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Messages - Vegan Vixen

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Q & A / Re: Chinchilla fight! :(

« on: October 27, 2012, 08:12:46 AM »

UPDATE!

Well the evening before yesterday, I put Tifa back in with Neneko. They continued to bicker all evening, Neneko not wanting Tifa anywhere near her and barking at her. The entire day yesterday the same thing continued. Neneko stayed on one shelf and wouldn't let Tifa near her. Though it was mainly vocal fighting and aggressive postures (standing up ready to spray), there was the occasional physical dispute, but nothing that was causing any injuries.
This morning, however, was totally different! I woke up this morning and went to check on them right away, and I found a surprise. Tifa and Neneko were together on the top shelf, grooming each other and having the most beautiful conversation of quiet squeaks to each other. It almost sounded like they were singing, it was so sweet. Somehow they resolved the dispute overnight and are now back to the bonded friends they were before!

Q & A / Re: Chinchilla fight! :(

« on: October 25, 2012, 02:04:21 PM »

Quote from: gasaraki03 on October 25, 2012, 01:53:48 PM

My suggestion would be to let them calm down of course in they separate area's then maybe tomorrow or couple days from now try to put them back together while you monitor them. If they continue to fight from there your have to get another cage. I know what you mean scares you always have to worry about them is bad feeling. I hope for the best and hope they can be friends again.

Thanks. Yeah, I'm thinking I'll do that. Give them a day or 2 apart. Then maybe before I put them back together I'll see how they react to each other on different sides of the bars first in case they are going to just go at it again. I really want to get them back together if I can safely. They were really a close pair.

Thanks again.

Q & A / Re: Chinchilla fight! :(

« on: October 25, 2012, 01:56:49 PM »

I would like to move Mouse even farther away but the only other places are close to the balcony door or over baseboard heating, and neither are a good idea. The baseboard heating leaves us with far less options in this place. But when my husband comes home from work today he is bringing home a sheet of kiln dried pine that we are going to attach to the side of one cage so that they can no longer see each other (they are along the same wall, one of the few areas without baseboard heaters.

But still, they are fighting even when they can't see her anymore (they haven't seen her for almost 20 hours now), so they must be really upset still. I hope all they need is time.

Q & A / Re: Chinchilla fight! :(

« on: October 25, 2012, 01:45:11 PM »

Woops, I didn't realize I left that part out. I moved their cages apart more last night when I first realized they didn't seem to like her being so close, and I put up a barrier on the side of one cage so that they couldn't see her anymore. They couldn't see her all night, when they were fighting. They still can't see her.

I started to become too worried another fight was going to break out, and they were still clearly very stressed (wouldn't even let me near them) so I coaxed Tifa with treats into the smaller cage (which is normally used as a transport/temp cage) and she is now in a different room. But the cage is pathetically small and she can't stay in there too long, so now I feel I have two options. To either put her back in with Neneko when they have had some time to themselves (this scares me now...), or buy a new cage and keep them separate.

Q & A / Chinchilla fight! :(

« on: October 25, 2012, 12:45:44 PM »

Tifa and Neneko are a pair of bonded females who live in one cage and Mouse is another female who lives alone because the others do not like her and the few attempts to introduce her to them was not successful.

Anyways, yesterday I was cleaning their cages and I rearranged Mouse's cage position so that it was up higher. But this made it so that Tifa and Neneko could see her easier. But they still weren't close enough to her cage for any physical contact.

Well, I guess they were really not happy about this. Last night, while we were in bed, the two bonded chinchillas started fighting with each other. I didn't know until I woke up in the morning to find an excessive amount of bedding out of their cage along with tufts of fur from both their bodies, and loose patches still on their bodies. They don't appear to have injuries. They weren't fighting anymore but were staying away from each other. So I waited. Hours after I woke up, I was busy on the computer when suddenly I heard a lot of racket. I turned around and they were fighting, bouncing around the cage in a ball of flying fur. I broke it up with distraction, and now they are on opposite sides of the cage, continuing to bicker vocally (taking turns barking and growling). Tifa can't leave the bottom of the cage or Neneko starts acting as if she is going to go after him if she does, so she stays on the bottom. I don't know if I should continue to just wait this out or try something. I don't have an extra cage big enough to separate them for awhile. I have another cage but it is pretty small. It's a hamster/gerbil cage, so that's no good. Does anyone have any ideas of where I should go from here?
I feel so bad. This is all my fault. They were so closely bonded and I triggered this with my mistake of making their cages too close to one another. I hope they don't hold a grudge forever now. :/

Guestbook / Re: Hello!

« on: October 19, 2012, 08:14:42 AM »

Thanks for the responses.

Mouse is so into getting scratches that she will tilt to the side and lift an arm almost straight up in the air so that I will have full access to her chest and under her arm! Lol

News / Re: Introducing The Chinchilla Artist!!!

« on: October 17, 2012, 08:45:29 AM »

Very beautiful artwork! Wow!

Guestbook / Hello!

« on: October 17, 2012, 08:06:18 AM »

Hello there! My name is Melissa.
I joined this site last night, because I am hoping to learn from and help others who care for chinchillas.

I don't support the "pet" trade, so all the animals in our home are adopted/rescued. We are currently caring for one cat and three chinchillas.
Two chinchillas live together, and one lives alone. The lonely chin I've tried repeatedly to introduce to the others, with no success. One of the pair is just two territorial and protective of her friend and wouldn't stop harassing the "intruder".

The pair are two girls, Tifa and Neneko. I adopted them from the Edmonton Humane Society as an inseparable pair. (I don't separate groups of bonded animals anyways) Tifa is the one who is aggressive toward the lone chin but isn't aggressive to humans. She doesn't like being held but loves being hand-fed healthy treats. Neneko is more trusting of me than Tifa. She will often allow me to pick her up.

The lone chinchilla is also female. Her name is Mouse. Lol, I know, funny name for a chinchilla. And indeed I have confused people by posting photos online of her only to have them "inform" me that she is a chinchilla

We didn't actually give her this name. Back when my partner and I worked as assistant managers at Petcetera, a couple had asked my partner for help. They said they were walking below an apartment building one day when a chinchilla either fell or was thrown off a balcony and landed on one of their shoulders! They said they weren't suitable to take care of her and needed to find her a good home. My partner told them we'd go visit them and see her. We went there that night and took our first look at her. She was overweight (I've never seen a chinchilla with so much flab!), and they told us that could only feed her this cheap brand of chinchilla food full of seeds, sugary treats, and raisins because she wouldn't eat pellets, no matter how hard they tried. They also said they couldn't get her to use a water bottle and would only use a dish of water. They named her Mouse. We agreed to take her in.

I tend to keep the names of the animals I rescue unless I really dislike the names or the animal came from an abuser (kind of like a new life with a new name given by someone who respects the animal). I decided to keep her name. It took a little bit but it wasn't that hard to convince Mouse to use a water bottle, and I quickly got her switched over to a healthier kind of chinchilla food. It wasn't that hard actually. I don't know why they had such trouble. Soon she lost the excess weight and reached a more healthy weight.

Nowadays, she loves human contact, but not being held. But she LOVES scratches on the chin, cheeks, chest, and behind her ears.

So that's our chin family. I'm glad to be here and can't wait to get more involved in this community! Cheers!

Neneko