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[xena-virgil]

problem 1:
     me and my girlfriend got out first chinchilla, xena, in june of last year, from petsmart. she has been a blast and all around a great pet, we absolutely adore her.   we had her for about 6 months then we got the idea that we should get her a buddy. reason being is that i go out of town rather often and my girlfriend only gets  to come over during free time which is usually 3 or 4 times a week, so, we got virgil in december.
     they done great together and still do for the most part besides, the occasional little fussing they do. after about the second month of having them both, the female, xena, will stand on her hind legs and "spray" at us. when we asked the people at petsmart they told us that it was just territorial and it continued, now they tell us that its because she may be pregnant, though we see no signs of her being pregnant. it was a good suggestion at first, but it has gotten worse now, to the point that we can just open then cage, and she gets ready to spray with the slightest movement from us. we can no longer get near her with out her "ecking" or getting in her stance to spray.

can someone please shed some light on this ordeal or atleast offer a suggestion on how to stop it?

problem 2:
     virgil, the male, seems to think that he is always in danger. he will jump crazy heights and do drastic measures and lunges when we try to get him out of the cage or try to catch him to put him up when he does escape or when we do let him out. he also attacks, excessively. we can not get him out of the cage with out it being a act of congress and chasing him around the cage, he bites and clicks his teeth nonstop, whether we are trying to feed him, give him a treat, get him out of the cage, pet him, or just any motion at all.
    when he is out of the cage, he doesnt attack, but he runs non stop from any of the slightest noises. a complete and total spaz out and he acts like he is running from a alien or monster invasion. we can not get him to calm down even the smallest amount.

also any light to be shed on this matter?

 

we have asked everyone we know and can not find a solution at all, any help would be greatly and highly appreciated.
thank you for taking the time to read about our issue.

[GrayRodent]

She very likely is pregnant if you have put the opposite sexes together. It doesn't take much. If they have been together for two months you can expect to have babies in about two months. Signs of pregnancy don't always show up until very late in the game. By giving into the spraying and warnings you could make it worse. The best thing I know to do is keep a normal routine and try not to react to it and don't back away at the slightest hint.

Another problem is that these creatures do need regular socialization and a fairly consistent routine. By not having that there may not be much you can do but be merciful and understand that these are natural responses to fear and a natural mode of defense for a pregnant female.

It sounds like you have a very difficult situation on your hands with the male. Chasing a chinchilla will make it very distrusting of anyone. You should stop letting him out until he becomes more trusting of you to the point where you won't have to chase him to get him back into the cage. A lot of damage has been done here. It might be best to put the two in separate cages and deal with them individually, carefully, calmly, routinely. This is a process that can take months. Their psychological makeup is quite different from cats and dogs as they are prey animals and they must be treated as such. Now extra measures will have to be taken to avoid stressing or startling them because they now associate handling and people with stress which get worse each time they are handled.

[Marip]

problem 1:
     me and my girlfriend got out first chinchilla, xena, in june of last year, from petsmart. she has been a blast and all around a great pet, we absolutely adore her.   we had her for about 6 months then we got the idea that we should get her a buddy. reason being is that i go out of town rather often and my girlfriend only gets  to come over during free time which is usually 3 or 4 times a week, so, we got virgil in december.
     they done great together and still do for the most part besides, the occasional little fussing they do. after about the second month of having them both, the female, xena, will stand on her hind legs and "spray" at us. when we asked the people at petsmart they told us that it was just territorial and it continued, now they tell us that its because she may be pregnant, though we see no signs of her being pregnant. it was a good suggestion at first, but it has gotten worse now, to the point that we can just open then cage, and she gets ready to spray with the slightest movement from us. we can no longer get near her with out her "ecking" or getting in her stance to spray.

can someone please shed some light on this ordeal or atleast offer a suggestion on how to stop it?


problem 2:
     virgil, the male, seems to think that he is always in danger. he will jump crazy heights and do drastic measures and lunges when we try to get him out of the cage or try to catch him to put him up when he does escape or when we do let him out. he also attacks, excessively. we can not get him out of the cage with out it being a act of congress and chasing him around the cage, he bites and clicks his teeth nonstop, whether we are trying to feed him, give him a treat, get him out of the cage, pet him, or just any motion at all.
    when he is out of the cage, he doesnt attack, but he runs non stop from any of the slightest noises. a complete and total spaz out and he acts like he is running from a alien or monster invasion. we can not get him to calm down even the smallest amount.

also any light to be shed on this matter?

 

we have asked everyone we know and can not find a solution at all, any help would be greatly and highly appreciated.
thank you for taking the time to read about our issue.

About the female i dont know nothing about but if i was you i will go to a vet and just ask him about it but  my male was like that too what i did was just put my harms on the cage and let him smell me and come to my harms and now he is better and i didnt let him out cause if he was scared just because of a persone every noise will make him more terrified.

[Debbie.nl.ca]

It`s hard to speculate with others chins, but I have one I`ve had for years and she still hates me. 
When she know`s I coming after her she will always spray at me. But she does trust me and would never bite.
That's the first thing I would have done was make each my pet then introduce them to another chin.They need to feel safe with you first.
I would start all over again bonding with them and don't let them out until they come out to you first.
Like Gray said get them trusting you enough to come for a treat or a dust bath.

[ohio chinny]

question, Grayrodent's idea is verry likely what is, or part of what is, the case. However how do your 2 chins interact with one-another? do they ever interact mutch? or do they tend to stick to opposite sides of the cage most of the time? have they fought at all? how often? her aggressiveness coupled with his nervousness so early off may indicate that they are not getting along verry well.  How were they introduced? As females tend to be the dominant gender and seince she was there first, it is her established territory, (from a chin's view point). if she never had a cage mate before, she may see him as more of an introuder than a friend. and being stuck inside an unfriendly chins territory with no way out would really stress any chin. i advise seperating them, whatever the case, and see if conditions improve, prefferably in different rooms if possible. If and when they do calm down, a gradual re-introduction would probably be the next course of action. Ive seen some really good advice elcewhere on this fourum about how to do this if you need it later on.

[chinclub]

Both suggestions could be correct.  I have had some loving chinchillas become horrible sprayers when they were pregnant.  I have also had males become very aggressive in protecting his family.  However, I am more inclined to think that the male is picking up on the females current dislike of you and so he feels this is just the right thing to do.  If you separate them he should improve.  If she is pregnant she will probably stay this way until after the babies are born.  Also, if she is pregnant you don't want to be handling her too much, at least not around the belly.  And stress is also bad on the babies.