Fostering Two Chinchillas

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

rocket29

Rocket&Bilbo
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
48
Hi,
I'm fostering two chinchillas until a certain court case is over. If the defendant wins (god forbid, he was abusing hundreds of expensive animal breeds), I will be forced to return them. If he loses, however, they will go up for adoption and I am planning on keeping at least one of them.

I'm keeping them in my chinchilla's room with each of their cages about a foot or less apart (it's not a large room). I would keep them in a different room but rules are preventing me from doing that. Everyone is getting playtime as usual, love, food, and toys. My problem is getting them to accept one another. I'm hoping they become friends so they keep each other company while I'm gone. If that never happens it's fine since each has their own cage, but it would benefit them if they all became buddies. The two I'm fostering are more used to each other but have never had free interaction. So far they have never been out at the same time; I only let them see each other through the cage. Whenever one is out, I cover the other two cages with heavy blankets to prevent them from biting each other through the bars. If I don't do this, they'll meet at the bars and sniff noses. It goes fine for five seconds or so until one of them nips or makes a sudden move that frightens the other. One of the fosters leaves the other chinchillas' cages alone, but the other two (mine included) are persistent and attempt moving the blanket out of the way to get to the other. I'm unsure if I'm doing this correctly or not; I'm hesitant to begin bonding before the two fosters are completely used to me and the new environment.

Does anyone have advice on this?
Thanks.
 
I wouldn't try to bond chins until you are no longer fostering and they are actually yours for sure. The chances of something going wrong are too high, what if one of them gets hurt by another? If you end up having to return them the original owner could sue you for damages to his chinchilla(s). Waiting on bonding is not going to hurt anything, and may actually help if you keep them since it will give them more time to get use to each other without any negative interactions. It's not really possible to go too slow with chins.

I know you said rules say you can't put them in another room, but for future reference you may want to rethink taking in foster chins if you can't put them in another room. Ideally you want them in a different room in case they are sick, they hide illness well so you may not notice right away. If for example they come down with a respiratory infection you will need to bring all the chins in to be treated. Even if it's not something deadly, something like ringworm for example is highly contagious and you may not notice it right away especially if the chins aren't in the best shape. You don't want to have to deal with treating all your chins. The normal quarantine time is 30 days, which also allows you to get to know the new chins and for them to get settled and start forming a bond with you before adding other chins into the mix.
 
Alright, we're doing some remodeling around the house soon. We're dedicating a walk-in closet to the chinchillas. The defendant has lost the case and the animals are up for adoption. We are returning one and adopting the other. The closet is large and has barriers that divides two sides of the wall into three sections. Is it safe/comfortable for the two chinchillas if their cages are far from each other and are divided by the barriers? This is just an idea, and if the chinchillas would be better off each in their own room I can do that. I'm planning on keeping my chinchilla in his own room for a while to recover our bond. I feel terrible for sharing his room with two other chinchillas and he was evidently upset about it. I'm planning on bonding the two of them eventually, but if they simply do not get along I will return the new chinchilla as well. I believe it would be better for the both of them if they bonded and provided company for one another. My original plan was to adopt another chinchilla in order for both of them to have company while I'm gone. Of course I still love the new chinchilla and want him to be as happy as he can be! Both of them will be receiving lots of attention.

Please let me know what you think is best, thank you
 
Well since they are all in the same room now it doesn't really make a difference. My only worry would be does the walk in closet have enough air flow? I mean I don't know maybe it's a huge closet and you can keep the temp and humidity at the right levels in there and it wont get stuffy.

If the issue is your current chin being mad about sharing a room I do know some are ok with having a barrier between the cages so they can't see each other, if that is what you are going for.
 
Back
Top