How do I stop the fighting?!?

[pinkpiggy1989]

I have a Ferret Nation 142. I have 2 chins on the top, one in the bottom. It seems no matter what I do, 2 of them CONSTANTLY try fighting through the bars. Neither of them can get to each other, but the pans slide just enough for them to see each other a bit and smell. I've tried putting towels, pillowcases, and liners underneath the pan, and they get shredded. I've also tried cardboard and sheet metal and the one on the bottom slides it out of the way.

Like I said, they can't physically reach each other, so no harm is coming to either chinchilla. And I've noticed once they start fighting, they run around their cages and toss out all their food, flip their litter box, and trash the cage. I don't understand why this is happening all of a sudden. They've been caged in the FN for quiet sometime now, over a few months. All this behavior started in the past week or two.

*I've tried several times before to introduce them, but they want NOTHING to do with eachother and do nothing but fight! The last time blood was drawn, so I will not be re-introducing them.*

 

[Andrea]

Please don't put towels/pillowcases in a place where chins can shred them because it can cause impaction. It sounds like you need to separate the unit since it is causing a lot of stress for your chins. Putting them in such close proximity is a bad idea if they are constantly trying to fight each other...even if they cannot physically attack one another, it will cause problems for them. Separate the unit or get another cage so that the chins can be located in two different areas. Good luck!

*ETA* Did you get them as kits? As chins mature they can go from loving each other to hating each other.

 

[Laurie]

There is nothing you can do to stop this. What type of pans do you have? I have Bass pans in all my ferret nations and they do not slide or move at all. Chins are very territorial and will always do this to protect "their" space. If you don't have the Bass pans I would look into getting them, or you could put tile down in the Ferret Nation to complete seal off and block off any area that shows.

 

[GorillaJTA]

Can you not move shelves so that the one on the bottom can reach the top? I have a FN142 and there is plenty of room to have shelves everywhere without them being able to reach the top...

 

[starleomach]

If two chinchillas do not get along there is nothing you can do other than separate completely, like even so they cannot see through the bars

 

[GorillaJTA]

Sorry, missed edit, but I mean't to say "can not" reach the top.