Bonding question?

[Asha]

Hello! I am new to the forums, and have already looked through the threads to find an answer to my question but did not find what I was looking for. So, here is my story.....I recently bought a second chinchilla and went through the whole introductions process. Both of my chins are males and seem to get along well. There have been no fights, but my original chin is definitely been working to establish his dominance. This was consistent for at least a week before the behavior slowed down and he quit doing it quite so often. But then he started it up again the other day during playtime. I think my new chin is rather annoyed by it, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much and he mostly just tries to run off and get away to do his own thing.

My chins seem to get along pretty well, but how do I know if they have a solid bond? They will touch noses to greet each other and eat together. They don't really like to sleep in the same hidey house though so I have two of those in the cage. What other behaviors will they exhibit that will help me know if they are closely bonded? Sometimes my original chin will hog the hidey house and not let the new one in and vice versa (even though there are two houses available now!). The other day, I woke up and my new chin was on the shelf sleeping while the original one was in a hidey house. I felt so bad for the new little guy! He was all curled up in the corner. It gave me the impression that maybe they just wanted some space away from each other?:hmm: I have them in a big cage so theres plenty of room. Anyway, thank you for bearing with me through this long post! Any advice on identifying solid bonding behaviors will be most helpful!

 

[andreya]

I have no idea what qualifies as "solid bonding" and haven't heard the term used before, sorry...

I can tell you that my boys (Ari and Sobek) have been together for 9 months and although most of the time they sleep together they still sometimes sleep apart. One will be in the hammock, the other in the house. I only see them eating together when I give them something they like better than pellets like oat supplement or hay. It took Sobek a few days to get used to Ari because he had been picked on by his previous cage mate but otherwise they have been fine. My other two (Talyn and Kallel) took a little longer to co-habitate nicely but are both older, especially Kallel who had been in breeding prior to that. Some spats, some humping and then they were fine. A week later they were back to the hissing and chasing each other one day and cuddling the next and have been fine since. From what I've seen, some chins take longer to bond at all than others and some I haven't been able to get together at all due to fighting. I'd say if they aren't killing each other you're good to go.

 

[Asha]

Thank you! That helps! I totally wrote that last sentence wrong. What I was trying to say was what behaviors should I look for that would show that they have a close bond. Like I have heard other people say that their chins like to snuggle together and be near one another all the time as if they were joined at the hip. Mine just don't seem to do that, they just seem to tolerate being around each other but don't seem too chummy unless I'm putting more hay in their cage, and they touch noses here and there.

 

[starrynight0621]

I agree with andreya. I also have two boys who have been together since August, and they still dominance hump. Sometimes I think it's like bickering between siblings.