First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for all of their advice && helpful posts. This site has been my "go to" reference guide since the day I got my first baby, Pompeii, last August. I have learned SO much from all of you && I truly appreciate you helping me keep my chins happy && healthy :)
I have three male chinchillas. We got Pompeii in August 2013 when he was 6 months old.. he is a standard gray male and is what I now consider to be an extreme alpha male. He is extremely sweet but is our little diva for sure lol
A few months later in October, my close friend asked me to adopt her 2 1/2 year old male chinchilla because she no longer had the time for him. I wanted Pompeii to have a friend && couldn't say no to that little face, so obviously we took him in. Kirby is an ebony tov beta male and the sweetest little guy ever. I was worried about him initially because his previous owner had been giving him the wrong food, barely any loose hay and let him run around in one of those "death balls" for hours! :( Since we have had him, he is down to a healthy weight and is absolutely in love with his Chin Spin wheel.
Like I said earlier, I religiously read this forum for advice and this was especially true when the time came to bond Pompeii and Kirby. After about three months (and many many hours of supervised play time, switching cages, shared dust baths and patience lol), we finally let him spend the night together in one cage. Of course I didn't sleep at all that night haha but luckily the next morning I walked in the room only to see them all cuddled up together. Ever since then, they have been inseparable.
A few weeks ago, I was approached by my fiancés sister and asked if I could adopt her chinchilla. She had just recently had a baby and she said she couldn't devote the time he needed anymore. She also has a 4 year old who would constantly rough handle him (unintentionally) and it just wasn't the right place for him anymore. Initially, my first instinct was to say no. We just recently moved about a month ago and I was terrified of disrupting my boys any further. After visiting him seeing him practically throw himself at me in his cage for attention(which is a one level rabbit cage btw) and seeing how he had barely anything to chew except a plastic castle, the wrong type of hay that was just thrown in his cage every so often, food that was filled with unhealthy treats instead of pellets and was located in a somewhat warm environment next to an air freshener plug in... I gave in lol. He is overweight and doesn't look like he's had a dust bath in a while. He was much to friendly and cute to be sold on craigslist to an owner with no knowledge about chinchillas. So yesterday, we picked up Peeve, a 2 year old standard gray male, and brought him home.
And so the process begins again... separate play times && more fleece linens to clean lol I know it will all be worth it in the end though.
So here's my question-- as far as starting the bonding process with two bonded chins and a single chin, how do you begin supervised introductions? would you suggest having them all meet individually or should Pompeii and Kirby both meet Peeve together during play time? I definitely am not going to rush this process but I'm not sure of the correct way to acclimate all of them. I'm so afraid that Pompeii and Kirby's close bond will be broken if Kirby accepts Peeve and Pompeii becomes jealous and resents that. Like I said, Kirby is a sweetheart and beta male and Pompeii, although sweet as well, is an extreme alpha with a very strong personality. I'm not sure about Peeve's personality yet, he is extremely friendly but I just hope his previous environment didn't make him defensive.
Also-- I have a very large Critter Nation cage with 3 units(original 2 unit cage with an add on unit). We just bought the add on unit because we were going to use that as a "stand alone" for a few months for Peeve. Stupid me didn't realize that the add on unit would not come with a top piece for the cage! haha so our options now are to just use his original rabbit cage for the time being or to have him blocked off in the add on cage on top of their cage. I know they're supposed to be side by side ideally so just wondering what you thought the best option would be.
Sorry for the ridiculously long post!
&& Thank you all again for everything!
Melissa
I have three male chinchillas. We got Pompeii in August 2013 when he was 6 months old.. he is a standard gray male and is what I now consider to be an extreme alpha male. He is extremely sweet but is our little diva for sure lol
A few months later in October, my close friend asked me to adopt her 2 1/2 year old male chinchilla because she no longer had the time for him. I wanted Pompeii to have a friend && couldn't say no to that little face, so obviously we took him in. Kirby is an ebony tov beta male and the sweetest little guy ever. I was worried about him initially because his previous owner had been giving him the wrong food, barely any loose hay and let him run around in one of those "death balls" for hours! :( Since we have had him, he is down to a healthy weight and is absolutely in love with his Chin Spin wheel.
Like I said earlier, I religiously read this forum for advice and this was especially true when the time came to bond Pompeii and Kirby. After about three months (and many many hours of supervised play time, switching cages, shared dust baths and patience lol), we finally let him spend the night together in one cage. Of course I didn't sleep at all that night haha but luckily the next morning I walked in the room only to see them all cuddled up together. Ever since then, they have been inseparable.
A few weeks ago, I was approached by my fiancés sister and asked if I could adopt her chinchilla. She had just recently had a baby and she said she couldn't devote the time he needed anymore. She also has a 4 year old who would constantly rough handle him (unintentionally) and it just wasn't the right place for him anymore. Initially, my first instinct was to say no. We just recently moved about a month ago and I was terrified of disrupting my boys any further. After visiting him seeing him practically throw himself at me in his cage for attention(which is a one level rabbit cage btw) and seeing how he had barely anything to chew except a plastic castle, the wrong type of hay that was just thrown in his cage every so often, food that was filled with unhealthy treats instead of pellets and was located in a somewhat warm environment next to an air freshener plug in... I gave in lol. He is overweight and doesn't look like he's had a dust bath in a while. He was much to friendly and cute to be sold on craigslist to an owner with no knowledge about chinchillas. So yesterday, we picked up Peeve, a 2 year old standard gray male, and brought him home.
And so the process begins again... separate play times && more fleece linens to clean lol I know it will all be worth it in the end though.
So here's my question-- as far as starting the bonding process with two bonded chins and a single chin, how do you begin supervised introductions? would you suggest having them all meet individually or should Pompeii and Kirby both meet Peeve together during play time? I definitely am not going to rush this process but I'm not sure of the correct way to acclimate all of them. I'm so afraid that Pompeii and Kirby's close bond will be broken if Kirby accepts Peeve and Pompeii becomes jealous and resents that. Like I said, Kirby is a sweetheart and beta male and Pompeii, although sweet as well, is an extreme alpha with a very strong personality. I'm not sure about Peeve's personality yet, he is extremely friendly but I just hope his previous environment didn't make him defensive.
Also-- I have a very large Critter Nation cage with 3 units(original 2 unit cage with an add on unit). We just bought the add on unit because we were going to use that as a "stand alone" for a few months for Peeve. Stupid me didn't realize that the add on unit would not come with a top piece for the cage! haha so our options now are to just use his original rabbit cage for the time being or to have him blocked off in the add on cage on top of their cage. I know they're supposed to be side by side ideally so just wondering what you thought the best option would be.
Sorry for the ridiculously long post!
&& Thank you all again for everything!
Melissa
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