New little one, introduction questions, etc!

Hey all! I have to make this fast because I'm posting from work. Sorry it's kind of long but I didn't have time to edit it or make it make more sense haha!



This weekend I adopted a rescue chin from the San Diego Humane Society, the last male from that big ranch bust several weeks back. We named him Bean and he is doing pretty well. They had a deal on double FN cages so we got one, and right now Bubs is in his old cage in the living room, while Bean is in the FN in the dining room. They can see each other but they don't seem too fussed that the other is there (they're a good 20-25 feet away from each other but we're in an apartment so they can't be in separate rooms).



So we're going to quarantine Bean for 30 days before introducing him to Bubs, but in the meantime I have some questions!

1. Bean is TINY. The ranch kept good records of birthdates etc, and supposedly his bday is 5/10/2012 so he should be almost 2.5 years old, but he seriously looks like a baby. His medical records say he weighs 400g which doesn't seem that small, but he looks like a baby with his teeny tiny ears and tail. Is it possible he is actually a juvenile and his records were misplaced? Or is there a wider size variation in chinchillas than I realized??


2. Bean is extremely skittish and barks/spazzes when the cage is opened or if we make any sudden moves. It's totally understandable given that in the last 2 months, he's been moved to 2 new locations, poked and prodded by countless potential adopters, and unnecessarily neutered :( plus, if he really is 2, maybe he's been bullied since he's pretty runty. At SDHS they said he likes to be held while the cage is cleaned or while anything else stressful is going on. Apparently he spazzes a ton when you try to grab him, but once you get him, if you hold him close he relaxes and will stay calmed down for a while even after you put him back in the cage (we observed this at SDHS with one of the handlers). Sooo, I have no idea if right now I should be leaving him alone, letting him get his bearings and feel in control, etc, or if it'd be better to try to pick him up and comfort him. What are your thoughts?


3. I read somewhere that it's best to have a neutral cage option when it comes time to put the 2 chins in the cage together, but we only have 2 cages. Should I be restricting Bean to half of the double FN so that the other half stays neutral smelling for Bubs? Bubs is in a suboptimal rabbit cage so we'll be moving him into the FN at the end of the 30 days, even if they have to stay separated in there.


4. What general timeline do you guys recommend for me and my boyfriend to bond with Bean? Again, should we be leaving him alone completely? At what point should we be trying to pick him up etc? We'll need to clean his cage soon (his poops are like tiny mouse poops compared to Bubs', hahaha). So far, I mostly just talk to him in calm tones, approach the cage slowly, avoid sudden movements or noises, and try to let him sniff my fingers occasionally. He's relaxed enough that he now doesn't flip out when I'm in the room doing stuff, and he'll even stay quiet when I open the cage to give him food etc, but if I reach toward him he bolts.

Of course I've attached a couple pics for y'all. :) I'll probably reply to this thread with more questions and stuff but for now I have to get to work! Thanks for any tips or ideas!!

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