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[Danlott1]

So my two oldest boys Kiwi and Boo have been living together in a split level cage for the better part of 4 months now. Introducing them went very smoothly and they  have been thick as thieves ever since then. Two weeks ago I picked up a new little brother for them ( Jig) and have slowly been trying to introduce the three, between neutral visits in the bathroom or face to face time while being held I thought progress was being made.

But now it seems everything is starting to unravel. Boo never being all that dominant suddenly went into full man mode and would chase Kiwi around the room where for months they've been playing just fine. Kiwi has lost a few tuffs of fur out of stress. Assuming maybe Jig's smell was somehow more in the room and that was causing the tension I put them both in for the night. That though has lead to my greatest concern. Kiwi has become so stressed that he acts as if he and Boo are meeting for the first time, lots of chattering of teeth running away and well sounds like oinking coming from Kiwi.

Their cage is a split level type so I cut them both off from each other to see maybe if some time away from each other might chill them out and being in a place that  has both there scents might even things back out. Well I thought it did for a few moments, I picked Kiwi up placed him near Boo, they sniffed each other Boo cleaned off Kiwi's faced it looked like and things were back in order. But Kiwi reverted and had a bit of a panic attack and started to run away from Boo again. He just goes to another part of the cage and sits, and or inside a wood house to wait till Boo comes up which chatter happens and nothing changes.

It doesn't seem to be a aggressive chase inside the cage as it was outside the cage, more of Boo wondering why Kiwi wont come hang out. They have had no problems up to this point and I'm at a loss for what to do. I cant have three different chins in three houses especially when two of them have been great house mates up to this point.

If anyone has any ideas on how I can get these two to get along better I'd be most greatfull. 

[GrayRodent]

This really isn't my area of expertise but I do know that separating chinchillas that have been together can sometimes result in having to re-introduce them just like you would new chinchillas. Another thing you might want to do is verify the sex of the third animal (Jig) and make sure he is not a she. It's almost like the two males are fighting over a female.
Hopefully someone else will comment. I've only had one chinchilla at a time. I understand that when you have more than one there is always a risk of fighting, even if it's a small one.

[Danlott1]

Thank you for the advice I might try doing some more neutral ground introducing again to see if I cant notice anything. The Vet checked Jig out and confirmed he was indeed a male, the only thing is he is a bit of a runt and is only about 6 months old now. I don't know if that would cause any sort of disturbance between the bigger two.

[Jasonred79]

Check their ages? I heard Chin behaviour can change when they hit puberty. If you've had them 4 months, it might be that time. Maybe. If, and that is *IF* that is the case, Jig is just a coincidence.

Also, someone said something about Chin's being slow to forgive... if Kiwi was bullied, even for a temporary reason, it appears that he will take a long long time to forgive the bully. If he ever does.

[Danlott1]

Well think I figured out what the problems where: 1 being I had forgot that Jig had found his way into the dust bath of Boo and Kiwi. They both took a bath and smelled Like Jig I think making them confused thinking one another was the new chin.
2. I think that the chatter between everyone in the bathroom was throwing out confusion. It's still a bit of a problem right now, If Boo or Kiwi get near Jig ( who normally sits on one of our shoulders) he makes a teeth chattering sound. I'm assuming this is a defensive sound which if Boo or Kiwi are not near each other they assume the other made it and causes a bit of cashing and conflict. Nothing serious thankfully just chasing.

I'm still trying to introduce the three but sadly the mutual ground approach is not working as well as it has in the past. Jig spends a good amount of time on someones shoulders and will either do a series of barking or when he is on the ground level he bolts if the other two get near.

I'm going to try and place there cages closer together and see if smells will be exchanged enough for them to become accustomed to scents, continue with the bathroom visits on mutual ground and then in a week try putting Boo and Kiwi in Jigs cage to try more scent exchanges. 

It could be that Boo and Kiwi are both a year and a half while Jig is 5 months old. I was hoping that maybe introducing Jig young would help the transition.


If anyone has any other ideas on introducing them I'd be very thankful.