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Whether you are introducing a male to a male, a female to a female or a male to a female, you can use the same procedure. Depending on each individual chin will determine how long the process takes. You might find that two chins may never grow to like one another but in our experience, a little time and patience can go a long way. We have had pairs that immediately love each other and can live together right away and we have had pairs that it has taken months before they grew to like each other.
Here is our method of introducing chinchillas:
The first thing we do is have two cages and place them side by side with one chin in each cage. At first, do not put the cages so close together that injuries can occur but do leave them close enough together that the chins can smell each other. We usually leave approximately 1-1 1/2 inches between the two cages. Every day we move around toys, huts or anything else that might have one of the chins smell on it and place it in the other cage. We also will switch the chinchillas between the two cages as another way for them to get used to different smells. Like I said above, each pair will take the introduction process at their own comfortable speed. If all is going well with switching toys and chins between the two cages (usually a good sign is that they will start to sleep near each other in their respective cages), we take the chins into a neutral play area and keep a very close eye on them. In our experience, one chinchilla will always try to start off being the dominant chin. If you find that one chin is the aggressor all the time, you might have to have a penalty box on hand (will explain later). Most likely the two chins will chase each other and this is not something to worry about until fur is flying or one of the chinchillas is extremely distressed. Penalty box for the over aggressive chins: If one of the chinchillas is tormenting the other chinchilla, we use a penalty box. This can be either just a carrier or a whelping cage. When the aggressive chin begins to pull out the others fur, or bites etc, the aggressor is placed in the penalty box for 5 minutes while the other chin gets to run around. The penalty box is still in the neutral play area so the aggressor has to watch the other one be free. After 5 minutes, the aggressor is let go to run around again but if she/he becomes "nasty" again, back to the penalty box. After a few times of being the box, they begin to associate their bad behavior with chasing the other chin. We continue to do play time together in a neutral area until we feel comfortable that the chins will be able to get along in the same cage. When we finally decide to combine the chins into one cage, we do it during the day while we are home so we can keep a close eye on them. During the day they are also less active and more willing to co-habitat. We also observe them when they start to wake up in the evening and when they are no longer fighting do we let them stay together overnight in the same cage. Patience is the key factor....you must keep trying to switch around toys and have combined playtime every night to be successful. HOME |