housing question...please give ur opinion

[QTKirls]

I've only been on this forum for a few weeks and I've been learning a lot from it. A LOT!

I have 4 chinchillas. 3 together in a 3 story FN, and the other in my bedroom in the 4th part.(the 4th is new so he is away from the others.) The plan was to have them all together in the cage. All males.

Well...then I found this forum.

1. I have been learning not all chins will get along. And sometimes a new 4th in the mix throws off the whole buddy system.

2. It is common for chins to turn on each other.

3. And one of my chins is grumy to the others.

I would feel TERRIBLE if one of my chins got hurt by another. I have 4 cages...I could split them, or have them open.

Has another had their FN cages side by side, so they can see each other and have a buddy, but not hurt each other? Am I just worrying too much? Is it mean of me to separate them? Could I separate them and see if they are happier or not and if not, put them together again?

Sorry so many questions! I've been learning sooo much my brain is on information overload! Any words of wisdom would be awesome and I know only I know their personalities, but there has to be some general kind of rule or something right? I don't want to over react, but id rather do that than hve one of my guys be in pain.

 

[Nickv0195]

my opinion (which i am not an expert) would to be to put the cages side by side for about 2 weeks , but not to close that another chinchilla can pull or bite the other chinchilla through the cage. And after two weeks take the new chinchilla and one of the other chinchillas out for play time and see how they are together, if they get along try the new one with a different chinchilla , and then next the other chinchilla. And then try them all together for play time and see how they are. If there any fighting at all i wouldn't allow the chinchillas to all be in teh same cage and i would keep the new one seperated.

 

[QTKirls]

Well one of the 3 that are already together shows a little aggression. He likes his space usually. Then another one sometimes bullies one of the other ones. There is only one that I've never seen be the bully. Is that normal? Or a sign?

 

[naturegirl240]

I have two males that when I got the second male, I figured they could be housed together. I put their cages next to each other and they seemed to be doing fine. When I tried a playtime, after like 30 seconds started fighting and pulling hair. They are now completely rotten to each other. They are now in a split ferret nation, Percy on the bottom and Edward on the top. Anyways, sometimes its better to be safe than sorry and leave them to their own cage. Percy and Edward are perfectly happy alone and do not appear to be lonely at all. Unless they seem to be really bonded to each other, separating them would not be mean at all.

 

[Nickv0195]

It could be normal when my chinchillas use to be housed together they use to bully eachother sometimes for dominance of the cage when they where first together and even awhile after they would bully eachother, (there seperated now dew to an unexpected pregnancy) , but again i am not an expert.

Well one of the 3 that are already together shows a little aggression. He likes his space usually. Then another one sometimes bullies one of the other ones. There is only one that I've never seen be the bully. Is that normal? Or a sign?

 

[mishellyshel]

i have 3 FN's, all 2 story. (one was a 3 story but we changed it to accomate the room & also because it was very high!)

if you have an agressive one, my opinion would be as follows. make 2 FN's 2 story, put them next to each other with enough distance that toes cant get bitten (3-4 inches)
put the 2 that get along in the one 2 story with access to top & bottom, put the aggressive one in his own section of the other one & the new guy after quarantine in the other section.

i had mates that needed to be separated and now they live "next" to each other. sometimes i see them sitting next to the bars, sorta near eachother but for the most part they seem happier to be alone. i also have ALL males. i do have 1 pair in 1 section of one of th FN's and they have plenty of space. so if your pair ever decides they dont want to be friends anymore you than have the option of splitting up that FN into 2 sections.

the thing is........sometimes there are warning signs like kacking & some hair flying and sometimes you come out to an injured or worse chin. there are no guarantees or definites in chinnieland. you always need to be prepared for any situation.

 

[QTKirls]

The last two mornings I woke up wo a puff of hair inthe cage... (yesterday was 2 puffs....each puff has been another coor...so a puff from everyone. But they were all sleeping together. What's that? The hair puffs are VERY new.

 

[mishellyshel]

it means when you are not there they are chasing each other around and probably fighting.

personally i would not risk it, i would separate the known agressor asap. the same thing happened to the two i had to separate. i would come down to cuddles and clumps of fur, mostly Snickers fur so i knew he was getting beat up and then one morning i noticed he had a small cut on his ear and i immediately separated them. they are both happier since the separation and Snickers has even gained weight. but they are still right next to eachother. i havent tried joint playtime yet, but you could also separate but have supervised group playtime.

 

[QTKirls]

My blacck velvet had a little cut on his ear a few eeks ago, I assumed it was from a shelf or him scratching or something. I didn't think it would be from his buddies...that was before I joined here and knew anything though. I hadn't thought of it until now. Ok tonight, own cages. I'm gonna need more bass pans!

What do you use in ur FNs?