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[sarahlydear]

So I've had Herby for a year, he was seeming to get lonely and as a full time student I wasn't able to spend as much time with him as I would like. So I got him a friend: Theo. At first Theo HATED Herby to the point I stopped trying to put them together and accepted that Herby would have to be alone until I can get my own place (no more room for other chins). Recently Herby and Theo have decided to "get over it" meaning they can be carried around together with no problem and can spend 30minutes together, any longer and they start fighting again.
I'm super stoked about this (it's a start)but the thing is they groom each other, then try to hump each other, run around apart from each other, stop for a sec,try to hump, run, groom and it starts all over again.
I know that it is a dominance thing and they get Really crabby and won't be quiet if they don't get time together, but they get frustrated with each other and won't stop trying to hump. Herby usually wins but it hasn't stopped; it's been a week, every night for 30minutes.
Is this normal and is there anything I can do to help it?
...I'm not gonna lie I'm kinda scared I have gay chinchillas since I usually end up picking the gay breeding rabbits...

[ABC Chinchillas]

For starters you do not have gay chinchillas. Animals do not have homosexual behaviors in the same sense people do. Animals will hump anything that lets them it doesn't make them gay it is usaually a dominance behavior. The dominant chinchilla humps the other chinchilla as a show that he or she is the boss. The Hard thing with introducing chinchillas is fighting is bad. If they cannot last longer than 30 minutes without fighting you may not ever get them together, When I do intros they are done in a single day. if they do not get along within that day it will not work and I try another pairing

[Jhenderson27]

I had the same problem with my 2 girls.  They were both about 5 months old and we did the slow intro to one another.  They had the same issue where they would be fine for a short time and then bam, a fight.  There was never any bodily harm, some kacking and humping and chasing and a little fur pulling.  After about a month or so of playtime together they bonded.  Now they are inseparable.  when they are out, they roam together, when they sleep, its together, heck they wont dust bath unless they are both in the house together, its the oddest thing.  The moral of the story, it may take a day it may take a few months or it may never happen.  As long as there is no injury to one another or health changes you can try to introduce or get them to bond.  Mine took well to the vanilla extract at the base of their tales and a dab on their noses.  Confused them and now they <3 each other.

Good luck and don't give up easy.

Justin

[sarahlydear]

Thanks! I'll have to try the vanilla extract thing.
Starleomach: Not trying to be rude but when I have a male rabbit that Refuses to mate with a female but gets Very interested in his male friends I consider that gay.
Also I understand what you mean by they may never get together but when I try to keep them apart and don't give them that 30minutes they sit there and do the calling thing NON-STOP and only get louder and when I let them out to play separately they refuse to get away from the others cage. Once they have the 30minutes they're fine.

[dianah]

For starters you do not have gay chinchillas. Animals do not have homosexual behaviors in the same sense people do.

this simply is not true. while i agree that most humping is related to dominance issues, a sweeping statement that animals do not have homosexual behaviours in the same sense people do is highly incorrect. gay penguins, for example, nest together (very much like humans) and even pretend stones are their eggs.
sorry but i do get wound up to no end when people claim that either gay animals do not exist or that they do not show gay behaviour. they do.

chinchi and fluffy took about two months of introductions and the first few weeks, it would be seconds before chinchi would start chasing and humping and it was all quite aggressive so quite often they'd get 5 seconds before they got separated (of course then we thought they were both boys, it later turned out that fluffy is a girl) - what helped in the end was letting them have a playtime in a different room so there was a lot of unknown stuff to explore and they both went off to do that and ran into each other every so often and it got better from then on. and once they decided they actually liked each other, they groomed faces for an hour solid.

i think you've got a good start! 30 minutes before any trouble starts is quite good i think patience is the key.

could you maybe do, 30 minutes together, 30 minutes apart, 30 minutes together... and then reduce the apart bit?

[Jhenderson27]

Excellent suggestion for her to try.  Its giving them enough time to cool off after 30 min and forget.

Nice call!

[jmdebb]

you have alot of input, i'm not gonna add to it, but i want to say best of luck to you..

[sarahlydear]

Thanks all! 
Right now what I do is let them run in my Mom's bathroom for 30minutes then about 10minutes cooling in the dark and then I get them out separately 30minutes each in my room. That's at night, earlier in the day they are out separately only. I'll try the getting together 30mins, then apart, then together again later on in the week: Herby had to go to the vet and get his teeth trimmed, so he's not feeling 100% yet and I'm giving him a break from running around with Theo.

[Jhenderson27]

Dont push him, let him get realaxed and better before the stress of intros and youll be good : )

[dianah]

i agree, give it time. there's a fine line. if there's a major hiccup, you can't really go back. we thought for two months solid that we'll have two chinchillas in two separate cages forever. and then they decided that they loved each other. it wouldn't have ended well if we rushed it.

[animalluver]

What's this vanilla extract thing? If you put it on their noses wouldn't the other chin bite trying to get it off?

[Jhenderson27]

No, not unless they are a freak for Vanilla : ).   For the most part it masks each chinchiallas individual scent.  It allows them to forget there is another animal there.  I tend to put a dap on their nose and at the base of their tail.  As all animals seem to sniff back there it gives the impression they are the same.  It worked for me, may not for you.  Good Luck

[dianah]

No, not unless they are a freak for Vanilla : )

they should totally do a movie based on this!!!

[animalluver]

Lol ok thanks I thought it was the seeing part that got them going, but I guess not. And a movie based on what? Chinchillas going crazy over vanilla?

[dianah]

yes! like a masive, 5 metres tall chinchilla who's mad for vanilla!