Update on Misty/Maggie

[randomname]

    She's in her new home at last!


She has been in for a couple of days, seems very happy. We just put her old cage against the new cage with the doors open, she went in herself. We let her have the option of going back to her old cage, but she showed no interest. She did a couple of circuits of the new cage, worked out where everything was, then made herself at home. I expected her to be scared or wary, but she really wasn't. She was cautious, but keen to explore & nothing phased her. She is an amazing little lass really, such an outgoing, curious old lady. Her spirit is amazing. Have already got a soft spot for her. Have had to stop saying Misty, or Minnie appears like a ghost behind me! Tried Emily, but she didn't respond. Tried Maggie (amongst others) & settled on that - close enough she responds, not close enough to summon barky dog. I don't think Misty/Maggie cares, as long as she gets fed!


 she really likes to doze here for some reason. 


she loves her ledges emily! tell Cal thank you so much

she also likes to sleep on top of her igloo, much like Dave the chin & BB the degu did in the past. I keep seeing her on there, but couldn't get a picture. Got evidence though

She likes to snooze on top of her hut, haven't seen her use it but she will. She LOVES the bendy wood log den thing & the wheel, but I need to lift the wheel an inch or so up because it's rattling. 

She's still getting her sand bath 24/7, you can see her fur is much much better. The face, top of her head & down her spine has changed colour completely! Have checked her feet, they're fine. Her underside is pretty good, better than I expected. Only really bad area is around her bum/under her tail, is very orange/yellow with wee. Am sure it'll get better like the rest, but it'll take time. I haven't seen her fur chewing, but her fur is still lumpy round her back legs. 

Her poops have trebled in size! She LOVES dried forage, especially dandelion & nettle. She isn't having any problems with food or drink. Love feeding her, she's really keen to dig through the forage & hay to find some crispy leaves. 


Sir Patrick doesn't care about her unless she's inches away from him, so have put some cardboard between the cages. Sir Ian is more vocal about his protests,  but has allowed me to put her cage next door if the cardboard is there.  

They could go talk to each other at the bottom of the cage, but haven't seen them do it, or any guarding or aggressive behaviour there. Am going to leave it for now, see if they want to interact. There's a gap of around 20cm between cages, so they can't nip each other. Hopefully the guys will settle soon. She's totally nonplussed, doesn't care at all. She's a stoic little fluffball, love her squidgy little face already

[deguconvert]

WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL! I'm so THRILLED for you and Maggie. She looks so different!! I wonder if that means she would have a different colour description than originally? What a sweet little love she is!!

Her cage looks AMAZING! So good to see her enjoying the things from Emily and Cal. Has she used the wooden cube as well?

Have to say I love the fuzzy pink and white cube as well.

[Emziedee]

Oh just look at your baby girl 😊 I can feel the love you have for her and it's so heart warming. 💗

What a beautiful palace she has! Absolutely love that bubblegum pink wheel, stripey hut and the wooden bits Cal made. She looks so cozy!!!

[randomname]

I don't know if she's been inside her house DC, but she likes to sleep on top of it. When she was in the small cage, she spent all her time in the igloo bed, but since going into the Aventura she has been sleeping all over the place. It's weird, she didn't sleep in the open in the small cage. I don't know if that's good or bad?

I think she may be part chameleon with her changing colour! She's definitely a lot darker overall. Her ears are 100% normal now too. They were dry & crusty & yellow before, are now a healthy freckly pink

Haha G&T, I always try not to get so attached, but it's impossible! They all worm their way in I have no idea why it's all pink (except the wheel was £10 off) but she's the first to get an all girly cage here. I hate it, Barbie pink is the worst! Am planning on decorating her hut with pink paint though....

I feel like we have a much better bond now. I never expect to be able to pick up or cuddle anyone, it's always a nice surprise if they let me. As far as I'm concerned, it's enough that she comes to the front of the cage to say hi, doesn't run away when I speak to her & she'll take food from me. That's not bad in a couple of weeks. I can't see any indication that she's unhappy, overwhelmed or stressed with all these changes, she's settled in beautifully. I don't think anything could crush her spirit. Mighty Maggie

[randomname]

UPDATE

So, there has been a cardboard barrier between Dame Maggie's cage & the boys' for the last week, due to the boys' being super-sensitive actor types & barking at her. The cages are the same, so obviously now she's much more on eye level than before. I noticed that over the week the boys were much quieter.
Today I was cleaning & moved the barrier. No one reacted, so I left it out. Have been listening out for any disturbance, but it's been quiet all day.
I just went in to spy on them, found Dame Maggie on top of her hive/bed thingy with her head hanging over the edge looking all wistful & staring (if that's possible in a blind chin?) at Sir Ian (who was the most vocal) sitting on a ledge in exactly the same position in their cage. They were in the place closest to each other that they could reach. They were both snoozing/chilling - was so cute. Wish I could've got a 'photo. There is maybe around 30cm between them so they obviously can smell each other & better get to know each other.
Sir Patrick was much more chilled but he wasn't anywhere near the others.

