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[Harmaa]

I did a post earlier today but I decided that I want more than one person answering this.

Question 1: I have a female chinchilla that is 6 years old. I want to get a friend for her but the one I found doesn't like her at all. They just attack each other. Is it possible to get a baby female chinchilla and put it with m 6 year old chinchilla?

Question 2: I have a female chinchilla that is 3 years old and was separated from her mate she had for 2 years the day of me getting her. I would like to have someone in the cage with her. Would it be possible to put a baby male chinchilla in with her?

[GrayRodent]

Although I'm not a breeder I know that animals can have different personality types and some are not compatible with others. Also it can be very difficult to pair females because they are extremely territorial. Sometimes you have to go through great lengths to introduce and keep them in neutral territory and even that does not always work. Putting a male baby in with an adult in theory should be no problem but you can imagine the baby being much smaller can be injured much more easily by the adult and females can be very aggressive.

If you put a male with the female you should be intending to breed. Once they are bonded it is very stressful to separate them and sometimes separating bonded chins can lead to depression that can cause one or both to die. Males tend to be easier to pair because they are not as territorial. There is always going to be a risk even if they get along with each other at first.

This article has more information.
http://www.chinchillaclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,4000.0.html

[lilchinchilla]

There are different introduction methods you could do with the current two you have, to get them along. I've had chins fight, but sometimes it just takes a specific introduction method to work for them. I agree it can be a little difficult, but the reason females can be like that, is they get territorial of their space when they get area.

My favorite introduction method, and it works majority of the time, is to do the neutral territory one. Find a room in the house that the aggressive chinchilla is not used to being in. Snip their whiskers down to an inch in length (they grow back! What this does, is make them not feel as confident/aggressive as usual.), place a dust bath in the room, and then monitor them for about two hours as you introduce. Ensure it is not a room that the female is used to. If you don't have such a room in the home, try a friend or family's home that the aggressive female chinchilla is not used to being in. The key is to make her feel vulnerable so she is more likely to not feel territorial over the other chinchilla. I personally prefer these introductions done in the morning hours, when most of my chins are sleepy. You do need to be able to stay with them to supervise them, for a couple hours.

If there is fur biting, or chasing or attacking, then separate them. If there is none after 2 hours, then proceed to place them in the passive chinchilla's cage (not the aggressor's cage.) and you need to monitor for another two hours. Again - any fur pulling or chasing or biting, and please separate.

Another method that works quite well is to take them on a car ride. If you can snip whiskers for the aggressive chinchilla again, it works best to downplay a possibility of her fighting. Go for a car ride that takes at least an hour. Put the passive chinchilla in the carrier first, and then the aggressive chinchilla in, just before you take off on your trip.

This is another neutral situation for the aggressive chinchilla. Most chins don't fight because they are out of their comfort zone and do not feel as confident as they would be in their own cage. Drive around for a while(about an hour), and they should not fight. If you do see signs of fighting, fur pulling, etc... then separate them.

 In most cases, if done properly, the chins do not fight.  Morning hours are best, and always snip the whiskers on the aggressive chinchilla only (not the passive chinchilla.). If they do get along just fine, please put them in the passive chinchilla's cage, not the aggressive chinchilla's cage. If you wish to put them in the aggressive chins cage, only do so after a few days of them being happy together in the passive chinchilla's cage.

I personally have had good luck with either introduction. As long as it is done in the morning hours, the aggressive chinchilla's whiskers are snipped, and in a neutral situation - I truly haven't had a chinchilla continue to be aggressive. You need to monitor them though, to be on the safe side. It can be done though. I have three girls together, one who is 10 years old, one who is 6 years old and a 4 year old. The 4 year old is really aggressive, but we took a car ride with her and the other two girls, for an hour and forty five minutes, brought them home - and they are the best of buddies and have been the last 5 months. No fighting, no problems. They pile on one another when sleeping and groom one another now.