Your preferred method of introduction and why?

[Mikayla]

What is your favorite method of introduction, why do you like it and how do you do it? This has been discussed many time, I know, but I was curious about the numbers for each.

I have been putting off an introduction for about a month and this week, it must be done

 

[AZChins]

I tend to introduce the chins using a neutral cage space. Basically I scrub up a cage and put in new accessories so that it isn't anyone's territory. With more aggressive chins I will trim whiskers when I do this.

For more difficult chins I will introduce them by taking them for a car ride. I don't like smooshing them unless I absolutely have to do it. Smooshing them seems to just disorient them and they can go back to being aggressive after a short while. (Smooshing means putting them in a very small box, not just placing them in a carrier - some people's definition of this may be different.)

 

[Mikayla]

How much success do you have with this? I used it once, but both chins were quite laid back.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I usually start by just introducing the chinchillas. If one gets aggressive right off the bat I will clip their whiskers and vanilla extract their nose. Then, if fighting continues, I go to cage within a cage method. For me, this has been the most successful way to introduce chinchillas and keep them safe. Never EVER leave a new pair alone for more than five or ten minutes.

The playtime method is an accident waiting to happen.

Smoosh method has never worked for me, the aggressive chinchilla just bites whatever part of the other chinchilla it is touching. Smoosh method means they are in a confined space where neither can stand on two legs, and they should only have a small amount of space to turn around. This is supposed to make it so they can't fight and therefore must deal with each other.

I've also done the car ride and that has worked out very well as long as I have them in a small carrier. I prefer not to do this though as it's introducing trauma to a situation in order to form a bond and it can make the bond shaky. If they are going to be in the car anyways (like on a ride home from a show) I will bond them in the car on the way home.

 

[Mikayla]

Tab, by just introducing them do you just put them together in a cleaned out cage and then if they fight you use the cage within a cage method?

Also, have you ever had like ripped off toes or something with the CWAC method?

 

[RDZCRanch]

No ripped off toes, but a couple bitten noses. Generally you put the dominant chinchilla in the small cage until they get used to the submissive chin.

I just use a cage that neither has been in. It doesn't have to be devoid of all chinchilla smell, it just has to be free of either of the chins' particular smell. The intro "methods" are in place for IF the chinchillas don't get along. Most of the time when I intro chinchillas I do not have to use an intro method. You just can't put two chinchillas together and then leave the room expecting them to get along swimmingly. You have to be right in front of the cage, preferrably with the door partially open in case they do start a fight.

It's also a bit different when you intro a male and female. The chasing that is generally not ok between same sex pairs can be ok between opposite sex pairs. Opposite sex pairs, the male will want to mate with the female and if she doesn't want it a lot of chasing and some fur flying occurs. Usually you won't get wounds from this though and they settle after ten to twenty minutes.

The thing to keep in mind is that there are ALWAYS exceptions with chinchillas. When you intro two, you need to be diligent and you cannot leave them alone. For the first night I introduce a colony, I check on them periodically through the night after introing them early the morning before.

 

[Mikayla]

Leads me to a second question, how do you introduce colonies? (I'm sorry, intros terrify me)

I know that if they don't get along, they just don't, I can't change it. I just want a plan, and a back up plan and then a back-up plan for the back up plan.

 

[tunes]

I've been using cage within a cage for the last 9 years or so and have only had it fail me once. I intro colonies the same way I intro any other chins. Either I put them together and they work, or I use cage within a cage. With colonies it's a bigger cage so I use several show cages.

 

[chin_gal]

Maybe I've just always been lucky, but I've never had any problems with intros before, and I've done a lot of intros over the years. At first, before I knew any better, when I did an intro I just stuck them in a cage together and carefully watched them. This had just always worked. They scuffled like normal (over dominance), and then just settled down and were fine. But once I learned better, I started to use the smoosh method, and again, have always had success. That's all I use now, and it has worked for me each time I've used it. Over the 12 years that I've had chins, I've had multiple pairs, two trios (both trios had 2 of the same chins, just a different 3rd one), and even a group of 4. The only trouble I've ever had is fighting way down the line (I'm talking years) on a couple of occasions and having to separate. But I seriously doubt that has anything to do with how I introduce. Like I said, I might just be lucky, but I've never had a failed intro, and that's why I still stick with the smoosh method.

