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[GhostStang17]

Hi,

Joined the forum with some issues with new chins. My girl friend has two chins a standard grey(Mika) and A tan (Rosie) she moved them in with me and I've have bonded with them. I like them so much I researched them and found various colors one in which I liked pink white and mosaic white. I happened to come upon two unloved chins for sale off face book a pink white(renamed, Floki) and a standard grey(Ginger). I've had them for over two months now. They quickly bonded with me after a few weeks had the vet checked them out and are healthy. We moved them in same room as Mika and Rosie, I let Floki and Ginger run around the room to get to know the new location. This make Rosie jealous, my girl friend decided to let her out and hold her(that didn't last long), she met Floki which they seemed to be ok with, Ginger on the other hand not so much got chased and several hairs pulled. Since then we do not let them play together. We have moved the cages near one another and Rosie and Ginger try attacking through the cages and pee. So I attempted to bond all four of them with a long drive through back roads. All seemed ok once they got home. About a half hour later they are at it again but Mika joined in the taunting of Ginger. Floki has no part of this.

This has been a problem since introducing the new chins, floki is afraid of the other two Ginger try's to fight Rosie . Is there any other ways of making play time safe for all four at once? Or am I stuck with four chins that will hate one another for their life's?

I'm hoping this forum is active and can help. We have tried to section off a hall way split with old cage parts, and sit with our sets of chins, things went ok for about ten mins then Ginger got injured, she is ok. They are currently not close to one another's cage, and I let them play one group at a time. A ramp is going to each cage and Ginger has found Mika and Rosie's ramp, today, this caused a fight within the cage and with my two out of the cage playing. It seems to me the two dominant girls dislike one another and when upset attack the weaker ones that are near by. Do you think separateing the cages from the room would be a good idea for now? Also how can a friend of mine have a family of chins and not have this issue?

Thanks, Matthew

[alaskapoppy]

Hi!

I am not a chinchilla expert but I had a similar problem! I have had two chinchilla girls for over a year now and I was looking on a second hand site where I found a male chinchilla who was living in a rescue so I decided to adopt him. He is only 3 months old, my two girls are both over a year, close to two years now! I started by placing the cage with the new chinchilla next to the cage of my 'older' chinchilla's with three inches between them so they could not attack one another. After three days I put a small hamster cage with the new chinchilla in it, in the cage of my two girls and I have left him in there for 1 day, then i switched it up and placed my two girls in the smaller cage and placed my new chinchilla in the big cage so that his smell gets all over the cage and they could get used to each other. If you try this method you should place the hamster cage in a corner so if one of the chinchillas tries to attack the new chinchilla, he can go sit in the corner where he can't be harmed. I did this during two days and then I let them out together for play time and they are okay with one another now. If you put them all three together in the cage you should take out all accessories and food bowls,... and clean them very well so that they can't get territorial over those. If this method does not work for you I have read that you can place all four chinchilla's in a very small cage together, like a carrier, where they have no place to move so that they can't attack one another and you should leave them in there for a couple of hours during the day time so that they are 'forced' to be friends and apparently this method works a lot of the times as this is a method that a lot of breeders use to introduce the chinchilla's.

It is not guaranteed that your chinchilla's will get a long, if it doesn't match it doesn't match and we can't change anything about it.. It is totally possible to have four chins living together but in some cases it doesn't work.. If i were you I would try the methods listed above and if they still attack the new chinchilla, it isn't meant to be and it's best to keep them in separate cages..

[GhostStang17]

I have read about those, our small cage has big openings where they can get at one another, so I'm not sure if they mean to have one where toes and teeth can't fit but the smell. Also it has been an issue where the angry chins will attack their cage mate when the one not attacking comes to see the others. I welcome your input, I have been researching behavior for them and found a video where they have chins fighting pulling hair and chasing then a few mins later they are cuddling. I'll see what my girl friend wants to do. I'm thinking it's because the two standard greys look alike but smell different is why Rosie dislikes Ginger, as stated Floki and Rosie had no issues till Ginger was seen.

Thank you

[GhostStang17]

So I tried this cage idea, Ginger seems to want at Rosie and ignores Mika while they were in her cage. I did this while cleaning Mika and Rosie's cage. After an hour the fight my died down, Floki was never seen involved. I put Mika and Rosie back in their cage. Put Ginger in the carrier Rosie was in and Floki in the carrier Mika was in and placed them in Mika and Rosie's cage. Rosie started things with Floki then Mika challenged Rosie. That died off and they went away from Floki and Ginger to sleeping spots. Since Floki and Mika do not seem to be aggressive towards one another I let them have play time together with Ginger and Rosie in their cages. Things were ok for awhile then Floki got chased and hair pulled out so I put Floki away, let Rosie out with Mika and it seemed as if they were hunting. I'm beginning to think this will never work out. They are in same room for summer temp reasons and don't show signs of aggression towards one another while in cages. Thay are separated by several feet though.

If anyone has any more input please feel free to respond.