help with introductions

[katt]

i have 3 chinchillas all together 1 lone male(neutered) 2years old ish and 2 females (sisters) 8 months old.
I have researched a lot but i just wanted to ask here as i feel safer with the info you give as you all own chinnies
i am wondering if this combination can work together and if so what is the most succesfull and safest possible way of introducing them.
so far they have only seen each other through the bars of each others cage and basically dont seem to care or even notice each other and i have swapped their cages but only for about 10-20 mins a time. im scared of just putting them straight into the cage i intend to have them in as its a big size and arkward to get them out if any thing bad happened instantly.
and should i be introducing them all together or one on one?
thanks in advance for answers

 

[Riven]

A good way to start is to take them all out, or have a new cage, if it's not new, clean it really well and redecorate ( make it seem new ) put them all in a carrier take them for a scary ride in the car, and bring them home and put them all together. The "scary" ride will help them bond because they went through something scary together. Watch for arguing, there may be a little bit of it, but there shouldn't be any massive chunks of fur missing or blood.

Good luck

ETA: there are many way to intro, I'm sure you'll get more thoughts soon, or you can use the search feature. This makes it easy for you to find something you're comfortable with.

 

[katt]

thanks, i know theres quite a few Q's on this but i couldnt find specifically 2 fems and a male as a combo and wondered what works best in peeps opinion
thanks tho will keep researching till i settle on one i feel could work.

 

[keeloyee]

Hi there
I have a similar problem, only -1 chinchilla. Yesterday, out of the blue, our limited english neighbors gave us their unwanted chinchilla. about a year ago we noticed that no-one was really looking after it, and it was kept in a garage which would of been hot and noisy and hazardous to it's health, so we offered to take it off their hands but they assured us that their daughter (who was away at uni) still wanted it. Now they have finally given up and given him (dodo) to us.

They gave us the cage as well, which looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a year, we tried to replace the cage lining with fresh bedding, but lo and behold the pull out tray had actually half either rotted or chewed away. we were going to keep him in his cage as to minimise stress and sudden environment change, but it was so filthy we couldn't have it in the house, so we ended up using out much cleaner back up chin cage.

He seems all right, but very disorientated, and late last night he just started barking for no reason at all, and then continued to have a series of barking every twenty seconds for the next hour. he also just lay stock still in one area of the cage. I put this down to stress and being like a new puppy crying for its familiarity.

anyway, i have a preexisting chin in about the largest chin cage available, I've had her for abut three years now and she is happy and healthy, although quite destructive (no toy lasts longer than a week.) I always wondered about whether she would be lonely or not but my parents aren't keen on expanding the menagerie as its more hassle for holidays etc, (even though there would be no less considering i would hope to have them in the same cage,) so this is the first time I've been able to consider a friend for her, as my mum always wants to make sure animals get the best treatment/care possible.

Ive read some horror stories on neutering, but was wondering whether it would be a viable option? is it usually very expensive? the risk is paying all that money for a potentially dangerous operation, and then finding out that they aren't suited to each other and having to rehome this poor distressed chinchilla into a home where he might get lesser care.

Also I'm not entirely sure what i should be doing to make his rehabilitation as comfortable as possible, what are the steps i should take with a rescue chinchilla? (he hasn't been abused or anything, just neglected a bit. fur, feet, eyes etc are all fine.) what are other people's recommendations and advice for this situation? what do you think would be the best thing to do?
any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much

 

[katt]

keeloyee : all i can say is post a thread on here asking as im not very experienced with chins, only had mine for 6-7 months now most of my info has come from here or lots of googling so i wouldnt want to give out any wrong advice

 

[keeloyee]

ok thanks will do!
sorry, wasn't sure about posting protocol

 

[Chin_Up_Sunshine]

Some people recommend in the case of Katt's boy chinnie, introducing him to each girl independently as well as together and also letting them have playtime together to see how they respond. I'm interested to see how a neutered male would work out with a bonded female pair.

 

[katt]

ok thanks, i actually had a go yesterday was really nervous about it but had my partner and me close off a small area in the hallway, put out a dust bath and then let them out together, at first kink (the more dominant female) came straight out to the dust bath, took no notice if chinny he sniffed her a little bit then tried to get in the dust bath with her! then out of no reason she jumped him and pulled a tuft of his fur of which he seemed pretty oblivious too? but i pulled him out and she ran back to the cage and so i ended it there as i didnt want to stress them too much for now, but im going to keep trying now im not so nervous of what could happen. i know gin (passive female) and chinny seem to get on with each other or at least there is no problems so far with them its just kink and chinny that i think i have the most work to do. He seems like he really wants to be with them as he always sits near their cage and trying to interact with them, but hes had no contact with chinchillas since he was a baby bless him so fingers crossed i can get them all to be one happy chin family

 

[katt]

just an update for anyone that may read this but i think iv finally done it! for ages it seemed like they would never get along, i had them out for mutual play time and all he did was follow them around everywhere and they would get fed up and nab a fur clump from him so i really thought they would never get along till one day i just gave them one last chance to get along before i resigned my self to having 2 seperate cages and play times etc i just cleaned chinny(male) cage out and popped a little bit of the girls sawdust poop bits and all into his cage and put them into his cage one at a time for about an hour or so and nothing happened they were fine and so few days later put them all together in one go and again nothing! all that happened is he did keep trying to hump the girls but i think because he has had no social contact with other chins before he dosent quite know how to conduct himself. a few little dominance behaviours from one of the girls and it all seems to be going well!he's been grooming them and this second hes all snuggled up to my girl kink, looks so blissfull and happy that he has a social mate! as for the other female gin im not sure at the mo she seems to be seperate from those 2 so hope shes not being pushed out or anything but it is only the start, maybe give her time as she is the more shy one yay!!

 

[Irishsk8r66]

for the car ride tactic do you put them in the same carrier? wont they fight while theyre in there if theyre not comfortable with each other?

 

[ratsnchins2011]

I was wonderig about the car ride thing too. I have two females (sisters) and a new female. We have done a few neutral playtimes but i am confused. My one sister chewed off the other sisters whiskers which I was told to assert her dominance. Anyway the wierd part is that my submissive female is the one having problems with the new girl.so I am a little nervous about jamming them all in a carrier in the car where i wouldnt be able to stop a fight if i was driving.

 

[liewwan]

Keeloyee: Look in the chin behavior and there is a thread call neuter vs separation that I posted up not too long ago. I came to the conclusion that it's best keeping them separated.