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[Chinchillalove4]

We rescued two chinchillas from getting left to die, they have been in the same cage for as long as their previous owner remembers. They have gotten along great snuggling together and being brothers pretty much. They arent litter mates that we know of due to the fact that one is black and one is a heterogeneous grey(er brown). The past couple days they have been making noises at each other, the "get away" noise. they make the noise and step away from each other then 10 minutes later everything is fine. They haven't physically fought that i have seen. I am just curious as to why this would be happening and how I can get them to get along again. I dont want to have to split them up because they have been together for so long even during play time. And ive heard mates even same gender can get depressed or even die if their friend disappears.

If anyone has any insight as to why they aren't on the best of term that would be great.

[dianah]

i notice you have four chins. is one (or both) of the other two a girl? if so, are they housed where the two boys can smell and/or see them? if that's the case, it's quite possible they are fighting over the female. if not... it is sometimes possible for the chins to 'fall out' but it may be environmental changes (ie moving them to their new home? not sure how long you've had them). let's do the girl question first

[Chinchillalove4]

all our chins are males. our goal is to get them all friendly with each other. we have had them for about 3 weeks. we have had the same routine for them since we got them. so its nothing that has changed in their environment. or a female. they just have random mood swings then its all okay. I have even gotten the shy one to wink at me. they are starting to warm up with us. we however did change the bowl their food is in to one they cant knock over. it used to be just a simple bowl on their shelf, now its attached to the side of the cage seeing as these two are quite destructive. do you think they just feel couped up? we give them about 30 min of play time a night but maybe they need more to blow off steam? we are still semi new to this chin thing and with them all having different personalities its tough to know what each one needs. we have our other two pretty figured out but these news ones are tough. any advice is great.

[AnnieHank]

If they had been playing with the bowl and not they can't play with it anymore, they might be feeling frustrated and a bit bored. Maybe some new toys and more play time might help? I know one of mine would never have enough play time no matter how long you let him out for, even though after 20 mins his ears would go red and he'd lie on his side. He used to throw his food bowl around and try to pull apart everything in his cage. I got a different food bowl and attached it to the side of the cage but gave him back his other bowl as a toy and he seemed happy as larry playing with his bowl!

[Chinchillalove4]

that might be the case. but seeing as the bowl was ceramic i dont want to see them break it while we arent home and somehow get injured. what toys would you suggest. we have lots of wood blocks for them to nibble on.

[dianah]

i find that mine prefer little woven balls (vine or willow) they can hold in their hands much more exciting than blocks of wood. same goes for apple twigs, they love them! they're gone pretty much instantly but they do enjoy it very very much! bamboo 'finger trap toy' is a favourite with mine, they also make different shaped things out of vine and willow - stars, little 'napkin rings' you can stuff with hay, that sort of stuff.

[Chinchillalove4]

I will have to look into those. thanks. they do seem to need to stimulating things than the others. crazy chins.

[dianah]

i know! and what's weird is that mine absolutely LOVE certain toy so i buy loads in my next order and then they're like 'meh. had enough of those last time!'

you could also try and put more food dishes in so they don't invade each other's space when eating (this is often done in colony cages) and maybe put things like snugs or hammocks in so each can have their own spot?

[Chinchillalove4]

those are great ideas. that does seem to be the problem that they invade each others space.

[dianah]

having hidey places is also good if it comes to blows - one can flee and hide! hopefully that won't happen though my girls - three of them - share a cage and most of the time they're cuddled up, all three of them, together. but every so often, one happens to jump on top of another after misjudging the distance and it gets complaints. i guess people don't get on all the time either! but obviously it's important to try to keep it calm like you're doing. hopefully some of this stuff will work!

[Chinchillalove4]

they have some hidey places and that seems to be what happens with these guys the one will be on the ledge and the other will want to as well. ends with noises. lol. thanks for the help i just hope giving them more to do will allow them to stay together.

[dianah]

so what exactly do they do? is it sort of squeaky warning noise they're doing? what are their bodies doing?

[Chinchillalove4]

they do that get away type bark their warning signal. then either the one kinda pushes the other or they will wrestle. they havent bitten and i will just say stop and they stop right away. I still havent figured out who starts it though. cuz their noises get my attention not them being physical. that comes after the noise. The one is kinda of more dominant than the other but it hasnt been a problem. he seems to protect his friend like when it comes time to get their poo off the shelves and feeding and treats the more dominant one will not let me get near his buddy. the other is really shy and like to stay in the corner when the cage is open. since they were rescues we dont know if they were always together or not, the previous owners didnt know. since they havent hurt one another i do think they just need space from eachother and more to do. i havent had time to get them more play toys but i will in the next couple of days. when im around them they usually only have their "moments" once or twice in a day.