Email from A Chin Owner - Paw Talk

*Christi* · #1 03-09-2002, 10:20 PM

A couple nights ago I got the following email:

I have owned a chinchilla (Oliver) for three years now. This past
January 2002 I bought a female chin (Ginger). At first Oliver did not get along with her but eventually as the weeks went by they got used to each other and now they get along just fine and are in the same cage. Ginger is 4 or 5 months old. The problem that I am
having is Oliver has turned against me. I cant even go near the cage without him running up to me and barking and even biting me. I don’t know if he is just trying to protect his territory or if he is
trying to protect Ginger….I don’t know. Oliver was NEVER like this with me. He was always very affectionate and very loving. But now that we have the female all of a sudden he has gone mental. What
do you suggest? It really hurts me to see the animal that I have had for three years and that I took care of now all of a sudden bites me and totally hates me. I have several bite marks all over my hand from him. When he bites me, he breaks the skin. I hope that you
have some advice for me. Please get back to me. Thank you so very
much for your time.

I replied that he needed to seperate them IMMEDIATELY as she is way too young to be paired with a male. He mailed back and said he has now seperated them but the male is still very aggressive. It's my thinking that the male got aggressive because the female is pregnant - Fivel tends to be a little jumpy and nippy when one of the girls is pregnant, although not to the extent this man describes.

So, he is wondering if the male will ever calm back down or if he will continue to be aggressive...any thoughts or experience?

Sassy · #2 03-09-2002, 10:24 PM

He needs to seperate them, and hope that little girl is not preggers... He may or may not calm down. Depends on the boy. He is protecting his woman

*Christi* · #3 03-09-2002, 10:28 PM

They are seperated now and I told him it's ok to keep the cages side by side. I also told him he needs to get some mazuri, Nutrical, oats and calf manna and start supplementing her.

Sassy · #4 03-09-2002, 10:30 PM

I would not give Calf manna if she is preggers though. But everything else I agree with. Especially the nutrical and/or felavite.

*Christi* · #5 03-09-2002, 10:38 PM

He still needs the calf manna for if she gives birth...

Sassy · #6 03-09-2002, 10:40 PM

Sure does, hope he doesn't use it during pregnancy though. If she is that young and preggers, she sure doen't need to have HUGE babies.

I know you are telling him everything he needs to know, just hope he listens.

*Christi* · #7 03-09-2002, 10:47 PM

He seems to be listening, but I'm afraid he's going to get rid of his male - he made this comment

"I really dont want to have a pet that is not going to like my
presence...I dont like the idea of having a chin that always bites me when I try to feed him or try to talk to him. He really does not like me at all. Its like a totally different Chinchilla...I dont know what is wrong with him. He seems mentally disturbed BIG TIME."

This just seems out of character for chins, period.

Sassy · #8 03-09-2002, 10:53 PM

That is sad, why get rid of the chinnie, just remove him from the situation and see if he gets better. He has to let the chin knows that he still loves him.