 

[FredEthel]

I'm new to Chins and we had surprise triplets after owing them only a month, so I have put dad next to mom and the kits, they will meet a couple times a day in the back corner of the cage. Dad was in the cage when mom gave birth and did not harm the kits but I removed him after only 6 hours or so, remember this was a surprise and I did not realize mom was pregnant (btw he was quite mad for a couple of days). I want to keep Dad away while Mom's in heat but realize she could already be pregnant by leaving him in the cage before and during the birth, but I would like to let him back in for short periods to keep him familiar with his kits, do you think this would be wise, I do not want him to harm the kits and also do not want to keep him away for 10 weeks so he does not accept his kits after a long period of seperation.

I figure in the wild this seperation would not be possible and dad would be in the nest daily checking on mom and the kits, so why keep him out of the picture until he is unfamiliar with his own family, it seems to me short bt regular visits would keep him in the loop. Please tell me your thoughts and more importantly your experiences.

 

[FredEthel]

BTW can someone tell me what the Smoosh method is?????

 

[tunes]

I figure in the wild this seperation would not be possible and dad would be in the nest daily checking on mom and the kits, so why keep him out of the picture until he is unfamiliar with his own family, it seems to me short bt regular visits would keep him in the loop. Please tell me your thoughts and more importantly your experiences.

Thankfully, they are not in the wild anymore where they are being hunted to extinction. Comparing chins kept captive in a cage to animals running wild on a mountain top is the same as comparing cars and elephants.

You separate them for the health of the mom. I don't care if dad gets estranged. I care if my females uterus' fall out because they have been bred to death. I can reintroduce my male. I can't reintroduce a uterus after a spay from prolapse or bring her back to life because she's been so depleted she can't recover. I have to look out for the welfare of my breeding females since they are stuck in a cage and can't escape the "attention" of the male other than if they get upset enough that they either beat him to death or he kills the female.

You also can't keep them one big happy family after they are of weaning age (10 weeks). If you have male and female offspring, they HAVE to be separated away from mom and dad. If you split them male/male and female/female with their parents, there should be no problem with dad. I do that frequently and dad gets along fine with his offspring.

There is an FAQ regarding different methods of introduction.

 

[Encantadora]

I generally introduce in a neutral play area where I can intervene. If no fights break out, I follow it by a car ride in a small carrier. After that, they go in a neutral cage and kept a close watch. This lasts an hour or more but works for me.

If they do fight I separate and try later or decide to try the less dominant with someone else. It's not worth it to mr to risk injury.

 

[Kenzie221]

It is my personal belief that with every chin, this will play out differently. I started with cage next to a cage, and gradually let them spend playtime together each day. Don't get me wrong, at first Sidd would chase Maya who would then fur-slip and that would be the end of playtime. They slowly became accustomed to each other, and when I made the big move, I let them out together for the first time. Because chins handle stress better together, such a change spurred the beginning of a wonderful(and adorable) friendship!

 

[SeeleyAnne]

The playtime method is an accident waiting to happen.

Why is that? I am going to be introducing a pair sometime soon, so I need all the help I can get!

 

[SeeleyAnne]

Also- one more question. Why would you want to trim whiskers if one is aggressive? Does it make them more docile temporarily? What is the purpose of it?

 

[RDZCRanch]

Playtime is not a calm and safe environment. The chins are moving and investigating and not interested in trying to form a bond with the other chinchilla. Usually it results in one chin being too hyper and pissing off the other chin who then beats up on the first chin. It is not a safe introduction.

Whisker length is a dominance characteristic. If you remove the whiskers, it essentially knocks the chin off the top of the totem pole. It also gets them a little disoriented which makes them seek out the other chinchilla for comfort.

 

[SeeleyAnne]

Playtime is not a calm and safe environment. The chins are moving and investigating and not interested in trying to form a bond with the other chinchilla. Usually it results in one chin being too hyper and pissing off the other chin who then beats up on the first chin. It is not a safe introduction.

Whisker length is a dominance characteristic. If you remove the whiskers, it essentially knocks the chin off the top of the totem pole. It also gets them a little disoriented which makes them seek out the other chinchilla for comfort.

That's really interesting! Thank you for your help!

 

[chechinchillas]

I do one large cage with a divider in the middle for a week. Every couple of days I switch the sides they are on. After a week I take out the divider, clean the cage and give them a dust bath together.