Territorial about the water bottle and wheel

[TheKelleys]

We have 2 lovely chinchillas. They live in a critter nation cage, have wonderful toys they love and now have their own water bottles. One one of them recently became very territorial over the water bottle and the wheel. They eat together and sleep on top of each other and get along in all other situations. We recently had to get a separate water bottle and that solved that issue, however, it would be a bit expensive to get a second flyin saucer wheel. Luckily, they have completely separate personalities so one of them doesn't go near the wheel very often, but will occasionally out of curiosity the other chin gets fired up and chases the other away! Why is she so territorial and how do we react to this?

 

[Amethyst]

It's very common for chins to be territorial over food and water. It's generally advised to have one water bottle and one food bowl per chin. I have a double FN for my two boys and have a food bowl, water bottle, and hay holder on top and bottom. I had a pair once where the female almost killed the male because she prevented him from eating or drinking, I didn't realize it until the male collapsed and had to be rushed to the vet. Back to your issue though, so long as the chasing doesn't lead to a fight I wouldn't worry too much about the wheel. If you really feel bad just take the dominate one out alone to allow the other one to use the wheel some. However if the chasing leads to a fight (fur slips, blood, etc.) you'll want to look into separating them since chinchillas can and do fight to the death.
The sudden change could be just growing up if the two are young, their personality can change as they go from baby to adolescent to adult.
I thought I read in another post of yours that you separated the male and female, so I assume these are 2 different female chins you have? Females from my experience tend to be more territorial then males anyway, in the wild the females stay in separate territory groups and the male's territory covers several female territories.

 

[TheKelleys]

Yes we have 2 females now!