male chinchilla unusual behaviour

[jane76]

hiya all,im asking advice on behalf of a friend,she had 2 males chins together in a cage which they were fine as they had always bein like that,but sadly one of them died which resulted in her other chin looking very unhappy,so she decided to get another one (male) and went through it all the right way and introduced them slowly for a while,then now they are in the same cage which them together are fine,shes had no problems what so ever no fighting between them,now the strange part her original chinchilla is normally very placid but whenever anyone goes near the cage,he goes from side to side making strange noises and if u put ur hand near the cage he will attempt to bite which he has never done,its like he protecting,but once cage is open and she puts her hand in theres not a problem hes fine again i just dont understand this myself and havin chins of my own ive never experienced anything like this so dont really know what to say,like i say they are gettin along fine together,seep huddled up together and everything
any help would be most appreciated

 

[Parkerspetchins]

I would make sure the sex of the chinchillas are both male, other than that I would just keep an eye out for any other odd behavior. It sounds like a protective behavior to me as well.

 

[Easterpiggy]

I agree I would check on the sex of the new chin. perhaps he is really a she and he is protecting his mate.