Introductions. Male or Female?

[iamlina]

We are getting a new cage soon for Pablo and we think he may like a friend in the future. We would be getting him neutered.
We think he's about a year old.
What would be the best thing to do.
Get a younger girl? Older girl? Younger boy? Older boy?

It wouldn't be for a while but i just want to be able to keep an eye out for rescues.

Lina x

[fliddie]

Hi Lina,

I think that if you are getting Pablo neutered then probably the easiest intro may be a female. However, that is not to say it will be easy at all!!! Mine took 3 months to pair up. Mine are a male- male pair, one highly strung chin aged around 4 and one very socially inexperienced chin aged 3 months. Neither of mine are neutered. It took a LOT of patience and time but was soooo worth it in the end. Kimberley who is on here occasionally also paired up her 2 un-neutered males, it took about the same amount of time for her.

Expect fur to fly but it is definitely 150% worth it as they are visibly SOOOO much happier with another chin for company when they finally accept each other. One of the ladies on here who has degus and chins has a 14 year old female chin who quite recently lost her female friend. The lady found another elderly female chin and those two had fully bonded on the drive home!!! So, it could be luck of the draw, maybe it is age related, maybe it is down to the individual temperaments.

I would say, one million per cent go for it with attempting a pairing but read loads of info about doing it, prepare for a long haul, move their cages closer gradually so that they get used to each other gradually and end up with the cages sitting side by side, just be very watchful for signs of stress or hearing distressed cries as stress can actually kill chins.

There is nothing more rewarding than seeing a previously lone chin cuddled up with another. Mine have domestics all the time but seem to make up fairly quickly and letting them out for a really good run around every night calms them down a bit!

x

[iamlina]

Yeah, i've read up about it and we are looking at getting a male. Are your two rescues? Where did you get them from? We are looking at ones from a woman who rescues called linda from leeds. She seems lovely =]

Thanks for the help. I hope they don't fight too much hahaha =]
x

[fliddie]

Is that Linda who is Susiechinchilla on here? She is lovely and soooo knowledgeable, I always hassle Linda for advice when I have questions with my two.

My Spyro was a (then) 4 year old ex show chin, the previous owners bought him when one of theirs died intending to pair him up with theirs. I dont know how they went about it but they decided he was too hostile and would always be kept as a lone chin. I dont think they had much time or attention for him and he seemed to be just left alone, then their other one died. They asked me if I would take Spyro in as they no longer wanted him. He was very bad tempered when i got him and highly aggressive towards anyone walking past the cage. However with rehousing him into a huge cage and giving loads of attention he is now a beautiful bouncy boy who enjoys / puts up with scratches under his chin and always comes to see me when i go in the room.

Vespa was a teeny tiny chin who i noticed in the Pets at Home adoption section. They knew nothing about him or his history. He was alone, cowering and terrified. He had fur pulled out, holes in his ears and scabs and dry skin. They had plonked him in with an older chin who attacked him. He was a real mess. It didnt help that kids were tapping on the glass which was frightening him even more. Vespa immediately stole my heart and the thought of leaving him there wasnt even an option. He had clearly had a very traumatic start to his life and I couldnt bear the thought of him being mauled by kids for the next 15 years of his life. The shop staff told me they thought he was 12 weeks old but I dont think that he was any more than 8 weeks old max. So he came home with me.

Vespa had no social skills at all with other chinchillas and took a long time to settle and come out of his shell. The first time Spyro tried to groom him Vespa freaked out and then when he finally started to understand what Spyro was trying to do, he tried to reciprocate and nearly tugged and chewed off Spyro's ear, bless him!! He got the hang of it in the end!

So, mine are not officially rescues but I kind of regard them as such as they have come so far and transformed their personalities from angry and terrified into (a little bit too!) confident, friendly and house demolition experts!

[iamlina]

Yeah, Pablo was quite aggressive to everyone but me at the sanctuary...everyone was scared of him lol.
Hes gorgeous now and LOVES chin tickles =]

I'm really not sure whether thats her =/ I met her on the ChinsRus forum when i started looking for a friend.
x