New chinchilla's are not interested in old one

[RebelMonster]

Hi everybody, it's been a long time since the last time I was here.
I used to have 2 chinchilla's, Dribbel and Dommel, unfortunately my little Dommel passed away on may 1st of this year. His brother was alone from that moment on. Dribbel is 8 years and 3 months old now.
Last sunday we got 2 new chinchilla's. Also 2 males, one is 3 months old the other one is 9 months old. They are getting along just fine.

The breeder told me that I should have to cages facing towards each other.
My husband built an entire new chinchilla villa for the 2 new boys, and the idea was that eventually Dribbel would be in that cage as well.
After the 2 little ones seemed to be ok in their new cage, I put the cages towards each other. Dribbel was very interested, he kept jumping in his cage, going to the bars, looking at the young ones. Not agressive (in my opinion) just very, very interested. No barking, no urine spraying. He bit the cage bars a few times but mostly when the young ones were walking in front of him.
Everything seemed fine.

Yesterday Dribbel hadn't eaten so much. The new chinnies are not interested in him at all. They don't come to the bars to sniff him. Maybe they are itimidated, I don't know.
I have never ever introduced chinchilla's to new chinchilla's since Dribbel and Dommel were brothers and doing fine together. I am so worried that they won't get along or that Dribbel will be agressive.

What does a normal introduction look like? How do I know they are fighting for real or just establishing dominance? I am very worried that when I put them together in a couple weeks they start fighting since the newbies don't make an effort to get used to Dribbel. Is it normal if there is for instance loud squeeking and hair loss? Like fur slip? Or is that a sign that things are going downhill?

Sorry for all these questions. I am just very worried that something bad is going to happen.

 

[Amethyst]

For future reference, you should quarantine new chins for a month before they are even in the same room. That way if the new guys are carrying something they don't pass it on, and it allows the new ones to get use to you and you to them.

Also I would advise against trying to bond all three, some people have had luck, but more often then not the out come is needing 3 separate cages because even the current two no longer get along. Another possibility is that you end up with one of the new guys bonding with the current chin but the other not so you end up with a pair and single any, just differently set up. Or you could end up with two chins beating up the single one, it just adds more risk then bonding one to one. A much better idea would be to just go as far as having play times together if they get along and have the cages near each other so they can chat. Dribbel gets the benefit of having friends without the need to worry that the other two will kill him (or him them) when caged together. In the end though they are your chins, and if you want to try then try, you may be one of the lucky ones.

Ignoring each other when trying to bond chins is actually not always a bad sign, no reaction is better then an aggressive one. Lack of interest in a chin in a next cage can also be taken as they just don't perceive him as a threat, unless they are actively avoiding the area of the cage nearest his. Signs of a fight would be extensive barking, loud squeals, excessive chasing, fur pulling and biting. Some chasing will happen, but once they catch up they shouldn't be pulling fur out or anything like that. Also some mounting will happen too, they are just establishing who is boss, and should stop once they sort it out, and again it shouldn't involve biting or fur pulling. Most males can't really spray, at least not like females, they just kinda rear up and dribble. If blood is drawn though it's best to at the very least back up to the beginning again and try again in a month or two. If they draw blood once it's very likely they will do it again, and may seriously hurt or kill the next time, so some people feel it's best to not try bonding those chins anymore ever after that. Not trying to scare you just trying to let you know the reality.
The best thing you can do for bonding them together though is take it slow, you have to go at their pace not yours. So it could take months before they get along, or they could get on right away. As to the actual bonding method, there is no one way fits all, doing a search on the forum here should give you several different methods to try. There are also threads specifically about bonding 3 chins somewhere here too.

 

[Dreamlite]

ignoring him isnt a bad sign. Not all chins like to cuddle with their buddies. At this age the way the older chin reacts to them is the most important. Just a note if you get them to live together, when they go through puberty they may pick on or fight with each other so its a god idea to keep a close eye on them. I have had good luck bonding groups but it requires a lot of monitoring and not being afraid to go back a step. Slower is always better.

 

[tunes]

At that young of an age, I would give an introduction a try. If you were talking about three five year old chins, I might hesitate, but I would try with these guys. If it was me, I would trim their whiskers back really short (not the baby, the bigger two), rub some of the bedding from both cages all over them, then put them together with a bunch of hay, toys, and dust baths and see what happens. Make sure there are individual areas for the to retreat to (houses or tubes) they can get a break if they need to. Pay special attention to the baby. He is the one that will most likely get hurt if trouble starts.

As far as normal introductions go, watch for signs of pulled or missing fur. There might be a bit of hiding, but not to the point where a chin won't come out of his/her house to eat. Monitor eating habits. Sometimes chins will intimidate other chins to the point where they won't eat because they won't let them near the bowl. Trimming the whiskers should help with the dominance issues, but some humping may occur. As long as it isn't excessive and the humpee isn't being traumatized by it, it's okay.

 

[RebelMonster]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Yesterday for the first time Dribbel made some noises, not that loud. I don't think there was a response from the little ones yet but they also make noises (and Dribbel is not responding).
Dribbel was very calm yesterday, he was just sitting in his cage, (i have small wooden steps or leap ledges at the cagebars) on kinda the same level as the new ones were.
The one ones (Gizmo, the 3 month old and Stix the 9 month old) are not avoiding the area where Dribbel is.
Dribbel seems to be wanting to be with them so much but could that be for the wrong reasons? (like, hey buddies, i wanna kill you...?!)

Gizmo and Stix are still skittish and jumpy (offcourse they are) and tend to squeel sometimes when one is grooming another. I am worried that when Dribbel is mounting them, and offcourse he will, they will squeel and I don't know the difference between being afraid or a real attack.
Fur slip is also normal when they are mounted? Or not?

And trimming the whiskers, I have never heard of it, is it not harmful? Do they grow back?
Thanks so much for educating me on this topic

 

[tunes]

It's just hair. It doesn't hurt them and yes it grows back. For whatever reason, it tones down the dominance issues. It doesn't last forever, but by the time they grow back they are either friends or not. Mounting shouldn't cause fur slip unless the one doing the mounting is tearing it out. I have breeding pairs and the only time I see fur in the cage is if there is an issue.

 

[RebelMonster]

Thanks, will definately keep that in mind and try if necessary.

Last night, Dribbel was constantly at the same level as the other boys, and at one time Stix approached Dribbel, very gentle, very calm. They didn't really put their noses together but were really close, both pulling back and almost touching a few times.
My husband said ''Dribbel was trying to bite Stix'' but I'm not sure. He just put his nose trough the bars but I don't think he was actually trying to bite. Stix kept coming back to Dribbel, very curious but also a bit scared it seemed.
To me it looked like Dribbel was doing a bit of nibbling, like he also does on my hand and fingers....Is this a sign of agression?