chinchilla fighting, minor foot injury

[naiski]

hello
i've had my chinchilla, licorice, for about a year. she's almost one and a half years old. i've had her since she was a kit and since i bought her from the breeder she hasn't had any contact with other chinchillas. she lives in a very large cage (http://www.martinscages.com/images/full/fc-430hr.jpg) by herself. she is very social and has never bitten or sprayed me or any of my roommates. recently i've been thinking she might be lonely all by herself in the large cage and so i purchased another female chinchilla (i named her sushi) from a pet store, rather than a breeder. sushi is about 6-8 months old and slightly smaller than licorice. i've read a few articles on introducing chinchillas and tried a few suggested methods.
yesterday sushi was kept in a smaller cage right next to licorice's cage while she settled in. today, we started introducing them to each other. we let the two chinchillas run around together in the bathroom and they climbed around on each other casually for a while. next, i placed licorice in sushi's cage and the chinchillas were calm and friendly for about the first 15 minutes. then, licorice started trying to mount sushi to assert dominance. ii separated them for a short while and then put licorice back in the cage. this time, however, they started standing on their hind legs and licorice sprayed sushi which i've read is another method of asserting dominance. i separated the chinchillas again and gave sushi a dust bath. i read another good method is to block off part of the cage and keep the chinchillas in different sections. i blocked off the gateway to the top/bottom of licorice's large cage and put sushi on top and licorice on bottom. licorice was eager to get to the top of the cage and stood on her hind legs sticking her nose through the bars. i figured this was normal and i left the two alone for about 20 minutes. when i came back, there was some blood where sushi was standing and when i took her out and looked at her i noticed her foot was bleeding. i put her back in her own cage and she promptly hopped into the dust bath where she has been staying for the last hour. i suspect that licorice managed to bite sushi's foot through the bottom bars of the cage. the injury doesn't seem very serious and the bleeding seems to have stopped now but i'm not sure if i put them together again soon if the fighting will just get worse. sushi hasn't made any attempt to fight back but licorice is acting very territorial.
is there anything specific i should do to treat sushi's foot?
is there any chance these two chinchillas will ever be able to share a cage together?
thanks

 

[lolanu]

If you just got the new chinchilla, she's bound to be incredibly stressed. Ideally, you would have waited at least a month before introducing them. I've broken this rule myself, and it never ends well. I'd separate them immediately, and make sure they can't get close enough to bite. Let your new chinchilla get used to everything and heal, then try introducing them in an area neither has been before. Also, most pet store chins are ill, so watch both for signs of a URI.

 

[lauralynne]

Also, most pet store chins are ill, so watch both for signs of a URI.

I'm not sure where you got that fact, but that's not true to say 'most pet store chins are ill'. Yes, most pet store chins are given things that aren't recommended, but that doesn't mean they're sick.

I'm honestly not a fan of doing playtime intros. I think it's just asking for trouble, and gives more room for squabbles and makes it harder for you to intervene if needed.

I have found that going slow about things has worked best for me. I will generally put cages side by side for several weeks (about 6 inches apart). Next, I will put the chins in the each other's cage (alone) for the day and switch them back to their own cage at night. I usually do that for about a week or two. Then, I will use another cage with all new items (so the smell of either chin is gone from the cage) and put them both in the clean cage. If I you don't have a spare cage available, you can put one in a carrier while you completely clean the cage and furnishings, then put them both in the cage.