When did you know?

[~Alex~]

I've had my new boy Ernie for about two weeks now and I love him! He's gotten better about letting me pick him up because now he realizes if I pick him up its play time! He's such a sweet boy!

So my question is when did you realize you wanted to have more then one chinchilla?

As for me I think I'm going down the path to wanting more (not too many I dont want to be packed with them) and even though I have thought about a cage mate for Ernie I dont want to risk the injuries of introducing another chinchilla to him.

If I were to get more I was thinking of females this time around. In all honestly when I went to get Ernie, Susan had two females together and I was able to meet the more outgoing of the two and I havent been able to forget them since then! haha

BUT I dont want to hear about me. New chinchillas are way down the line! I really want to know about you guys and how you ended up deciding on getting multiples!!

 

[sushi998]

for me it was very obvious. My chinchilla liked my attention but he was just sitting there all the time doing nothing. When I saw a couple of chins in our petstore I noticed how much they loved having a little cagemate. It was cute to watch and they looked very happy, so I didn't have to think twice. I bought a second one.

How old is your little boy? If you introduce him to another male chinchilla when he is still young it shouldn't be much of a problem. But your new one will have to be still young too. I'd say under 1 year old, but the younger the better. Also males are less of a problem when wanting to introduce them. So if you would like a cagemate for your boy, which I strongly recommend, do it as soon as possible.

 

[AZChins]

Ernie had Burt back when they found him. He could get along with another male. If you got a baby, Ernie would definitely accept him. There's always Ratatoo...they actually did extremely well despite the humping. Ratatoo is crazy though...so I don't know if you want to deal with that whole thing!

(Ernie is probably younger than about four years old, but we don't know for sure. )

 

[~Alex~]

Yea that's true so after a few monthes I'm definitely considering it I dont want to stress him out too much. I think Ernie would like to have a cage mate again to play with.

The baby is probably the way to go hehe. Ratatoo was cute and I really liked him but I dont know if he was exactly right for me. He was pretty crazy!

@Sushi: Ernie is pretty young like susan said but we dont know for sure how old he actually is. That's really adorable though! How old are you're two boys?

I felt so sad when I went to the pet store today to get stuff for my neice's guinea pig. They had a male chinchilla (supposedly I've heard plenty of stories of not sexing correctly) who looked so sad just sitting in the glass case hiding under the wheel all by himself and I felt so bad for him

 

[AZChins]

Ratatoo just doesn't know how to be a pet chin...someday he'll learn.

When you are ready we'll start planning for a baby boy for Ernie.

I should have warned you about the petstores...I don't go in to them at all anymore. If I can't find something at a supply store that doesn't have animals, I can find it somewhere online.

 

[Brittany]

My boyfriend brought our second, Lily, home as a Valentine's day gift for me. So I really didn't contemplate it. I've bought/adopted 4 chins on my own. With each of them everything just felt right about the decision; timing, finances, etc... I knew I wanted a few chins, but never had a set amount in my head. When I brought home the last pair everything felt complete, and I knew I was done. I used to keep an eye on craigslist and breeder's websites. I don't have any desire to do that anymore. There are so many cute chins out there, but not for me. Mine are already home

 

[Woodrow724]

Woodrow is such was just so attention seeking, I gave him plenty of love but he always just looked like he was missing something not matter what I did. So, we decided to get Jasper. We have the money and had the 2 cages already, one big enough for the two of them so we went for it. Best decision ever, they love each other so much. Jasper follows Woodrow around the cage and they're always grooming each other and snuggling. They both seem so happy too. Woodrow still needs his nose kisses from mommy though! Jasper could care less ahahaha.

 

[starrynight0621]

Orville just sat in his cage looking lonely. We got him at 8 weeks. We paid attention to him but it didn't seem like enough. So, a week later we got his cagemate Wally. Wally was only a month older. It was a great decision- now they always cuddle together and look happy!

 

[andreya]

When did I know that I was a hoarder? Oh...years ago. =P

Having more than one has never been a question. I work during the day and all of my pets have "friends". Although I wasn't planning on more than two (Ari and Sobek) but the opportunity arose where I could get a little boy (Talyn) that I had been coveting since he was a baby and of course he needed a friend (Kallel). And four, four was my limit. Then Ari got sick and the vet that I had been seeing told me that he was going to die. My friend's chins had just had babies so I decided to get a little male so that when Ari died, Sobek wouldn't be alone, especially since Sobek isn't much for people. I then found out from a different vet that Ari wasn't dying so was just going to put Prowler in with them anyways because Prowler is a beautiful violet (my favorite color) but she ended up being a girl. Oops. And of course Prowler needs a friend (she's not even weaned yet) and I had to buy another cage and supplies anyway...So I had been talking to a friend about getting Prowler a female friend and she gave me Moya, who is a total sweetie. My chinchilla rainbow consists of: a tan white, a white, a TOV tan violet, a TOV white, an ebony and when she comes home, a violet!

 

[ChinCity]

I knew, if I would get a chinchilla - would get two right from the start. Was looking for a Mosaic for weeks, but had no luck. I went to a local chinchilla show and bought the first Mosaic that was for sale in the first 5 minutes I entered the room Started to freak out to find a second chinchilla, because the show was coming to an end and I didn't wanted to leave with just one. Bought a cute beige after the show was over in the last couple of minutes. They were both housed with other chins at the breeders homes and were young enough to be introduced immediately. (At that time I didn't know about quarantine.) From the first moment they saw each other they were inseparable. I love watching them interact. They always cuddle and are never far apart. Maybe wasn't the most rational way in purchasing them, but I am so glad I got two.

 

[Shooper]

I was happy with just my one boy Charlie (standard). I did love the look of a certain pink/white that was being offered for sale from a breeder on this site. Anyway, a friend knew how much I liked him and surprise...she got him for me! I loved my pink/white, Inca, from day one! He and Charlie hit it off and became BFFs! Down the road I saw a baby ebony boy on here for sale and fell in love in love with him! He wasnt ready to be weaned yet. I heard that intros wouldnt be a good idea with my bonded pair, so I got 2 babies...Smokey (mosaic) and Bandit (dark ebony). While waiting for them to be ready to come home ....fighting occured and I had to seperate Charlie and Inca. Long story short, I now have 4 chins, one pair and now 2 singles. My only advise is to be prepared to handle two cages and 2 of everything just incase (I would have never thought my boys would break up) :cry3:

I love them all and dont regret getting any of them!

 

[~Alex~]

Yea the petstores just make you feel guilty and want to make everything better for the poor babies But sounds like a plan Once I have the finances again probably towards May we can start planning for one

It's interesting that so many of you got both chinchillas very close together! And such cute stories! I think sometime I'd like to go to a chinchilla show like chincity, though probably not to buy! It's such a mysterious event to me haha.

And shooper! What a wonderful friend you have! I couldnt imagine anyway buying me a chinchilla outright like that. haha But sad to see the boys break up

 

[ChinCity]

Alex, you are right about the show being a big mystery. It was my first show and I was overwhelmed with seeing so many pretty chinchillas in one place. I was told, that it was small show; around 52 animals were shown and maybe another 10 for sale. If you have a change to go to one, I would recommend it. Might want to bring cash...