T
Twizted
Guest
I am looking for advice on trying to figure out if something that happened last weekend was an attack, or if something just possibly scared one of my chins and he, for whatever reason, blamed his cagemate. I've never (thankfully) gone through a pair attacking one another so I'm not sure what signs I should look for if it really did happen..
I have a male/female pair that lives with each other, they are male and female but she is spayed, and they have lived together for years without any incident other then little fits that I have noticed less then a handful of times. Last Saturday (April 25th, not two days ago) I had went in late in the afternoon to bring them out for playtime and I had squatted down in front of their one shelf, like usual, to let them jump down my back onto the floor and Romeo just stopped on my shoulder and wouldn't move. When I finally waited a few moments for him to get off, he jumped back in the cage and barked about 7-8 times, not exactly in my direction but I couldn't tell what he had been barking at. Now normally he doesn't bark. If he does, it's just once or twice then everything is fine after he figures out what it is and he goes back to normal, but this was a continuous 'bark-bark-bark..' that he has never done before. After that happened, he ran back into the cage and was extremely skittish for the next 24 hours. I tried to lure him out for playtime with dust, new willow toys, anything.. he would just continue to dart around the cage like something was going to come after him.
The reason why I am wondering if this was an attack is because whenever my Juliet would come near him on the shelf, he would bark at her. Never more then that- just one bark, and she would continue to sniff him for another moment and then leave. It also seemed to me like he would always try to be behind her, as if he thought she would try to 'get him' from behind. I didn't have the temp. cage ready for her (this was like.. 2 am or something) and since I found no wounds, no fur slips of any kind, I let her stay just for that night and moved her in the temp. cage the next morning.
Now, that Sunday night I let him out and he was still very skittish and with Juliet just across the room occasionally he would stop right under her cage and chirp at her, or stay still and just listen. (She's up on a dresser so he couldn't see her, but obviously he knows she was there) He got progressively better and I believe by the next day he was acting perfectly normal. By that time I started bringing her over to his cage and letting them sniff through the bars and him to hers, but playtime was still separate. I ended up letting them have playtime together Thurs. after all they would do was chirp during playtime, and once I let them play together that stopped. After a few moments of sniffing and grooming, things do seem normal again.
But the other thing is that on that same Sat., we were installing a fence outside. Not directly by their window, but it was close enough that I know they could've heard the metal-on-metal banging. The issue I have it that most of his skittish behavior seemed to revolve around Juliet, and so whether she actually attacked him I would have no idea.. Maybe we were making noise outside, and she just so happened to come near him at that same time so he thought that it was her? Maybe they got scared while we were working and she accidentally knocked him off the shelf, and he took it as an attack from her? I have no idea. But now I am trying to figure out what I should do as far as letting them stay cagemates. They are still separated, but have no issues during playtime, so I think it would be okay, but I know people have shared their stories of longtime mates attacking each other. How am I suppose to know? Are there any signs I should look out for?
I know this is long, so I appreciate anyone that took the time to go through it, I just don't know what to do. My female lost quite a bit after being separated and has started to stay a bit more steady after they got playtime together, so I think she misses him. But I know that I could come home one day, and if they do have unresolved issues, one of them could be dead. I just don't know what I should do next.
I have a male/female pair that lives with each other, they are male and female but she is spayed, and they have lived together for years without any incident other then little fits that I have noticed less then a handful of times. Last Saturday (April 25th, not two days ago) I had went in late in the afternoon to bring them out for playtime and I had squatted down in front of their one shelf, like usual, to let them jump down my back onto the floor and Romeo just stopped on my shoulder and wouldn't move. When I finally waited a few moments for him to get off, he jumped back in the cage and barked about 7-8 times, not exactly in my direction but I couldn't tell what he had been barking at. Now normally he doesn't bark. If he does, it's just once or twice then everything is fine after he figures out what it is and he goes back to normal, but this was a continuous 'bark-bark-bark..' that he has never done before. After that happened, he ran back into the cage and was extremely skittish for the next 24 hours. I tried to lure him out for playtime with dust, new willow toys, anything.. he would just continue to dart around the cage like something was going to come after him.
The reason why I am wondering if this was an attack is because whenever my Juliet would come near him on the shelf, he would bark at her. Never more then that- just one bark, and she would continue to sniff him for another moment and then leave. It also seemed to me like he would always try to be behind her, as if he thought she would try to 'get him' from behind. I didn't have the temp. cage ready for her (this was like.. 2 am or something) and since I found no wounds, no fur slips of any kind, I let her stay just for that night and moved her in the temp. cage the next morning.
Now, that Sunday night I let him out and he was still very skittish and with Juliet just across the room occasionally he would stop right under her cage and chirp at her, or stay still and just listen. (She's up on a dresser so he couldn't see her, but obviously he knows she was there) He got progressively better and I believe by the next day he was acting perfectly normal. By that time I started bringing her over to his cage and letting them sniff through the bars and him to hers, but playtime was still separate. I ended up letting them have playtime together Thurs. after all they would do was chirp during playtime, and once I let them play together that stopped. After a few moments of sniffing and grooming, things do seem normal again.
But the other thing is that on that same Sat., we were installing a fence outside. Not directly by their window, but it was close enough that I know they could've heard the metal-on-metal banging. The issue I have it that most of his skittish behavior seemed to revolve around Juliet, and so whether she actually attacked him I would have no idea.. Maybe we were making noise outside, and she just so happened to come near him at that same time so he thought that it was her? Maybe they got scared while we were working and she accidentally knocked him off the shelf, and he took it as an attack from her? I have no idea. But now I am trying to figure out what I should do as far as letting them stay cagemates. They are still separated, but have no issues during playtime, so I think it would be okay, but I know people have shared their stories of longtime mates attacking each other. How am I suppose to know? Are there any signs I should look out for?
I know this is long, so I appreciate anyone that took the time to go through it, I just don't know what to do. My female lost quite a bit after being separated and has started to stay a bit more steady after they got playtime together, so I think she misses him. But I know that I could come home one day, and if they do have unresolved issues, one of them could be dead. I just don't know what I should do next.
