Dominance?

[JConk27857]

I currently have a 4 year old standard female chinchilla who I've had since about 3 months. She is pretty docile for the most part. Last week we bought our second chinchilla, a 2 month TOV white mosaic. The 2 month old appears to be trying to establish dominance by mounting our 4 year old chinchilla. They are both definately females, so is this normal??? Should I stop it if no violence seems to be coming from it.

 

[tunes]

It's normal. There is almost always an alpha chin in the cage, and the new chin is trying to assert her dominance. A little humping is normal, but lots of fur being thrown around, any type of cut or scrape, or constant humping is reason for separation.

 

[oxchincerelyxo]

like Tunes said this is normal. Still I'd read up on intros and try and have some more info under your belt to make it easier on you and the chins :thumbsup:

 

[alli713]

I agree, it does sound normal to me. So long as neither of them is getting overly stressed or there's not a bunch of fur flying and biting going on, allow it to continue. They need to work out their dominance.

And for the future, in general you should quarantine any new chins from your current ones for a month. This would protect either chin in case the other one is sick or has a contagious illness. This is especially important if you're getting a chin from a place where you don't know it's background or health.