Introducing a new chin to a not so new chin

[cmor1031]

Hi guys, as I said in my intro post, I already have one male chinchilla who is almost 3 years old and I would eventually like to get him a male buddy. I used to have a female who he would get along with fine, until he would try to hump her, but who can blame him. Other than the humping they would play together and clean each other, etc. I no longer have the female and was wondering if "older" chinchillas can still bond and get along. I wanted to hear if anyone on here has introduced males after they were a few years old and from different litters, and how it went. I would really like to get Mikey a bud, but I want to make sure it is possible before I go buy a new chin. Let me know if any of you have had the same experience and how you handled it.

 

[alli713]

No one can tell you for sure one way or another as to whether or not he'll accept a chin buddy. And for that matter, whether or not the new chin you get will want a buddy either.

It's a case by case thing. Some chins get along fine, some don't. There's no guarantee.

And just because he got along with a female does not guarantee that he will get along with another male. But you shouldn't get another female either because that means babies.

I've heard there's better luck with getting a youngster, just weaned chin getting along with an adult, but even that isn't guaranteed either.

 

[lauralynne]

There just isn't a way to tell the future with intros. What you can do is: Get a male (female + male = babies), quarantine for a proper amount of time, then slowly introduce by placing their cages near each other for a while, placing one in the other's cage (separately - not together), etc.

 

[Anna]

I did the opposite, I had a young chin and I brought one about 3 years old into the picture. It's shaky. They're both males and after the quarantine period they could play a little bit at the same time, but after only a few minutes the older one would get tired of the younger one's antics and kack at him, so I would split them up. I basically don't let them play together, as one is SO much bigger than the other. And one has been sick, too. So that kept them apart as well. Good luck

 

[Carol~Anne]

I have had good success with introducing a three-year-old chin with a younger pair. It was a slow process and did take me about three months to get them together so it can be done. However, I introduced another boy to the mix and it went well for for several months and then all heck broke loose so I separated them into pairs.

So just b/c you can get them together doesn't mean they will stay together which means you always have to have a spare cage on hand in case you have to separate them. There are no guarantees with these guys.

Right now I just separated two rescue boys that have been together for two years and when they came to live with me six weeks ago, the dominant one started to pick on his mate and I was giving them time to work it out but instead of them settling down it got worse.

Even though they are in a much better environment now you'd think they'd flourish but that's not the case. I'm starting to think that when they were in their crappy environment they only had each other but now that their lives are enriched, the bossy boy doesn't want the other guy around. At least that's my guess but who really knows.

Here's a pic I took the other day of the boy who was picked on and keep in mind that six weeks ago there was not a hair out of place on him. He also had nip marks on both ears.

 

[Blarklark]

Sorry to steal the thunder. But I'm going through something similar. I in the past had a chin named Povel. Duh! I still do .. He is very friendly towards me.. outgoing. Never Pffft! I me or anything. I've always wanted to get him a Chin buddy.

I went with my boyfriend to pick up a Ferret Nation cage so Pov had more room. While I was there I saw they had a chin. I asked to see it. He was friendly.. they had him for about 2 weeks.. he was alittle smaller then when I got Pov.. but still full of life.. I asked to see his teeth looked at his poop the works.

I think because he went from his smaller "glassed in cage" to.. small Chinchilla home with ledges. It spooked him. The new chin backs himself into a corner and "pffts!" at me. Even when I fill his dish he.. "pfffts!".. We have been letting him be. Hoping he will get used to his new home and stop the .. "pfffting" The Petstore helper told me he was not handled much.

I can turn my vacume on to clean povs cage and he is fine.. music turned on and he is fine. But if your hand is in the cage when he is grumpy.. he gives you a .. PFFFT!.. and chitters at you.

Whats this have to do with the topic? I'm having to break the new guy in and.. introduce him to Pov.. But first obviously he needs to be comfy in his own cage before he gets to know another chin right?

So far we have their cages side by side with a 6 inch gap between them. they sit side by side and could care less. But still giving it more time before I swap them into each others cage.

They say getting used to either others smells.. such as using the same dustbath bowl.. or living in each others houses will help the bond.. but like they said.. no promises..

 

[Blarklark]

I was snooping on the internet and found this great website..

http://www.chinchilla-sounds.de/index_en.htm

It has alot of listings on chin sounds and what they may/could mean. The sound that the new chin I have is making sounds like...

The Defence Sound
The defence sound is a very short and forceful call and sounds like <<kack - kack>> (keck.wav ). It means something like "Ouch!" or "Scram!".

A sucking mother often uses this sound if her babies occupy her nipples too much or if they even bite on it.

In Chinchilla-farms, I often noticed very shy chins, which were making use of that sound as soon as a human was coming close to their cages. Obviously, this is the result of captivity and missing affection.

Which makes alot of sense since he is from a petstore where he didn't get much attention..

 

[cmor1031]

Another 2 questions?
Can they potentially be more likely to get along if they are both neutered, or does neutering a male chin do nothing to his attitude of other chins.

Also, I read about cutting their whiskers on another thread here and I was wondering how long it takes for the whiskers to grow back and how safe it really is to cut them?

Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

[cmor1031]

And btw, I love that chinchilla noise website, I found it a few years back and every once in a while I'll just go listen to the sounds, its so cute!

 

[cmor1031]

Also, (I keep coming up with more options ) since Mikey has been with a female chinchilla, even though I no longer own her or any of the supplies/toys that she used, can that potentially make him very aggressive to another male chin?

Or,

would it possibly be better for me to get another female and get Mikey neutered. I would have to do a lot of research first in finding a highly qualified vet to neuter him before I would even consider this... Do males tend to get along better with females than other males? I have read so many books and articles about chinchillas but I wanted to ask you guys on here who have had personal experience with chins...

:thanks4:

 

[luvrchins]

This summer we adopted a 3 year old chin from a family that has had him since he was a baby. As the kids got older they didn't play with him as much as he needed. He started to destroy his cage by excessive chewing because he was bored. We adopted him and it took a few weeks for him to adjust to his new house and my daughter. He is a runt. 6 month later we decided that we wanted to try to find a friend for our chin. I knew I didn't want to try a pet store. There really isn't a way for me to determine what the personality of the chin would be and I figure the store doesn't handle them too much either. I found a Chinchila rescue in our area. I contacted them and they had a few chins available for adoption. Many of them were there because the owner could no longer take care of them. The chins were healthy and the private shelter was very up front about all of the positive and negative behaviors. We were advised to bring our chin in so we could try for a match with some of their males. The male we were interested in was one that was alone and was 7 years old. This violet chin was much larger than our standard. They were put in a small change with a divider to see how they responded to each other. It turned out that they took to each other immediately. After spending about 2 hours at the shelter we were sure that our 3 year old and the 7 year old would get along. I brought both back to my house and introduced both of them into a new cage. The cage had not been used by either chin so they were entering an new environment together. After about 15 mins the alpha chin was determined and they have been best buddies since. Both are much happier and we love having both of them. The rescue shelter was very helpful and if the match has been a problem when we got home they would have taken their chin back and put us on a waiting list for an other chins that came in. I know many people have to go at the intro process slowly but ours was fast and friendly. I recommend you look for a chin rescue shelter. They you can handle the chins in advance and really work with them on finding the perfect home for as a cage mate. I hope you can have an experience as wonderful as ours.