vendredi 15 septembre 2017

Potential cagemate issues?

I have to admit, and this is my fault, I got two chinchillas on the basis of knowledge that "they like companions." I had heard that some chinchillas just don't get along and don't like cagemates, but I was under the impression that as long as they were properly introduced and seemed okay, they'd be okay forever. Now, I know better in that regard. But I'm getting paranoid about whether or not my boys are getting along. They were introduced at the rescue/breeder I got them from and seemed to be living together great prior to me picking them up. I've had them for a month now.

My two boys (5 month mosaic and almost 8 month beige) have been doing the usual dominance mounting, and from what I've seen, the most that happens is one tries to mount the other and one being mounted will usually just run away. Both boys do it to each other, and only occasionally when the mosaic is being mounted, he'll voice his displeasure before running.

But I've also been noticing that the mosaic is biting the fur in the backside area of my beige. My beige doesn't care or notice, and half the time the mosaic bites for a few seconds, and then rolls over and pillows his head on the base of my beige's tail. The boys groom each other pretty regularly, so I don't know if he's just trying "fluff up" the beige's fur before laying down for his nap?

The beige does have TINY tufts of fur sticking out, but I thought he was maybe priming because he had a couple of them further up on his body which have since gone away (and his fur in that area looks lovely), and they're all mostly on his backside now.

The worst I've seen is the mosaic get upset and nip at the beige's nose. It just happens once, like he's telling him to get out of his face, and then they run away from each other or just kind of separate on the ledge.

Are these warning signs that I might need to separate them?


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