Well, as I said in my other thread I now have all four chinchillas in the one, big cage together. The girls are fine with each other apart from the old little squeak or two when someone cleans the other too hard or is just in the way. But Chong just sits on his own and is vary wary of them. I thought the cage is big enough for him to adjust to them in his own time and you saw pictures of him eating hay with them. He's a bit funny about the food bowl and tries to guard it and he'll walk up behind the girls and sniff them (or mount them) and run off squeaking.
Big Boss picks on him a little too, but only a tiny bit. She's the same size as him and Cheech and Snake are a lot bigger. She was the runt of the litter of two but I've checked countless time to make sure she really is a girl. And I'm 100% sure she is. No gap between cone and bum and no balls.
Anyway, I digress. What I'm unsure of is if I'm causing Chong too much stress. I know he was unhappy on his own as he used to pine for the girls but now he's with them he doesn't know how to act. I've put him with just Snake and it's still the same, he just runs away to the furthest side of the cage. Even Cheech who he was bonded with for ages before the babies were born. They get so stressed in small, confined spaces, but I've tried that too.
I personally believe that having them all together in the big cage is the best option, but I'm worried that he's always going to be on guard and never totally relaxed as he's uneasy around them. What do you think? Thanks.
