Chin intro: Its a miracle!! (finally!!)

[fliddie]

Oh my god, am soooo excited, after nearly 4 months of attempting to get my chins to get along, today we have had the breakthrough!!!!!

They finally fell asleep together in one cage today!!!!!!!! Soooooo excited!

For about 3-4 months now I have had them out and running around and they just ignored each other for the most part. Eventually after so long of no progress in that they didnt hate each other but just didnt really have any interest in liking each other I decided to put their cages together for a week, then I tried putting them together in spyro's cage. He was having none of it and was very territorial so a few days later I tried them the other way round.

Day 1: I tried him in Vespas cage, sectioning off just the top cage so they had to interact. After about 10 mins of both zooming around the cage Spyro groomed Vespa who just sat looking shell shocked (I think as Vespa was very young (probably borderline age of being away from his mum when I found him in P@H - altho they claimed he was 4 months - and he had been fighting and attacked by an older chin already, he may now lack some basic friendly social skills). Vespa then went on a mission to mount and dominate Spyro which was not well received. Both were then let out for a run.

Day 2 (yesterday): Spyro back in Vespas cage, again top cage sealed off for interaction. Spyro immediately groomed Vespa, Vespa again not too sure how to react. All quiet for about 20 mins then Vespa started mounting behaviour again and was told where to go by Spyro. Split up and both out for a run.

Day 3 (today): Spyro into Vespas cage but all 3 layers were left open. Spyro immediately groomed Vespa and bless him, Vespa seemed to get the hang of grooming him back!! Altho he did develop an obsession for concentrating on pulling and licking poor Spyros ears. Another attempt at mounting for a couple of mins by Vespa and it all quietened down again. No sound from there for 3 hours (I stayed in the lounge where I could watch them from a distance) and then....the miracle....:



Oh my god, they were asleep together!!!!!!!!! Until I went in and ruined it by waking them with my camera! Unfortunately the pic shows a marvelous set of cage bars and fuzzy half awake chins in the background but I didnt dare touch the cage for fear of distracting them from their peace! Am soooooo excited!!!!! I am finally going to be able to regain my bedroom by moving out a cage. Will either separate them again tonight or sleep in the bedroom with them for fear of anything happening but we are now nearly 5 hours down with just peace and quiet from them.

I just thank God that this worked. Two males with 4 year difference, one still a bit psychologically wobbly, two massive cages and a whole lot of patience and finally it looks like we are there!

[fliddie]

Well I got up every hour during the night and checked on them and slept so that I could hear any noise, nothing! They were together when I got up, no fur pulled or missing, no signs of any distress and they seem to have settled down quite well:




So, I have a question now: I want to soon put them both into Spyro's cage as it is a lot bigger than Vespas. During the intro phase Spyro was very territorial. If I leave them in Vespas cage for a week or so until they are completely settled with each other and then scrub down Spyro's cage to remove as much scent as possible, do you think that they will be strongly enough bonded by then for them to be moved without provoking any more territorial behaviour from Spyro and undoing this progress we have made?

[susiechinchilla]

Well done , they look very settled together

If you are wanting to get them into Spyros cage then personally I would look at replacing all the shelves, giving it a good wash down with a pet safe disinfectant and then put new shelves in so it is totally different to when he was in it alone

[fliddie]

I am going to completely disinfect it but unfortunately I dont have the money to replace all the shelves again. They cost me a fortune and my ex that got roped into putting them in will be less than happy to do it all again. I am hoping that by scrubbing them and disinfecting them the smell of him will be reduced and I thought perhaps if I take out Spyros stuff and put in Vespas toys and houses and things then it may help to reduce the territorialism?

Am possibly clutching at straws here but I have to get them both into the cage soon as Spyro is already looking very put out about being moved into a cage half the size with a demented youngster!

[susiechinchilla]

Hopefully a good disinfect and the toys from Vespas cage will do the trick

I know its tempting to move them back into the larger cage quickly but I would give them a week or so first honey just to be on the safe side , chins can be little so and so's at times

[fliddie]

yeah I was thinking of leaving them in the smaller cage for a week (its still a mansion by most chin standards), I cant summon the energy to clean it out properly until the weekend anyway.

They went out for their first run yesterday after pairing up. I kept them in for the first 2 days to try and establish a stronger bond. The run and going back into the cage together went without a hitch, so I am hoping that at the weekend when I put them back in the larger cage that will hopefully be fairly painless aswell! Thats the theory and blind hope, the reality may be different!!

[fliddie]

Well, I spent 2 hours cleaning the cage thoroughly and re kitting it with Vespas houses and toys and stuff, then I spent an hour catching them little b*ggers who did not want to come in from their run, after all of this I plonked them into the cage, no problem whatsoever from Spyro with respect to the possible territorial behaviours, problem came literally 2 minutes after being put in when Vespa found he could squeeze through the inch wide bars and was back out again!

I felt awful having to take Spyro out to put back into Vespas cage overnight as Spyro had been bouncing around his cage making his happy chattery noises (he is always talking to himself when he is happy), clearly delighted to be back in his old home.

So today I spent £30 on wire mesh to stick around the outside of Spyros cage to keep Vespa incarcerated!! Many injuries later and in a fair amount of pain, I am nearly done with attaching 6 metres of the stuff to the cage so once it is finished they are going back in tomorrow.

[fliddie]

Mwoohahahaha, Vespa has been incarcerated in the big cage now for 2 days, I won the battle!!!!!!!

[deguconvert]

What does he think of the bigger space?

[fliddie]

He is super happy bouncing around all the ledges, I have seen them twice huddled on top of each other sleeping which I didnt see them do in the other cage, in there they sat side by side and slept.

Spyro is absolutely delighted to be back in his other cage and Vespa is generally happy as long as he has his flying saucer wheel wherever he is! Am really happy to see them so content.

Have put Vespas cage up for sale before I fill it with more furries!

[susiechinchilla]

Good news that all's well in the larger cage . We need snuggly pics now