How long before you can tell if they will pair?

[pm4k]

How long before you can tell if 2 chins can be life long cage mates? Assuming they are both over 6 months old. In my case it will be two males.
Someone tried to tell me 1-2 hours.

 

[Dragonflye]

There is no way to tell for certain no matter how old they are when paired. Two chins can be together for years and cuddle and seem fine and then all of a sudden turn on each other.

The best thing you can do is watch your pair closely and have another cage ready in the event that they don't get along.

 

[akane]

Each one has a personality so it's random. Our introduction took 4 days. 2 with cages side by side, 2 with them loose in the bathroom together, and then I put them in the cage. A couple tufts of fur were pulled but the rules were quickly set and next thing I know they are using each other as pillows. On the other hand some people have spent months at it. There's no intro faq here so we just kind of winged it and got lucky to have a pair that just ignored each other at every step. Start with a cage next to a cage or a cage in a cage (make sure they can't bite each others' feet) and watch how they act. When they are not all excited, upset, or otherwise making a big deal out of the other chin then you can move to the next step. Some never will get along.

 

[ljiayi]

Wow, four days is fast. I thought introduction can take up to months? I've read a book on chinchillas recently and the book mentioned that it would be best for chins to live in pairs or more. Is that true? Because I personally believe that with adequate love and care, a chin living alone can be happy as well.

 

[Dreamlite]

Chins do not have to live in groups to be happy. Some prefer it and other like to be alone. Intros can last from a day to months. Some times they stay together for life.... and sometimes they fight months of years down the road. 1-2 hours is way rushing things and I am almost sure no chin will get along that quick unless they are currently living together.

 

[mknoblich1]

It took me several weeks to get my girls paired up. I did cage by cage after the quarantine, tried unsuccessful neutral playtime, then finally got the cage in a cage method to work. Every chin is different. Some will never be happy with another or need to be with another to be happy.

 

[pm4k]

Is it ok to use a two story as separate cages or do they really need to be side by side?

 

[Gnoller]

Life long cage mates? You can only see that retrospectively when one passes. As for whether they can co-habitate nicely, it depends on the chin, the introduction method to each other and even then things could go wrong there or down the track...

Regarding cages on top of each other, I imagine it could work, but would take a bit longer as they don't have sight of each other or a chance to get right up close to suss each other out

 

[Rocknrolldoc]

Four days, you are very lucky! We are going into six months and it seems that our girls will never really be friends. Two cages, separate play areas and a lot of patience. We just hope that one day the miracle will happen.