Male Aggressive Toward Female or Urge to Mate?

[Stretch_Westside]

Hello,
I have a male and female chinchilla, which I recently tried introducing to each other. The first time, they were placed in a neutral territory and they were seemingly afraid to approach each other. In that event, they simply avoided and ran past each other.

The second time around they sniffed each others noses, but it seemed like they were sniffing hard and the male made a hiccuping noise, but I feel as if it was aggressive. Maybe he was just eager to have a female to potentially mate with. They smelled each other here and there, but they do not seem to trust each other as this was only their second encounter.

By the end of this introduction/ playtime, the female was facing one way and the male in the opposite direction. In half a second he turned around, mounted her, and began mating (definitely mating). This surprised me because even though she does not know him, she did not seem to mind and just waited until he got off. Later that day, I held her by his cage bars (about a foot and a half away) and he made a digging motion with his hands and he seemed desperate to get to her and proceeded to stick an arm out of the bars in hopes to reach her. He also made a sound, which seemed like a frustrated sound.

Does anyone have an idea whether he was displaying random aggression or did he just have another urge to mate with her? He seemed aggressive about it, but ultimately I do not know. Thanks

Andrew

 

[Stretch_Westside]

This morning, I put them in a new neutral area and everything went well. He tried mating with her again (I would assume, unless he was simply mounting her, which I doubt. She would just hop away or move to the side. This time they sniffed each others noses softly. Eventually, the female mounted the male and did it two more times. He just stayed there and looked at me as if he had not other choice., but did not seemed to mind. He just stayed silent. I would think that this goes to say that the female is the dominant, not to mention she has longer whiskers.

However, at the end the male was sitting in a spot that she had been hopping on often during the time they were together. She opened her mouth and poked his nose and then the male tried to do the same, but by then I put my hand between their faces and placed them back in their cage so that they carry no bad memory, so to speak, of their third interaction. When she poked his nose with hers, it did seem as if she was trying to get at something, but neither of them made any noise as to fight or be annoyed.

Also, apparently the noise he made in the first interaction was one that males make when they sense the female is in season.
Does anyone know if it is common for a male or female to attempt to kill one another? I have read this may happen when the male is too insistent on mating. Is it common or is it simply a possibility to look out for?
Hopefully the next round goes as well as this one.

 

[Amethyst]

Honestly I think you need to do a lot more research on becoming a breeder and find someone to mentor you, some of your questions you should have already had answered before you intentionally started breeding your chins. If you don't even know how to bond chins together I wonder what, if any, research you have done. I mean I guess at this point it's better late then never, I just hope you are prepared.

To answer your question, yes it's not uncommon for the female to kill the male if she isn't in the mood to mate even if she is in heat. Also you can't keep the male and female together, they will continue to breed until the female dies, so are you planning to neuter the male? If not what is your point in bonding them? Are the chins even pedigreed? So you know for sure they are free from genetic issues for at least a few generations, things like kidney problems, diabetes, fur chewing, and malocclusion to name a few? Is the female from a good breeding line? no issues with milk production or giving birth.

I'm sorry if I am assuming wrong, I just know a lot of people stupidly think they can just throw any male and female together without bothering to make sure they are even breed quality let alone free of genetic issues or actually look at what all is involved in terms of cost, time, and the high risk. Breeding is really not for the faint of heart, it's not like breeding other rodents a lot can go very badly wrong.

 

[Stretch_Westside]

Honestly I think you need to do a lot more research on becoming a breeder and find someone to mentor you, some of your questions you should have already had answered before you intentionally started breeding your chins. If you don't even know how to bond chins together I wonder what, if any, research you have done. I mean I guess at this point it's better late then never, I just hope you are prepared.

To answer your question, yes it's not uncommon for the female to kill the male if she isn't in the mood to mate even if she is in heat. Also you can't keep the male and female together, they will continue to breed until the female dies, so are you planning to neuter the male? If not what is your point in bonding them? Are the chins even pedigreed? So you know for sure they are free from genetic issues for at least a few generations, things like kidney problems, diabetes, fur chewing, and malocclusion to name a few? Is the female from a good breeding line? no issues with milk production or giving birth.

I'm sorry if I am assuming wrong, I just know a lot of people stupidly think they can just throw any male and female together without bothering to make sure they are even breed quality let alone free of genetic issues or actually look at what all is involved in terms of cost, time, and the high risk. Breeding is really not for the faint of heart, it's not like breeding other rodents a lot can go very badly wrong.

I have looked up what I believe to be pretty decent amounts of information on the internet. There are various methods to introduce. As mentioned these are not same sex pairs. No research however, that is for scientists.

You are right though, from what I have read on the internet, many people seem to just want to throw them in together.

Some of these questions I ask so that someone/ some people can respond through their experiences. I could not base it off of my own. For example, this is not my first pair, but the first pair I had was a much different situation than this one. My prior pair to this one did not have babies until I had owned them for three years. Assuming they had no other reason to fight, this implies that they had no problems being together. Neither one was ever bothered by the other and they did not kill each other. It would be wrong to base future decisions off of this experience because they never had problems; I would not be able to assume that this new pair would simply get along the same way and not kill each other.

Also, I do understand that they will continue to breed if not separated. I have two cages. They both can house multiple chinchillas. That being said, I would separate them if any problems were to arise. For example, a situation in which they stop getting along or if the female does become pregnant. If she had a male, I would house him with the "father" (because he is not one). Any females, I have read, can be kept with the mom.

I have communicated with the male chinchilla's breeder and because you brought up some good points I will communicate with the female chinchilla's breeder as well. I am just trying to get more information from other people. Everyone has their own opinion whether it is based on objectivity or subjectivity. Therefore, responses will vary.

Thanks for your response! I appreciate it.