New two chins meet my old...

[chinnychinchinchilla]

I would still have an extra cage on hand incase the two males fight, they still might even though the female is seperated from them. As I HOPE you know, chinchilla fights can get deadly quick, and if they both survive it will still cost you a lot, financally: the injuries, emotionally: taking care of the injured chins. Make sure you keep a VERY close eye on them and seperate if as soon as you notice aggression, or else you can be waking up to this: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14364
Thank you for seperating the female from the males, they most definitelly would have fought then.

 

[Brittany]

You can't tell when chinchillas are in heat. They don't bleed like a dog or do anything, really, different than normal. And if you haven't noticed by now, very few of us cover things in daisies and roses when it comes to the health and safety of chins. Make sure the female has a baby-safe cage, and start a baby watch because she could very well be already pregnant. Also, make sure you have another cage on hand just in case the males decide to fight, regardless of having separated the female, or in case a chinchilla is sick since you didn't quarantine, either.

And FYI, not all rabbit foods are horrible for chinchillas. Many of us feed quality rabbit feeds to our chins.

Hey Moose, I don't see anything in this post that is trying to be argumentative, or make it seem like you are a bad owner. Maybe you're reading too much into it? Since you had a question about something as serious and simple as houseing 2 males and a female together I see this post as just giving you some helpful advice. ANY person who's had a male/female together needs to have a baby safe cage and keep an eye on the female for 111 days. Babies are running around like crazy within an hour of birth. So for their safety it's not smart for you (or any of us) to wait and get a cage after they're born. Also, any grouping of chinchillas (no matter how long they've been together) can start fighting to the death at any time for any reason. So when you're owning bonded chinchillas you (or any of us) must have a second cage on hand (or at the very least a travel carrier) incase you have to separate at a moments notice. Fighting chins won't wait for their owner to run out to the store and buy an extra cage. As an example I own 3 chins and at the moment I have 5 cages and 3 carriers with room for 5 chins. I have more then enough room for my animals and some extra space if I ever need to take in a rescue or loan equipment out to a friend. It's also a fact that chins get sick. Regardless of quarenting your animals or not, any one of them could get sick at any time. It is important to separate them at the first sign of illness to minimize the chances of spreading the illness to your other animals. This is just another example of why it is necessary to have an extra cage or two on hand. Ash's comment about the feed is also correct. There are some feeds for chinchillas (like charlie's chinchilla, kaytee, and several others) that are complete CRAP even though they're chinchilla food. It is the content of the food that matters. It is commonly excepted that some chinchilla feeds and some rabbit feeds have the nutritional value that chins need. I'm not going to list them all, there are plenty of other threads for that. If you want to give your chins a chin specific feed Oxbow, Mazuri, and Traditions are pretty easy to find, and they are very good feeds. Now I hope you didn't find my post argumentative, or feel like I'm calling you a bad owner, because I'm not. I just said the same thing that Ash said, and I tried to explain it as thoroughly as possible so that you would understand that this is common chinchilla knowledge, not me trying to call you a bad owner. It is my sincere hope that you continue learning and asking questions on the forum. I've owned my pets for several years and I'm STILL learning new stuff everyday.

I didn't come here to argue. I am new to owning more than one chinchilla and don't think that you have to say things in a way that makes it sound like I'm a terrible, irresponsible, owner.
I care about animals a lot, and no one knows me of course because this is the internet.
I can understand the need for people to express how dangerous this is and HONESTLY I didn't know they would freak out...hence I posted this thread.
Therefore, I'm not really sure why someone would post something in a way that sounds like I am just not a good owner.
I would much rather someone post things on here asking for help than just guessing...
And with that said I wouldn't write posts in a way that sound mean because all I needed was advice and tips on owning more than one chinchilla.
As far as the food goes, everyone has their preferences. I prefer chinchilla pellets. And the cage they were in was terrible...anyway...if you saw the cage and what they were being fed...you'd agree it was disgusting...
But regardless, I said thank you. So thank you.