HELP!

[Rissa7]

I got my first chin Dash around mid october. Then on November 28 I went to petco for some treats for Dash and saw a chin. They were adopting him out for free bc he had suffered an injury in the cage there and had nerve damage to one of his front legs. I brought him home and tried to do a side by side cage meeting. But then read to do cage within a cage approach. I did this for around a week and a half (I tried to introduce them during this time and Dash tried to chase and attack my new chin Fitz so i just continued with cage inside a cage approach). I took them into a neutral room and they didnt attack each other(only this first time), but if i try it in the room with the cage Dash again tries to attack. I tried to introduce them two more times in a neutral room and now my new chin Fitz barks and has even sprayed pee one time. As of right now they are back in two cages that are just side by side. I really want them to get along but i do not know what to do!

Note: while i was out of town for a few days due to my grandmother being in the hospital my roomate who was taking care of them and giving them each exercise time, accidently let them both get in the smaller cage and said they just hopped around and acted fine but when i came home i tried to let them meet again and Dash started chasing Fitz again :/. Also i have tried switching them from one cage to the other for awhile to get them used to each others scent.

Please help! Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Amethyst]

First of all for future reference when getting a new chin it's best to quarantine it in another room for 30 days, just in case the new one has any illness, but also to allow the new chin time to settle in and you to get to know it without another chin nearby. That is not useless now, but you can still just hold off on the intros and give them a break. Intros can take weeks to months at least, sometimes a year or more, you have to go slowly or you are dooming it to fail. Though some chins just don't want to have a cage mate, in which case it will never work, and they will have to live separate. I've had chins that enjoy playing with others but not living with others. For now though, it's been less then a month, you need to give them a lot more time. If you look up intros in the search on the forum you should come up with several intro method threads.

The way that worked for me in the past was start with them several feet apart and then slowly moving cages closer and closers, like 6-12 inches closer every week or two (assuming they don't react to each other) until they are next to each other. Once they don't react next to each other in their cages then I try introducing them during playtime. This way took months, but worked. I really don't think there is one fool proof guaranteed way though, chins are individuals so what works for one pair might not work for another.

Another thing, you say Fitz sprayed pee? Are you sure Fitz is a male? Males rarely are able to spray, they normally rear up but just dribble, it's the females that can spray pee (with annoying accuracy) up to like 5 feet .

 

[Vyxxin]

This is NORMAL chinchilla behavior. Your best advice was already given. Separate them, entirely...let your new chin adjust with his new environment and in that time PLEASE re-sex BOTH of your chins. THEN, after waiting a couple of weeks, and reading up on all of the different intro methods, try one...stick with it for a while...if it doesn't work after a couple months then you can try another method but as mentioned, some chinchillas just do not like other chins or do not like other chins in their cage so be prepared to always have two cages. Best of luck

 

[Rissa7]

Thank you. Fitz kind of just stood up and dribbled. I may try putting him in another room for awhile.

 

[SRSimpson]

Please do keep them apart, and as both Vyxxin and Amythest said reset them!

Let the new one settle in. And if you decide to introduce them, after researching methods and picking one remember that chins can be territorial. As you have seen by them being okay in neutral territory. So try a new cage when whatever method you are using gets to the cage part. Or completely clean one of their cages, rearrange everything, scrub etc so it is new and neither one of the, already has their scent or a reason to think it is their turf. As has already been said, but I feel is important enough to repeat be patient.

 

[Rissa7]

I scrubbed down my critter nation when I tried cage within a cage and switched them out of the small cage to let both get their scent in the critter nation. But for now I am seperating them for around 3 weeks and then will try something different. I will scrub and clean out the critter nation again for introduction. If anybody has any advice in what introductions have worked for them that would be greatly appreciated.