My chinchilla doesn't remember their mate :(

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Becca

Active member
Joined
Sep 14, 2011
Messages
34
Location
Durham
I took my 2 1/2 year old male Buster to get a castrate 4 days ago. Now my Female chinchilla Shade wants to kill him and is charging into the cage whenever she sees him.
Before the op Shade and Buster were a perfect couple (Mother and Son) they got on so well, hence why I got Buster neutered so that they can live together. I know that a number of factors can contribute to why Shade is treating Buster as a stranger. He would have came home smelling of the Vets, he would have smelled different due to surgery and due to other people handling him. We also had to put him in a new cage that Shade was not familiar with, but we switched him back into his old one after 2 days. Buster and Shade's cages are on the floor next to each other, so they can see each other and not feel that lonely.

Tonight when I was feeding Buster, Shade got into his cage ( She jumped onto my lap and got into the door) I can safely say I wasn't expecting her to attack Buster, I was fast enough to break up the fight before any real damage could occur. Shade is really hostile towards Buster, will she be able to remember him again soon? I'd hate to have put Buster through all that pain and not give him a cage mate.

Becca
 
First, the sperm isn't dead yet. They have to stay apart for at least 6 weeks or you will have another pregnancy.

Second, his stitches are in serious danger of being torn apart if she is chasing him. He should be in a small cage with limited movement, at least for a couple weeks. Surgery is traumatic for any chin. Having his former cagemate constantly trying to attack him is not going to do anything for his mental or his physical health.

Third, he smells like a vet/surgery. At the end of the 6 weeks that "stink" will be gone then you can try and introduce them again.
 
Yes I know they have to stay apart, they are in separate cages, my female chin jumped into his cage as I was feeding, I already did my research before I took my little guy for the op, it was an accident, his stitches are fine I check them daily. I was curious as to why she did it that's all, they have never been like this towards each other.
 
See #3 above. It's pretty common with separated cagemates.
 
I have never had to introduce chinchillas before, so if you have any tips on how to introduce them after Buster is healed up properly it would be a big help. When I bought Shade she was pregnant (I wasn't aware that she was) and then she gave birth to Buster 4 months after I had her, so I didn't have to introduce them to each other :p
 
I don't know if this is the right way to do it but after our boy was neutered and healed and safe sperm wise I would just swap the cages on them. Ours was a 2 year old mother and her 1 year old son and her 2 month old girl [Craigslist find].

I would put mom and baby in his cage and put him in their cage and switch back and forth every couple of days so both cages smelled like each other. It was a few months after the vets so all the vet stink was gone. That is the way I introduced another male rat to the first 2 boys and it worked so I did it with the chins.

Like I said I don't know if it was the right way but it worked for us.
 
There are several different ways you can try and reintroduce your chins. If you take a look at the forum FAQs, there is a pretty good one regarding introductions.

I personally use cage within a cage. I've never had it fail me.
 
Yes I know they have to stay apart, they are in separate cages, my female chin jumped into his cage as I was feeding, I already did my research before I took my little guy for the op, it was an accident

I have males and females, I've never had an issue with them getting at each other:

When male's door is open, females are in their cages and their doors stay shut the entire time, no matter what, and vise versa. I know you said it was an accident, so don't think I'm coming down on you. I just posted this for future reference to anyone who may be reading the thread.
 
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