Playtime for two separate bonded pairs??

[e.murphy518]

Hi everyone!

Thanks to all of those who helped me out with my choice to get my two new additions to my chinny family I have a question that is a little bit premature, but I figured I would ask anyway. So I new have two separate bonded pairs of male chinchillas. The two new ones are currently in quarantine, but when it comes time to have them in the same room (assuming that all goes well) would it be a bad idea to have joint playtime? I am not planning on ever housing them together but I thought it might be fun to have a playtime with all of them together considering they are herd animals by nature. Let me know what you think!

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

What are your reasons for never housing them all together?

Joint playtime would require a very slow introductory phase, similar to introducing new chins to each other, and would require CONSTANT supervision. In a good chin herd everyone gets along and lives together, they are all, in a sense, bonded to each other. Putting chins together just for playtime that are not all bonded to each other is really risky and I would not recommend it. That being said, I don't have experience with trying it, so maybe some other forum goers could chime in?

 

[e.murphy518]

I would love to house them together but I have heard how hard bonding new chinchillas to an already bonded pair can be and if they lived together, I would not be around 24/7 watching their cage to be sure no fights start. With play time I would be there at all times when they have access to each other, if that makes sense

 

[GinChin]

What I believe Basket is trying to get at, is if you're going to let them have play-time together, they really should already be fairly well introduced to each other. Meaning, if you're already going through the steps, you may as well go the whole way, as it will make it easier in the end for their playtimes if they become cage-mates as well.