Introducing Chins

[RoscoeOllieMom]

Hello! I have had my male chin Roscoe for 7 months now, I recently started a new job and work nights and wanted to get him a companion. I was at a petsmart and saw a what they say is 4 month old male chin, so I bought him. Roscoe has a 4 level cage that I recently bought, so I put the new chin, Ollie, in roscoe's old smaller cage. I put the cages about 5 inches away from each other. It's been 1 week so today I put them in the play pen I bought from petsmart together and they sniffed each other then roscoe started what looked like humping ollie. Ollie ran from him and they chased each other, I didn't see any biting. They kind of hopped around each other and would buck up to each other and then roscoe would jump on ollies back again. I put the bath house in with them and at one point they both got in it together but I didn't see any fighting. Eventually Ollie actually tried to hump roscoe, at least that's what it looked like. Is this normal? They are both back in their separate cages, I figured I'd let them out again together later tonight. I guess I just want to make sure this is normal introduction behavior.

 

[Amethyst]

Just so you know for future reference, since it's too late now, but it's strongly advised to quarantine new chins for 30 days before intros. This give the new chin time to settle in, for you to get to know it, and for any illness to show itself before exposing your current chin to it.

As to your question, yes humping/mounting is normal, it's how they figure out who is boss. I would double check to make sure they are in fact both males. Just make sure the make sure it doesn't get too out of hand, excessive barking, chasing, or fur pulling, and also obviously watch for any biting. Chins can fight to the death so if it gets to the point of fighting give them a break from each other. Once blood is drawn though it's no longer safe to try to bond them, it shows intent to kill.