Question(s) about male chinchillas.

[Jared]

Hi there! My girlfriend and I are the proud new owners of two adorable chinchillas! They've been cagemates for over a year at the rescue and they have a very large cage to play in.

My questions are as follows...

The cage they're currently in was the temporary residence of two female chinchillas. Upon arrival, these two male chins have been a bit aggressive, hair pulling, snikking, standing up and kacking at each other, etc. It seems to be very quick and fleeting however as one retreats higher up the cage. One of the chins seems to have claimed the bedding area, he keeps rolling around in it, eating it and sniffing constantly. My thoughts are that it's the scent of the females causing this behavior, is this correct?

Another thing I noticed is that the chin who is rolling around in the bedding and being the most aggressive also has swollen testicles and is making a constant "cooing" sound. At times it gets close to barking.

Would it be best for me to remove them from the cage and give it a super thorough cleaning to remove any scent of the females? Is that what's causing these two cagemates to fight and basically restrict one to the upper levels or is this just normal behavior when entering a new cage/area?

Thanks!

 

[feistychins]

Yes, I would advise to completely clean the cage and to put in all new bedding and fleece if the cage has any.

There will be the scent of the females that were previously living there and that can cause problems for the two males.