Chinchillas that didn't grow up together may not get along upon first being introduced. This might surprise some people since chinchillas are sociable in the wild.
However, all is not lost. It is possible to get two chinchillas used to each other's company. When we were introducing two chinchillas from different breeders we used a tried and proven technique. We put the newer chinchilla in a spare cage we had. We kept our older chinchilla in her original cage. We kept the two cages side-by-side so that chinchillas could see and smell each other at all times.
Then, every night we would let each chinchilla out of her cage for a period of time, but never both at the same time. We left it up to each chinchilla to approach the other. Of course, with the cage bars in between them, there was no fear that they would hurt each other.
After a week or two, we allowed both chinchillas to leave their cages at the same time. The first few times we did this, the chinchillas would chase each other which we stopped as quickly as possible.
Again, a week or so after releasing both from their cages we noticed that there was less chasing and less fighting. The number of "incidents" continued to decrease over time. About 3 to 4 weeks into the process, we moved the newer chinchilla into the older chinchilla's cage. They slept in the same box, shared the same water bottle, and ate from the same dishes.
And as further proof that this system works, we repeated everything again with a third chinchilla with same results.
We believe in providing as complete information as possible, so we want to also make you aware of the neutral zone technique. Those that use the neutral zone technique actually disagree with the approach we described. We leave it up to you decide which approach to take.
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September 4th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Hi, i have a male chin that is about 7 months old.He is with us 5 months.Since last 4 weeks we tryin' to introduce another male chin(beige-10 months)For a first week we keep them in a 2 seperate cages side by side and let them out of cages one after another.After week we decided to let them go out together.First time my first one attacked the new one, but day after the new one keep chasing my first chin everytime theyre both outside their cages.And it is not just chasing (fur from my very first one was everywhere).Since that we tried to use a vanilla drops(put a drop into a nose of each other to make them smell the same), we were trying to flip the new one upside down to let our first one to smell his belly etc. just to let him know then there is nothing to worry about, our first chin never bites.Yesterday after 4 weeks of letting them out together and living in seperate cages side by side new one still chasing and attacking my first one.What should i do now?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:17 am
Hello,
My wife and I got a young chinchilla last year and named her Aquila. She was always really sweet and treated us immediately like family. We were so pleased, that after a while we decided to get another chinchilla to keep her company because we thought that it would be the best thing and so, a couple of months ago, we brought Nimbus home. I was foolish and I immediately put Nimbus into Aquila's cage. I hadn't done enough research and I didn't realize that chinchillas needed so much time to learn to acclimate themselves to each other. So, immediately there were spats. We removed Nimbus at once, of course, and put her in her own cage but we kept the cages close together. We've since done a lot of research and have tried lots of suggestions for helping the chinchillas learn to like each other, but it hasn't seemed like anything has helped. In fact the opposite has happened. The fighting has seemed to increase. We try to moniter them closely and we try to give them time together to get them used to each other, but to no avail.
What can we do?
Please please help.
David and Becky
August 9th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Hi,
I got a female baby chinchilla as company for my nearly 2 year old female chinchilla and after a few days they wern't fighting or anything through the bars (the big one just ignores the little one) so i put them on the floor. they were ok but the big one seems to chase the little one just abit and the little one jumps all over the place so i don't know if they are fighting or just playing. there is no noise really maybe a low like clicking noise but i don't no when i should put them in the cage together as i'm afriad the big one might hurt the baby i'm also afriad they will never make friends because of the age diffrence! Please help i want to make sure my chins make friends!
July 13th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Maddie,
Introducing chinchillas can easily take a few weeks. Ours started of fighting before they finally settled in together. Move slowly and be as patient as possible. I wouldn't let them run around together for a little while since they're starting off so hostile. Good luck!
July 12th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Hi. I have a question. I have one female chinchilla and shes about one and a half years old. I recently bought another female. The new one is still a baby and is very social. My problem is that my older chinchilla has never been very social and introducing them is concerning me because the older one tries to run out and attack the little one. I have them in one large cage that is seperated in the middle so they cant get at eachother. Its only been a few days but I am worried if the age and size difference is going to be an issue.