tunes]

I have several cages with 4 or more chins in them, male and female, but they all went in at the same time as weanlings. It's hard to keep adding a chin once the other chins have established a bond. I've done it with weanlings who are a week or so apart, but not usually longer than that.

Your 5 month olds are heading into "terrible 2" territory. Around 6 to 8 months of age, boy chins can turn into major buttheads as they figure out that they are manly men. I would be wary of rocking the boat at this point.

 

[starleomach]

I have a cage of 11 females. I add weanlings to it and pull out as they get older...The boys are tricker I have a cage of 5 and can not change. I tried once and it cause unreat and I had to start all over again. I would vote if they are happy let them be

 

[Carol~Anne]

I had a single chin for about three years and then introduced him to a bonded pair who were about a year old and although it took a lot of time and patience it worked well. I then added a fourth boy b/c I had two huge cages that they could all access and things went really well for quite a few months and then one morning when I went down to check on them I saw a lot of fluff spread around both cages so I immediately separated them into pairs: two bonded Grey Boys and the original single boy with the new white one and that's how it's been now for quite a while. I think my original boy and the dominant Grey Boy were squabbling and that caused the fur to fly amongst all the boys that night.

I think I'd be tempted to wait until after your young boys finish going through puberty before I'd attempt anymore intros. There's always the option of trying to introduce your five-year-old chin to a new chin and keep them both in pairs, but if you don't have a fourth chin then I'd just keep the trio as is. I personally like pairs.

 

[MelodyR]

The only thing about the pairs is that when one dies, it is pretty traumatic for the remaining lone cagemate. Mine have really really mourned the death of a cagemate and the only thing that helped was a new buddy. But then there's the quarantine issue that goes along with that. That's why I did the trio this time.

 

[Carol~Anne]

Then I'd just stick to the trio then and forget about adding a fourth to the mix. The only reason I ended up with a fourth was b/c I have this breeder friend close by who was retiring the most beautiful extreme mosaic boy (rip Feeney) and I saw him on her website and fell in love with him instantly. It didn't help that she said I could have him for free b/c she wanted him to go to a good retirement home and knew that I wouldn't continue to breed him.

Unfortunately he became ill and died suddenly and my boy Pip seemed out of sorts but I just happened to have another single boy (same bad influence breeder) who gave me another chin and I introduced him to Pip and they hit it off right away. Now I have another single chin Carlos and it is possible in the future I will try to introduce him to my pair Pip & Zeke but I won't introduce him to my Grey Boys b/c Oscar does NOT like him one little bit. I won't be trying quads again though.

 

[Tagna]

The only thing about the pairs is that when one dies, it is pretty traumatic for the remaining lone cagemate. Mine have really really mourned the death of a cagemate and the only thing that helped was a new buddy. But then there's the quarantine issue that goes along with that. That's why I did the trio this time.

I had a pair of females and one of them died from cancer. I was worried how Loki would take being an only chin and she has done fine. Now I do have 6 other chins in my chin room (all are singles as I totally suck at intros). Loki had always been very untouchable but since she's an only chin she is quite the mush pot now.