Humping and tweaking out...?

[Directorthiang]

So I recently adopted a 3-year-old male standard grey from a chin rescue and have noticed some interesting behavior since having introduced him to his cage mate, a nine-month old tripod beige.

Powder, the gray, will jump on top of Dash, my baby beige, and hump him for a few seconds in a show of dominance--which I'm used to seeing in chin introductions--but what's weird is that Powder will hump Dash for a second or two, then spring high into the air, land back on top of Dash (who hasn't moved an inch, but just sits there taking it all while munching on his hay), and then hump him again.

Afterwards, Powder will spring off of Dash, again, like on a trampoline, and then bound around the bathroom while almost convulsing in the air like a tripped out drug addict.

It's weird. I've never seen THAT behavior before. He only does it when they're playing in the bathroom. I'm not super concerned, but mildly, because Powder has killed a previous cage mate when he was first brought to the rescue. He's definitely a dominant guy, but Dash is so submissive and uncaring, that I can't understand why Powder won't just stay the heck off of him. Thoughts?

 

[HaleyGoBoom]

If he's killed a previous cage mate he may be better off alone in his own cage if you're introducing them to live in the same cage. There are chinchillas that live happily together never showing dominance that will all of the sudden fight and hurt/kill each other. I'm not trying to be rude, just advice from what I've seen on this forum.

 

[cintistatern2005]

Yea if he's killed another cage mate, me personally i would just cage him alone. It's better to be safe than sorry. But who knows im not an expert.

 

[Ippo456]

One of my chins sometimes does this, but super rare.
He would hump a fleece blanket then he'd be hyper, bouncing off the walls, & running real fast.
Maybe he's happy that he's relieved himself? :hilarious:

 

[Jovi]

If he's killed a cage mate before , I personally would keep him alone. I heard a story of someone who had that happen twice and finally realized after losing 2 chins that once one kills it should be housed alone.

 

[Parkerspetchins]

What you are describing sounds like popcorning to me, he must like what he's doing pretty well lol. I would be very concerned caging a chin who has previously killed a cagemate with any other chin, sounds like he should be caged alone to me but I have no personal experiences with that.

 

[Directorthiang]

Popcorning? lol Never heard of it. And yes, he seems quite excited and happy. Maybe it's a phase he's going through. What age do chins reach sexual maturity?

He killed the other chin over two years ago. He'd lived alone with a married couple for a year, then they dropped him off at a rescue full of 60 chinchillas because they were getting a divorce and neither wanted or could keep him (not entirely sure of the back story). The rescue woman didn't have any spare cages readily available, so she deposited him into a cage that was housing another newly dropped off chinchilla that turned out to be very dominant. While she stepped out to go get a cage, these two fought and the other wound up dying from his wounds.

It was a very high stress situation for both chins and they should NOT have been placed together in that way. I've been very cautious with introducing Dash and Powder, and they're getting along just fine. Nuzzling, sleeping side by side, grooming one another, talking to each other... the only weird behavior is this strange popcorning thing. I'll be sitting on the bathroom floor with them, and Powder will jump on Dash, spring off, take a lap around the bathroom bouncing off of every corner, and then winds up finishing on my chest to look at me as if to say, "Did you see what I just did???" Then he goes again. lol It's funny to watch and Dash doesn't seem bothered by it at all, I just didn't know if it was a stage some chins went through.

 

[alli713]

It also sounds like popcorning to me. It's what chins do when they're excited. It's rather funny to watch as they do look like they're having a little spasm.

If it were me personally, I would never put a chin in with another chin if it had already killed a cagemate. Stressful situation or not. Plenty of members have had cagemates turn on each other and they've been living happily together for years. Just because they're friendly now does not mean that they'll remain that way and you could wake up one morning to a dead chin.

So, just know that it can happen.

 

[Directorthiang]

Thank you all for your input, and I understand your concern. However, just as it's possible that one day, something will flip, and one of these guys may kill the other, the same thing can happen with two chinchillas who have been happily caged together for five or six years.

Truthfully, there's no absolute.

I know Powder has a history (and bear in mind, we don't know which of the chins in the initial fight started it--Powder has a ripped ear, a scar on his nose, and is missing three toes from the battle), but he and Dash are doing superbly right now and both seem much happier at present in the company of another chinchilla than they were caged alone. When they're separated, they both peep and hunt for the other. So if they're happier together than they were alone, I'm going to continue to monitor them and see what develops.

I've successfully introduced three pairs of chinchillas before, so I'm confident that I know what to look for as signs of something going wrong.

 

[alli713]

Of course there's no absolute guarantee that any pair will get along. I don't think I implied that there was.
But, I believe that the likelihood of chins fighting is going to be more if the chin has a history of being aggressive towards another chin. And apparently this chin didn't just have aggression, it killed another chin. Of course we don't know who instigated the fight, but the truth of the matter is, is that this guy survived, so chances are he wasn't being submissive and allowed the other one to fight.

I understand that you can keep an eye out for any signs of aggression, but it can happen when you're not there. It can happen over night, and by the time you get to them it's too late. And that's a very painful situation.

In either case, good luck with them, I really hope he doesn't decide he doesn't like his cagemate anymore.

 

[Directorthiang]

Again, I hear what you're saying Alli, and understand your concern. It's well placed, and perfectly understandable.