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Seeking help for my little boys

1K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Senkovi 
#1 · (Edited)
I cant seem to find anything helpful to me online and co workers dont seem to know. (I work at Petco) Decided to try a forum before calling up a vet.. Since it's rather late at the moment where I am.

So recently I've been troubled with my 2 chillas. Well, first off, here's some background info.

They are both males and I've had them caged together for over a year now. Their names are Avi and Syfer. Avi, I bought from my work when he was young, and the more calmer/gentler of the 2. Then there's Syfer, who was brought into my work from someone who claimed to had found him.. So I got him as an adult with an unknown age. (both were checked by a vet when new also.) It took me awhile to get them used to each other, as well as getting Syfer to be used to human contact.. But they've been best buddies for a long time.. some bickering here and there, but always are found getting along, cuddling sleeping together, grooming, etc in the end.

But for the past few days Avi has been hiding in his box and refuses to come out.. Syfer tries to go in there with him, but everytime he comes near him, Avi becomes upset. And when Syfer decides to become more forceful and just go in, Avi runs away, with Syfer chasing him all over the cage.. I didnt think much of it at first since either usually gets over it quickly, but when i got off work, there was fur all over the cage. And Avi wouldnt come out of his box or eat anything from me.

So I pulled Syfer out of the cage and put him in a dog kennel i have for them, for the night.. I checked Avi and found no blood or cuts on him, just fur scattered around. He eventually went back to normal and wandered around again, etc.

I tried to put the kennel next to the cage just close enough so they could sniff noses, but not touch. Just as I had done when Syfer was new.. I wanted to try to gradually put them together again. Avi seemed extremely interested, almost excited, in him being there and kept sniffing at him, every now and then running off, and coming back several times after. I was happy, thinking he was back to normal again.. But when I put Syfer back in, Avi got upset and hid again.. Syfer stopped harassing him, but would keep trying to slowly creep over to him, Avi would get upset again.. but Syfer would actually back off and take a nap, only to come back and try again.

Avi makes a new sound along with the old ones in his presence that I have never heard a chinchilla make before.. It's almost like a whine. Longer than the other sounds I'm used to hearing.

They're separated again. And I'm very concerned with these 2.. I really need some advice on how to handle this kind of situation. I'm trying everything I can to not have to resort to giving one of them up... But I hate seeing them unhappy. >__<

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I thank you in advance.
 
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#2 ·
When I had to separate my boys, it was heartbreaking. The only thing I can tell you is that if you take it slow, they might start getting along again. One thing you have to take into consideration, though, is that they might not become friends again :( Just like humans, they can have their little spats, or big blowups that might not be remedied that easily.

I'm no expert of course, but I wondering if a vet would be useful in a situation like this. It sounds more like a behavioural issue rather than a medical problem. Of course, if I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

I wouldn't give them up if at all possible. Even if they can't live together, if they can play together, that's a start, right? I can only imagine how stressed Syfer and Avi might be right now, and I'm sure that giving one or both away probably won't help.
 
#5 ·
..Really weird, and rather disappointing. Just seems so random and sudden to me.

Sadly, I cannot keep both if they will no longer get along. I dont have the space for another cage.. The one I have is fairly huge as it is. This will be very difficult if I have to come to my last resort of finding one a home, because I will be picky.. He's my boy. :<

Although, I will be trying to remedy this slowly myself, along with speaking to a vet on the matter.

Crossing my fingers.. :|

Thanks for the feedback, guys.
 
#6 ·
Sadly, I cannot keep both if they will no longer get along. I dont have the space for another cage.. The one I have is fairly huge as it is. This will be very difficult if I have to come to my last resort of finding one a home, because I will be picky.. He's my boy. :<
Aww that's too bad :( I hope whatever is wrong can be remedied with a trip to the vet. I can imagine how hard it must be to be facing that possibility. Hopefully Chinichi is right and the vet can find out what's wrong so Avi and Syfer can be good friends again.

Lots of hugs for your boys :)
 
#8 · (Edited)
Soo.. As for an update for this.

Avi has recovered from his timid behavior since Syfer was removed from the cage. It took some time, but he went back to his old self.

I kept them separated for awhile and would allow them to run around in this nice pen I bought them. They seemed to be fine in it, But Avi would be very cautious around the other.. Eventually allow him to be near him, even running over to him out of curiosity when he got into something. I thought things were finally progressing, till Syfer started chasing him in the pen. Avi didnt want to be near him anymore after that and would try to keep hidden from him.. I tried this again sometime later, but Syfer bit Avi, along with chased him.. So I went to giving them time alone, and let them run around in the pen one at a time, but keeping the pen by Avi's cage, so both could be in each other's presence. After some time of Avi getting over wanting to hide in his box again, he would become curious, watching Syfer from the bottom of the cage. Sometimes following him. I eventually allowed them to be close enough to sniff noses.. But then Syfer would try to bite Avi all the time, even attack the cage itself, so I no longer allowed that. I was rather discouraged at this point.

And then Syfer started destroying the dog kennel I had him in.. And I had no other option for delaying the situation any longer. I ended up putting him up for adoption. That was really depressing... But I wanted him to have a good, loving home.. with more space than I could offer him. :|

Avi seemed to be fine alone. In fact, he almost seemed happier. I rarely have seen him popcorn since he was younger, but he was running all over his pen, popcorning around, exploring everything. I was really happy to see this, and I let him out to play more often.

About 2 weeks later, I started noticing he wouldnt run to the top of his cage when I'd come home from work, and he started sleeping alot. He'd leave his box only to eat, drink, and pee.. He had no interest in toys anymore. But would run out when he heard the pen being brought out. And completely change and be super happy and play. o_O I did some reading, and from what I gathered, it sounded like he was depressed.. But his playtime attitude was throwing me off. When he was put back in his cage, he'd be normal and active.. Curious of whatever was going on around him. I even discovered that he loves my new scanner, and gets excited everytime I scan something.. It's funny to watch.

So, to try to distract him from being depressed, I'd keep giving him more attention, playtime, etc. He has improved alot since this.. But I cant help but feel really bad. I sometimes feel like I made the wrong decision giving Syfer up, but then get confused when I remember the reason why I had to because of his aggressive nature.. And then with Avi being depressed sometime after. Overall, I just feel terrible.

So I've been thinking of getting Avi a friend lately. A baby male buddy (weaned of course) as a better match for him, since he's so gentle natured. But I'm curious if there should be a waiting period before doing so.. Or would be it be a "sooner the better" situation. I was thinking the latter.. But have to wait till sometime in Feb, because I'm going out of town soon, and wanted to be around when the 2 adjusted to each other, etc.
 
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