new chinchilla! Putting the two together question

[dabou]

Hey everyone!

I've adopted a new chinchilla! His name is Pedro, he's 6 years old and his owner grew tired of taking care of him. I said I was willing to adopt him since I have a single chinchilla that's the same age. I slowly put their cages closer together, and they've spent about a month with both cages side by side. At first, Pedro seemed only curious about Kahlua, but Kahlua seemed more agitated.
After a month of being side by side, my boyfriend and I took them out for playtime together, and all went well until Kahlua noticed Pedro, jumped on his back and started throwing his fur around! No wound though, only fuzz and a little stress for Pedro. Since Pedro has a heart murmur condition, (not too bad, but it's there) I didnt want to stress him out too much so I separated them as soon as they fought. When put close together, they seemed to dash their heads towards each other like if they wanted to bite each other, so I let Pedro walk around a bit more and put Kahlua back in his cage.

I was wondering, someone once told me that Kahlua would probably be more calm if he'd be castrated. They're both males yes, but Kahlua always had a tendency to only let me approach his cage without attacking. Now he also lets my boyfriend approach, but he's still not too friendly to my mom when she babysits them. Should I just keep on trying to put them together like it's said there:
http://www.huggablepets.com/huggablepets/addingchins.shtml
Or should I try with the castration option? Thanks!!

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

There is no reason to castrate either chin. First it will not help and second, surgery can be dangerous for a chin. Sounds like your new chin needs time alone away from Pedro - more time to adjust to his new home before meeting another chin. More time to learn to trust you. Chins need patience especially chins that have been re-homed. There is a good chance he will never accept Pedro. You might just have to live with 2 cages - one for each chin

 

[dabou]

There is no reason to castrate either chin. First it will not help and second, surgery can be dangerous for a chin. Sounds like your new chin needs time alone away from Pedro - more time to adjust to his new home before meeting another chin. More time to learn to trust you. Chins need patience especially chins that have been re-homed. There is a good chance he will never accept Pedro. You might just have to live with 2 cages - one for each chin

Hmm well I've thought it might happen and if it does, I'll still keep both of them. I'll try once a month, so as to not stress both of them.

 

[tcraighenry]

I'm biased but if you don't have to do it, don't. Keep them separated forever if you have to.

 

[Andyandmychins]

That happened with the two chins I had bought for breeding (two females) that had not been fully bonded. I tried putting them in the same cage and one kept running around trying to spray the other (no injuries). So I put the dominant girl in a much smaller cage for the night right by the other chinchilla's cage. The next morning I tried putting them togther and the female that was trying to spray the dominant female almost instantly submitted to the dominant female. And they are still living together today! They love each other! Now I just have to get a male in with them!

 

[Sovay]

I'm under a different school of thought I think....If introductions don't work at all, then separation is your option. But I think the enrichment and sociality provided by having a cagemate is a wonderful thing if you can get it to work! So I'm all about trying your different options.

Personally, I've never had any luck with getting chins to bond by sticking cages side by side or doing joint playtime. It's always ended up with flying fur and dominance issues that aren't able to be fully played out. Maybe it's me, but I feel like it prolongs the stress of the situation and makes it more difficult, especially when one of the chins has an alpha personality.

I've used the 'squish' method for 3 separate pairs of chins with success. Just recently I used this method with two males who would not stand to be in adjacent cages. During playtime they would do their own thing until the dominant chin saw the other and then it was all chasing, squeaking and mounting. I used a brand new cage with mostly cleaned or new items to minimize anyone claiming a territory. After the introduction, there was minimal skirmishes and mostly exploration. Within a matter of hours they had figured out their roles and were sleeping in the same hideyhouse. It's been a couple of weeks now and they play together during playtime, share food out of the same bowl, take turns dusting, and sleep together every day. If you are unfamiliar with the squish method and want more details, feel free to ask or contact me.

HTH

 

[Chinnyluver]

I read on here all the time that the side by side cage method works but when I was considering introducing Cindy to Annie and Shadow, I found this and it says that it creates more tension between them and also goes into the dangers of some other methods I've read on here like the car ride and smooshing. Just wondering what other people think. http://www.chincare.com/HealthLifestyle/Introductions.htm

 

[ChinnieShop]

When I introduced Nanuk to Sakka, I had them next to each other in different cages. Sakka's cage was much bigger, him being the male, I read that he should be able to look down on her to show dominance. They could not touch each other through the cage though, but they were close enough. At first you can hear them being curious and then reaching for each other, but it seemed more as to be aggressive. After sometime that way, I switched them cages for a bit so they can get accustomed to each others smell, this was not long term and only for short periods. Then after a few weeks, I had them play together, Sakka was excited and kept trying to mount Nanuk, but she is a decent lady and would not have it. She sprayed him once, he figured his boundaries and they have been together and inseparable ever since....