New Chinchilla Barking

[rawrrr]

This is my first post here, but I wanted advice! I've had my first chinchilla, Crouton, since May, and he's now 6-7 months old, used to living alone. He seemed a little lonely, however, and so I started looking for another male to keep him company. I looked up as much info as I could find on chinchilla introductions, and decided I would be willing to take it slowly and do two separate cages if they didn't get along.

Today my boyfriend Sean and I brought home Sniffles, a 1-2 year old male whose family was moving across the country, and who had originally adopted him as a rescue. I'm not sure how much his previous owners knew about chins (although they gave him three raisins in a row as we were meeting him, so I think he's used to more treats than he should have), but I could tell the last family loved him and treated him well.

First question, does anyone have additional tips on introducing the two? Crouton has little experience with other chins (only littermates early on), but we don't know about Sniffles.

But, more immediately, I'm concerned about a barking/grunting noise that Sniffles makes. During the car ride home, he was friendly and happy, he was curious about us and let us pet him (and was really enjoying scratches behind the ear). Once we got him home, he continued to be friendly while we replaced his water bottle and set up a wheel because his old one was broken. After a little while, though, he made a kind of grunting, annoyed sounding noise if we tried to pet him. We assumed he wanted time to himself, or may have been sleepy since it was the middle of the day, so we left him alone and went out for a while. When we came back, he was awake, and Sean sat near the cage and tried to touch him. He barked/grunted again, so Sean moved back a little and just sat near the cage. Sniffles made the same noise, and would make it again if Sean made a move in his general direction. If I go up to Sniffles, he's curious and will come investigate, but no longer seems open to being pet. Does he just need time and some space to get used to the new home/new situation? We never had this issue with Crouton, who was friendly and enjoyed attention immediately, but he was also younger. And, what are the chances that it is a bark? It sounds nothing like Crouton's alarm call, but he only barks occasionally while sleeping. It sounds more similar to "barking" youtube videos such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XYHDBSnsuY

Oh, and he spends a lot of time with his face and body pressed up against the corner of the cage. Is this normal?

Thanks in advance for the help! I'm new to this and just want to take care of them the best that I can.

 

[Marie5656]

Hi there, and welcome to life with chins. You will find that many here have chins who bark in their sleep. Makes us wondering what they are dreaming of.
The barking can be an alarm call..calling out to others, checking the surroundings.
Huddling in the corner is not unusually if the are in an unfamiliar environment. They will become more comfortable given space and time.
Raisins are not a good treat..too much sugar. Treats are really not mandatory, but try cheerios, mini shreaded wheat (unfrosted), rosehips. A couple times a week if more than fine, so long as they have a regular supply of hay and pellets. And wood sticks to chew on.
I just have one chin, so I cannot really address introductions, will let someone with more knowledge tell you about that.

 

[rawrrr]

Yeah, I'm not worried about Crouton, when he first started barking in his sleep, I searched around and chinchilla "nightmares" seemed to be pretty common.

Sniffles seems to be doing a little better now, after some sleep he's much more open to having us around him. It seems as if he just might have been grumpy due to being woken up for so long during the day?

As far as the raisins, we definitely don't intent to keep giving them to him like his last owners did He's a little on the chubby side, which I would guess is from the raisins. As far as hay, pellets, and wood sticks, they both have plenty of those.

Any introduction tips? From what I've picked up on, it seems like Sniffles will be the more dominant one (and he is older and bigger). Will that even out with Crouton having more territorial claim, or is it likely to make things more difficult?

 

[halfstache]

Sounds to me like he needs time to adjust to his new surroundings. If the noise you are hearing is like the video you linked to then he is trying to tell you to back off. If he's on edge and you keep coming into his comfort zone he'll stay on edge, but if you back off and give him some space he will settle down. The main goal is to stay patient, it could take a few hours or several days or even weeks before he fully adjusts to the move. After he seems to have adjusted don't rush to try to handle him, instead place an open palm at the door of his cage and let him explore you at his pace. You'll gain a lot more trust by letting him lead the interaction. As far as trying to introduce the chins to each other, don't rush that either. there is a lot of information on the forum here about introducing them. Read everything you can before hand, because introductions do not always go over well.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Take it slow and he will come around. Sounds like he was just grumpy. In case you didn't know, the new chinchilla should be quarantined in a separate room for 30 days before beginning to intro them.

 

[rawrrr]

It's been a couple days now, and things are looking better! He lets us pet him with no complaint now, and comes over curiously to see us when we enter the room or sit by the cage. He did give me some grumpy noises yesterday, but only when someone else was in the room (in the middle of the day, waking him up). Yay for progress