Adopted New Chin, now original Chin acting strangely

[Chinchillin247]

Hey Guys!

So heres a little backstory. I have had my male chinchilla Ollie (white mosaic) for a year and a couple months now and this August he will be two! He seemed like he would be happier with a little friend so two weeks ago we adopted a new standard gray male chinchilla named Paco! We did the standard procedure for introducing them, putting them in cages alongside each other and after a few great playtimes we decided to upgrade and buy a nice large Ferret Nation 182 model cage. Now they are living together and seem to get along fairly well.

The problem here is that Ollie seems to be having some kind of behavioral problems since being put in this new cage. Before he used to be very friendly and sociable and would come to the edge of the cage and let you pet him and was very happy. The last few days we have been noticing he has been acting very strangely. He has been very skiddish and has been teeth chattering and other stressful type of behaviors. Also, when trying to pet him or opening the cage to interact with him he has been almost attacking us. He is biting very hard, not the normal loving nibbling like he would. The biting sometimes has gone through the skin. Eating habits seem normal and also poop seems normal as well. Is this because he is getting used to his environment, or is there something else going on here? thanks so much for the help in advance!

 

[Lillybabe]

Why are the two already housed together? Typically people use at least a month to quarantine a new chinchilla before even moving it into the same room with ones they already have. This is a safety procedure. Then assuming no health issues are noticed after at least a month they move them into the same room. I've never heard of an introduction of two chinchillas only taking two weeks. It should take longer than that for them to get to know each other I'd think. The behaviors you're mentioning definitely sound like stressed out behaviors. Without quarantine time it's hard to say if your old chin is under distress due to health issues or if he's just irritated with sharing an environment with a new chin. A lot was changed for him in a very short time. Also some say chins are less friendly when housed with another chin as they have a buddy. I would keep a close eye on both of them. If he's being aggressive towards people he might become aggressive towards Paco.