Hi, my names Jules and I have four Chinchillas.
I've been following this site for a while collecting advise and I thought it was finally time to get registered.
So, I have two females who are roughly a bit older than a year - Polly, Polystyrene (named after the lead singer in X-Ray Specs) and Nebula named after an interstellar space cloud. I've owned them since June last year and got them from Pets at Home. (which after buying chins I found out is probably not the best place to buy chins!)
Two males who are also roughly the same age as Polly & Nebs- Milk (named after Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American politician) and Barry - who has no name reference (he was named by my very imaginative partner). I've only owned them for 4/5 days. They're from a Pet Shop down my road which I had to buy them as they were living in such horrible conditions. (Being fed rabbit pellets, no available water, hay and bedding mixed together, sand bath constantly left in and worst of all in a tiny glass cage that i watched many kids constantly tap on to awake them during the day.)
Due to the spontaneousness of buying Milk & Barry there still not in the most spacious cage, but I promise they're being treated how they deserve to be and will eventually have a big cage.
The boys are currently kept at the bottom of my girls cage (I put up a divider). I do plan to expand the cage. The first night I brought them home my girls were curiously scratching at the bottom of the cage all night long being extremely loud. The second night, I decided to jump into the deep end and give them a run together as I think they were all frustrated that they could only smell each other and were being so loud in their cage all day, all night.
So they had their first run together and it was actually completely tame they were all sniffing each other curiously and by what i could tell happily... the second night the boys became a lot more confident in their new home and they're a lot louder.. a bit of play fighting and some hair pull.. now they all had their third run together last night and there was quite a lot of fighting... (no blood or injuring) but they spent a lot of their time 'barking' at each other... there was less hair pull than the previous night. but I'm worried I've maybe introduced them too soon and what I should do next? Or if these are just as they say teething problems and I should carry on.
The boys have about 30 mins play time as they're just getting used to it (at the shop the pet keeper told me he didn't know they needed play time, so i'm guessing they've never been able to run about.. they don't even jump yet! which is sad) and my girls have 2 hours depending on the day.
I think the main problem unfortunately lies in my more timid chinchilla, Polly - a couple of months ago she had a jumping accident and hurt her leg.. which actually bonded me and her a lot as she used to HATE being held and during the period where i had to give her medication and hold her instead of giving her a run (whilst nebula had a run) she actually became quite tame. Since the new chins have arrived she is extremely aggressive towards me and my partner which I understand may be because of change, but I'm wondering if our relationship will ever go back to what it was? Nebula seems content with the new boys - a bit skeptical but not too bothered where as Polly is constantly the one starting the 'play fights'
Anyway, sorry for the long post!
Really hope someone can give me some advise!
~~ Jules
I've been following this site for a while collecting advise and I thought it was finally time to get registered.
So, I have two females who are roughly a bit older than a year - Polly, Polystyrene (named after the lead singer in X-Ray Specs) and Nebula named after an interstellar space cloud. I've owned them since June last year and got them from Pets at Home. (which after buying chins I found out is probably not the best place to buy chins!)
Two males who are also roughly the same age as Polly & Nebs- Milk (named after Harvey Milk, the first openly gay American politician) and Barry - who has no name reference (he was named by my very imaginative partner). I've only owned them for 4/5 days. They're from a Pet Shop down my road which I had to buy them as they were living in such horrible conditions. (Being fed rabbit pellets, no available water, hay and bedding mixed together, sand bath constantly left in and worst of all in a tiny glass cage that i watched many kids constantly tap on to awake them during the day.)
Due to the spontaneousness of buying Milk & Barry there still not in the most spacious cage, but I promise they're being treated how they deserve to be and will eventually have a big cage.
The boys are currently kept at the bottom of my girls cage (I put up a divider). I do plan to expand the cage. The first night I brought them home my girls were curiously scratching at the bottom of the cage all night long being extremely loud. The second night, I decided to jump into the deep end and give them a run together as I think they were all frustrated that they could only smell each other and were being so loud in their cage all day, all night.
So they had their first run together and it was actually completely tame they were all sniffing each other curiously and by what i could tell happily... the second night the boys became a lot more confident in their new home and they're a lot louder.. a bit of play fighting and some hair pull.. now they all had their third run together last night and there was quite a lot of fighting... (no blood or injuring) but they spent a lot of their time 'barking' at each other... there was less hair pull than the previous night. but I'm worried I've maybe introduced them too soon and what I should do next? Or if these are just as they say teething problems and I should carry on.
The boys have about 30 mins play time as they're just getting used to it (at the shop the pet keeper told me he didn't know they needed play time, so i'm guessing they've never been able to run about.. they don't even jump yet! which is sad) and my girls have 2 hours depending on the day.
I think the main problem unfortunately lies in my more timid chinchilla, Polly - a couple of months ago she had a jumping accident and hurt her leg.. which actually bonded me and her a lot as she used to HATE being held and during the period where i had to give her medication and hold her instead of giving her a run (whilst nebula had a run) she actually became quite tame. Since the new chins have arrived she is extremely aggressive towards me and my partner which I understand may be because of change, but I'm wondering if our relationship will ever go back to what it was? Nebula seems content with the new boys - a bit skeptical but not too bothered where as Polly is constantly the one starting the 'play fights'
Anyway, sorry for the long post!
Really hope someone can give me some advise!
~~ Jules
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