Lashing tail when cross?

[Amphy64]

Henry did something I haven't seen before today - he lashed his tail, in the way an angry or annoyed cat does. He'd just slipped past me when I opened his cage, so I snuck up and recaptured him, surprising him a little I think. He was very very mad, and when I held him kacked at me and lashed his tail from side to side, exactly like a cat. I'm familiar with the flirtatious chinnie tail wagging, which when I've seen it has been slower than this was, the tail curving more rather than moving more as one piece from the base, but this was a new one to me.

Anyone else seen this behaviour and can confirm it seems to be a cross/frustrated response?

Think he's forgiven me now, he did bounce up and let me skritch him after!

 

[bchins]

I saw that in two of my chinchillas- Tovi and Blackie. I had started some colony breeding cages and they were the lucky males to a bunch of females (the males are in seperate colony cages), and they immediately did the tail wag. I was assumming it was more flirty than mad, but it was their cages, so maybe they were mad they had newcomers....

 

[caiti]

My female, Chloe, flits her tail when she's riled up and seemingly frustrated. It happens mainly when she wants to get out of her cage desperately.

Since I heard that the flirtatious tail-wagging is more common in males, I thought maybe Chloe was doing it out of anger/excitement. Makes sense to me.

 

[Spoof]

It's usually a dominance/mating thing. Males tend to do it and chirp. Females tend to do it and mark/shuffle their butts on objects.

 

[Siany]

Ooo Chinchillas with a temper, never heard of their tails lashing before. Im not sure my chinnies have ever done that but i will watch in future, its very interesting to me

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

Mr. Whiskers does it sometimeswhen he doesn't get what he wants. I call it "Talkin' Trash to Mommy!!!

 

[misty]

It's usually a dominance/mating thing. Males tend to do it and chirp. Females tend to do it and mark/shuffle their butts on objects.

Hmm, do they do that when they're standing? Sometimes when I am cleaning out the cage Willow stands high up on her hind legs, like she's trying to threaten me or something, and kind of drags herself along like that. She does tend to spray when she's upset, so I always back off and talk to her for a minute before continuing to clean the cage.

Is this the same thing?

 

[Amphy64]

Thanks for the replies, that's interesting, sounds like it can definitely be used as a sign of annoyance then, that's a new one for me. I wonder if there's kind of a link between that and it as a mating behaviour? In both cases, it seems to be a signal that there's something they want they're not yet getting, maybe it varies by the degree of frustration and whether it's um, more 'intrigued flirty' type frustration or 'very very cross because isn't being allowed something' frustration, hence sometimes faster more furious tail lashing in the latter case.

Glad it's not just Henry who gets cross, he's so funny, he's the soppiest thing, but doesn't half have a temper, I get 'talked trash to' a fair bit!

 

[jp8278]

My little muppet does it when she's pouting! I call it her "miss pissy pants dance". It's hard not to laugh b/c it's funny and cute, but that usually makes her pout that much more lol.

 

[Lulilac]

Sometimes, Barnaby switches his tail back and forth furiously when he and Hugo are racing around during play time. This tail swishing is often accompanied by wild teeth chattering! Hugo has never done this. I think for B it is a dominant and perhaps aggresive behavior. If he starts this routine, I often intervene because I'm concerned he might go complete berserk and before you know it Hugo would be missing some vital parts. I try to talk to B gently. Doesn't really work though. : o

 

[liewwan]

I would love to know what the tail wagging thing means too. From what I've been reading mostly male wags their tail. In my case only my 2 females wags their tail (when they're in heat I'm guessing since they only wag their tail 2 days out of the month.) The moment my boys sees the tail wagging thing with them, the chase is on. The girls reaction is continue wagging their tail here and their but their butts facing the wall so the boys can't get to it. I can sit in front of their cage and watch them all day doing this and just laugh. So why is it that my girls wag their tail and they boys don't?

 

[liewwan]

Oh also for the record when the girls do this and before the boys starts mounting, it's my cue to put the separator up on the fn cage.

 

[ticklechin]

Are you a breeder?

 

[liewwan]

Are you a breeder?

No. I've been on a hunt for a good vet to neuter my boys. So far haven't found a suitable one, either they never operated on small animals or they say they know what they are doing but ask the right questions they scratch their head. My normal vet told me he doesn't operate on small animals.
Before you say it, I know one of my girls can be pregnant since they are housed with male. I can say if that happens I'm keeping the kits. By hopefully I find a suitable vet to get my boys fixed. :banghead:

 

[ticklechin]

You put your female with a male, you are a breeder.

