Bonding Methods

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Chinnyluver

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
118
I have a young chin (about to turn three months) that will be finishing her quarantine next week and I hope to bond her with my much older girl (not sure exact age because she was a rescue, but my guess is about 15) who lost her cagemate recently. It's been 6 years since I've gone through a bonding process (the one and only time). I can't remember if I read the method I used on here or if I got the suggestion from the breeder I got two of my girls from, but I used a form of the side by side cage method. Set up a divider in one level of an FN with each chin on one side of it. They stayed side by side for several days and when there were no signs of aggression, I removed the divider, put an open dust bath, in they bathed and loved each other ever since. Each side of the cage just had one house double entry house, which I turned to face the divider after a day or so so they could hide out next to each other (also a suggestion from somewhere), food and water.

I still have the divider and was thinking of doing the same thing again, but have also been looking up other bonding methods. I'm just curious what others prefer and have a specific question about the car ride/smooshing method... isn't it risky if they were to start fighting in the carrier? I'm probably too cautious for that approach, but idea of that almost instant bond is appealing. Thanks for any insights!
 
iv never tried the smooching method my self as iv only ever had to bond one set of chins. The rest were born together or came to me together. But from what iv read, its one of the most successful ways.

You would need a small carrier tho. Point being to smoosh them together. You dont want much room for them to move around. If they can then its easier to start fighting and get territorial. So its trying to force them together while taking away a lot of there ability to fight. - Meanwhile ppl often do this during a car ride. Point of that being to add some outside stress on them. Not enough to make them sick or completely scared or anything. But enough to get there attention. Enough to keep them focused on that as opposed to each other. So while there focused on the ride, they are also getting used to being with each other even if its not for most on there mind.

or so iv gathered..
 
I cage side by side left alone for a week and then swapping which side they are on of the divider for another week. When I clean cages they get a supervised dust bath together in a neutral cage we just rotate them all through while their cages are cleaned. When they seem to be accepting each other while dusting I try to put them back in a clean cage together.

Sometimes adding the more dominant one to the other's cage prior to cleaning so it's not their territory has worked when one seems to be against sharing space. If one or both are 6months or less and occasionally with 2 more peaceful adults I sometimes don't even need to swap cage sides for a whole week. They just get along after sitting across the bars from each other and dusting together.

I always load the cage down with lots of sticks and new food when they are put in together. Sometimes we leave a dust bath container in there instead of using the dust bath cage. Distractions are good until they get over the fact their space has another chinchilla in it.
 
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