Am so happy, was worried I'd upset the boys permanently. Maybe they can be friends after all. I know the degus & Dame Maggie often interact & are very curious about each other, it's nice to see.

She's still doing well with eating & her fur gets a tiny bit better every day. I really have zero worries about her & her place in the family now. We 100% did the right thing bringing her here.

Also, I loooooove her

[randomname]

forgot to ask darthchinchi - is there any danger to moving the cages up against each other later on if they continue to get on well? I mean, I know there can be toe nips & stuff, but I would wait until I was sure they weren't fighting. Do you think they would maybe fight sometime anyway? It's not worth the risk to Dame Maggie, if the boys bite her toes off I'll never forgive myself. I just think it would be nice if she could get a bit of communal grooming, she looks lonely. Also don't want a prison baby so I need to know if they can/would mate through the bars?!
Or do you think maaaaaayyyyyybeeeee it might be worth looking for a friend to keep her company at some point? Genuinely think she is displaying behaviours that seem to me to be a longing to be with the boys or have a friend of her own. Maybe it's just me, but I want to make sure I don't dismiss the idea because it's easier not to try/am too scared to try & she misses out on what she needs.
Hmmm don't know.

[darthchinchi]

As you mention yourself randomname toenip might occur as it's the only thing they can get hold of. It can actually kill them (I've lost one on that account), as the wound can get infected and it goes to the bone very quickly.
If they can groom chances are they can mate as well.
They are not really group animals. If you feel like a friend would be a good thing, then go get a friend. I would advise against keeping them in groups though. If something goes wrong you might end up with a whole group of animal hating each other. It seems like the more animals people have, the better are the chances of keeping some of them in a harmonious group. 3-4 is too few animals to try this out imo.

So either look for a female or a neutered male.
My lone chinchilla doesn't mind being alone (I have a hard time paring her with others). If you keep the cages apart so that they can't touch but can see and smell each other, it does look like it stimulates their social behaviour.

[randomname]

Thanks darth, I was thinking the same thing really. I don't think it's worth the risk putting her right next to my boys. Maybe i'll think about getting her a friend to live with in the future. I'd have to find a really really mellow or super old one I think, she wouldn't cope with an energetic youngster or boisterous type personality. I guess it's just a matter of keeping my eyes open for a suitable friend, which could take years.

Has been 24 hours since I removed the barrier. The boys are just acting normal, zero problems. I think I can leave the barrier down now. Will be keeping an eye on them all, interested to see what, if any, changes in behaviour there will be.

[moletteuk]

I know I'm a bit late, but just wanted to say how wonderful it is that she has taken to her new cage so well and is settling in so well and improving all the time, just brilliant I'm sure your experience and sensitivity to her particular needs has made all the difference in achieving this so quickly

I wonder if having other relaxed prey animals around her has helped her feel safe?


@darth so pairs of chins or larger groups work better than groups of 3 or 4?

[darthchinchi]

moletteuk no, not really.
Pairs or alone work best imo. It you have a lot og animals (20+ i would think), it looks to be easier to make a group work. How many should be in that group is the question. I don't know if I've mentioned this on here before. It's kind of like with bunnies and the colonies but they are more social than that, and yest less social than say degus.
The risks of having a group is, if they get mad at each other, you can't really re introduce them. It's not just a question of a shift in who's the dominant animal, they can literally end up hating each other.

When I say group it's anything above 2 animals

[deguconvert]

Degus can end up hating each other as well, to the point that there can be no reintroduction. There have been cases of degus that absolutely had to be on their own because they killed any others they met . . . a rare case but it has happened. I cannot say for chinchillas what they do or do not need for companionship, but we do put a lot of emphasis on doing what we can to provide a companion(s). We don't make this an unbreakable law, because we know that there are SO many different things that go into introductions that cannot be controlled.

It is interesting the similarities and differences there are between chins and degus.

[darthchinchi]

One major difference is chinchillas live in colonies rather than social groups. As far as we know anyway. When they were first brought down from the Andes, they were placed in polygam systems where the females did not share cages but a male could access several cages. Females do have a tendency to be aggressive twoards each other.

People do breed them to become more social, personally I don't mind selling to live alone. Most live just as well alone as they do in couples. Some only thrive in couples or alone.

But they are notorious for being hard to pair up as grownups. It's not uncommon for them to get mad enough at each other for it to be impossible to ever house them together again.

[deguconvert]

So . . . a colony is not always the same as a social group?

[darthchinchi]

A colony is a collection of animals that benifit from the awareness of the group rather than being social. You can have smaller social groups within a colony but the colony is not social in itself.
Making sense?
Kind of like what you would expect from a bird colony where each pair takes care of their own nest and chicks, living within the colony, but rarely being social with the other pairs.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(biology) good example with a bat colony

[darthchinchi]

Side note: most of the literature describe chinchillas (especially females) as having their own territory within the colony. I'm not 100% sure about this tbh... When the Cecil lion thing went viral, Amy from SWC estimated there's about 20 times more wild lions than chinchillas, so kind of hard to study larger colonies (so her estimate was about 2000 in '15)