Behavior change in male chinchilla with introduction of female chinchilla in room?

[Chin_Parent]

I have a very "spirited" male chinchilla who is fairly aggressive towards anything that moves. Even so, he's still a really sweet boy, in spite of his nagging desires. I'm in the process of taking in a female chinchilla and I was wondering if anyone has experienced behavior changes due to an introduction of a female chinchilla within the same room. She has her own cage and they will have separate playtimes, but apparently when she's in heat, she tends to bark more, and I was wondering if he would be affected by this.

Has anyone else had any experience with this? Did the male's behavior change? Thanks.

 

[ticklechin]

My boys become stupid when the female is in heat, they become unruley and focused on one thing. That is just my boys, not all boys are the same.

 

[Chin_Parent]

Ha, I'm sure my chin will be the same way, only he's pretty focused on that all the time anyway. It won't be that much of a change I suppose.

 

[AZChins]

Since he's not used to having females in the room, he could have a reaction to having a girl there. You'll just have to see what happens. Some boys could care less. My boys are used to having females around so they don't seem to mind or become aggressive even when several females are in heat.

 

[Airyn]

My boys went crazy enough that I had no choice but to house them in separate rooms. They chewed at the bars, whined and barked a lot, shoved each other off of shelves, etc. My personal breaking point was watching the son do the swishy tail dance for his mother across the room, who was reciprocating. That was just too much for my little brain to take. As soon as I moved them into a different room and gave them some playtime to burn off that energy, their behavior went back to normal.

 

[Chin_Parent]

It'll be interesting to see how it turns out since we live in a studio apartment, so she can only be so far away, and he'll still be able to smell her no matter what. It shouldn't be too bad though because he's alone in his cage, so he doesn't have another male to compete with.

 

[Laurie]

I had two boys who were weaned together I had to separate. I don't know for sure if it was females in the room or not, but I have 10 chinchillas 6 girls and 4 boys. My girls have cagemates and leave in peace and harmony. My boys all have to be single.