 

[liewwan]

If you want to say it that way by all means be my guest. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However I am in the process of getting my boys neutered. I came across the girls due to a situation of improper care and took them in. Honestly at that time I didn't read about the high amount of stress on the females in a situation she does become pregnant. After speaking to local breeders and reading information on this site, I've been making phone calls on getting my boys neutered. I know separating during heat will not prevent my girls from getting pregnant so I'm taking the proper steps on getting them fixed. Indeed I made a mistake to introduce them and now separating them perm is not an option since they are so well bonded. So only one option left. At least I'm willing to take full responsibility for my mishap and correcting it. I love all my chins dearly and if I'm doing anything wrong by all means please do let me know. I'm willing to take advise from other chins owners. I just want to ensure that my chins are happy and well taken care of. There are things I'm still learning day by day and this site has helped A LOT.

 

[Stackie]

Indeed I made a mistake to introduce them and now separating them perm is not an option since they are so well bonded.

Actually it is an option; there are no cases of chins dying from depression because they were separated. They are not bonded; they do not love each other; they want to do one thing and one thing only and that's mate. You are projecting human emotions to them. It is an animal's instinct to mate and reproduce...there is no love involved.

Please do what's right for your females and separate them from the males until they get neutered. Of course they may be pregnant already, but at least they won't have a male chasing them around constantly because he wants to mate. I hope you don't have more than one male in with the females....they can and do fight to the death over females. Or, an annoyed female can attack a male. Chin fights are NOT pretty, they are brutal and certainly can kill each other.

Pregnancy can be very taxing on the female. If they are not large enough, they may not have a large enough pelvis to pass kits. If that's the case, the female AND kits could die without an emergency c-section which costs a lot of money. Not to mention all the other things that could go wrong- take a look through our breeding and babies horror story section.....

Since they are from unknown backgrounds came out of bad situation, don't you think they deserve to live out a worry free life without having to be chases around by males that want to mate them? And they definitely do not need the stress of raising babies. There are tons of chins that are in the same situation those females were in and sitting in rescues that all need homes- just like dogs in shelters- you shouldn't contribute to the population without the right intentions.

You'll need to get a baby safe cage and start counting 111 days. If they are pregnant they will need to be placed in this baby safe cage and you will need to start taking all the precautions and readying yourself by reading through the breeding and babies section.

Please don't take any offense. I am just saying what needs to be done for the best interest of these poor girls.

 

[liewwan]

Thank you Stackie for the advise on this. I'll keep the separator up until the boys are neutered. I do have one question though, will I have a problem reintroducing them? I have read about the neutering process and it can take months to heal and I did see that they should be separated till the male is healed. The vets I've spoken with I honestly don't believe they done an operation on chinchillas before. I'm still waiting for another phone call from an exotic animal hospital that I contacted yesterday so hopefully it's the right one. I take NO OFFENSE on what you are saying, I actually appreciate the wise advise. I want my fuzzie babies to be well taken care regardless of cost. If I bring my girls to the vet will the vet be able to check if they are pregnant or will I have to count on the days? Reason why I'm asking is mainly if they are and I can get it checked earlier I'll have to start shopping for another fn cage. I have the cage the girls came in when I rescued them, but I would want something bigger cuz I will keep the babies. One question still remain unanswered, why is it that only my female chins wag their tail and the male don't? Isn't it the opposite from what I'm reading.

 

[RDZCRanch]

Female chinchillas tend to wag their tails as a warning and a sign of aggression. Your females are wagging their tails to try to keep the male(s) away from them.

Is there any reason in particular that you want your males and females to live together? Why not just get a separate FN for the girls and keep them separate? Just because chins get along does not mean they HAVE to live together. It would be easier in the long run if the girls just got their own cage and the males wouldn't have to go through the stress of being neutered. Then you would just need to keep them separate during playtime (don't let them out in the room with the cages because males can breed females through the bars) which is not an overly difficult task.

 

[liewwan]

Bluntly: When I brought the girls home they were in separate cages. I let them out separately also. I've noticed that they were always hanging on the bars next to each other's cage and got curious an let them out at the same time. They showed no sign of aggression, in fact Tinker (one of my girls) was eating a dried dandelion and handed it to Chubs (boy) to eat. It was so sweet! Not thinking of it :banghead: Than after a couple weeks I ended up putting them in the fn again not using my best judgement :banghead: I've heard from others that they have male and female housed together and never had any pregnancies. I come to realization I may not be so lucky so that's why I decided I should neuter the boys. I could've kept them separated them, since I still have the other cages, however I didn't cuz they were so sweet and cutie together. I don't have a problem separating them, Stackie was right, I am projecting human emotions to them. I have 3 more vets I'm looking into at this moment. I will considering just keeping them separated permanenty along with the neutering. Like I said I made a mistake introducing them and I want what's best for them. I do have a question though: Should I go with just separate cages, how far apart should I have the cages? You said something about the male can mate through the cage. I can make chin proof another room in the house easily so they play in separate rooms during separate times.