New noise after argument?

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Minnow

Active member
Joined
Feb 23, 2017
Messages
28
I have two chinchillas, both confirmed male, Milo and Tesla. Milo is a year old and Tesla will be a year old in February. They are kept in separate cages because Milo is so full of energy while Tesla is quite a bit more chill.

I do let them play together outside of their cages and they've played together just fine the entire time I've had them. No fighting, just a lot of cuddles and popcorning!

Just a few days ago however, Milo kept twitching his tail and trying to mount Tesla. I checked him for a hair ring just to be sure it wasn't that and found nothing. The encounter bothered Tesla so I put them both away.

The next day, it happened again! Except this time Milo seemed so very aggressive, chasing Tesla around and they were both vocalizing quite a lot. Again I put them away.

I left them to their cages for a few days and even played with them individually for another couple days.

Then today I decided to try and let them play again. I let them take dust baths. Within five minutes they were at it again. When I separated them, Milo was making this like, "huffing and puffing" noise and I couldn't find it on any reference sites to understand what it meant. I was wondering, what kind of noise this is. Is it agitation? Is Milo just being dominant?

I don't think I'll be letting them play together anymore, I'm just too afraid that things will turn violent if I do!
 
I'm not too sure about the "huffing and puffing" sound, but it could just be aggravation, like yelling at the other chin? it's hard to say without hearing it myself. This site https://infolific.com/pets/chinchillas/chinchilla-sounds/#a-8220marriage-dispute8221 has some sounds and meaning if you haven't already looked at it.

Over all it sounds like Milo is just being overly dominant and Tesla doesn't like it. The tail twitching is generally a sign that he is horny, maybe you need to get him a cuddle buddy if he doesn't already have one, to take his, feelings, out on? It's also possible that they just aren't really friends anymore, it can happen even with bonded pairs that have been together for years.

Constant squabbling is a early warning sign that things could get worse. A common way chins kill each other is by jumping on the other's back and biting the base of the neck. It may look like just trying to mount but the aim is higher up.

When I had multiple chins, if there was a squabble between playmates, but no blood or fur slips, I would separate them for a week or more. You need to give them enough time to forget about it incident.
 
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