Bonding father and son

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Joined
Dec 19, 2015
Messages
17
I've reached the time to start weaning my kits. They ate 8 weeks old and with 216g and 230g.

having spent a couple of weeks reintroducing dad to sob i thought it would work putting them together. It doesn't appear to be the case. After 6 hours of calm alk Hwk broke loose. Dad wouldn't stop chasing son who hid and then dad just blocked him every time he tried to come out. I separated them overnight.

Does this mean they haven't bonded and that dad won't accept him?

If anyone's had any thoughts/advice id be grateful!
TIA
 
How did you go about reintroducing? Also did you make sure to fully clean and rearrange the cage you put them both into before putting them both in it? Some chins can be very territorial about their cage so it's best to just clean and rearrange everything you can so the cage doesn't smell like one chin or the other. Also I do know that some chins enjoy having playmates, but don't want a cage mate.
Another thing, are the females in the same room as the males? Males have been known to fight over a female, even if they can't get to her. Some males are fine, others will fight to the death when a female nearby is in heat, it all depends on the males. So the issue may not be that they don't like each other, it's just they see each other as competition for the females.

Also intros can sometimes take months, not just a couple weeks. You can't rush it or it's pretty much doomed to fail, you have to go at the chin's pace. Since chasing happened I would let them both cool off for at least a few days in their own cages before starting over with the intros.
 
I've kept putting the kit in dad's cage and dad in with the kit during playtime and there was no obvious issue.

The cage was cleaned out and I put new accessories, beds etc in it.

I have a large cage like a critter nation which I've split in half. Put the boys at the top and mum and daughter at bottom. Could it be that having the girls in the same room has caused this problem? I don't think Freddie is too happy only having half his cage either!

The reason I originally got Elizabeth is because Freddie was pining after the death of his mate. And they were fully bonded within a week. Freddie has been really miserable separated from her again while she nursed the chins. (He was meant to have been castrated, so I thought it was safe to give him a rescue female).

Freddie is a very sociable chin and has enjoyed being with his kits, so this was all very unexpected.

Thanks for you reply.
 
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