Hi everyone,
I've joined this forum because I have concerns with my female chinchilla. She has demonstrated a few behavioral problems, the latest being fur biting. She's pulled out the shiny fur on one side of her body, revealing the woolly under-layer, but not down to her skin. In the past she has shown behaviors of Single Female Chinchilla syndrome because she lives alone. She was aggressive and stressed out. I was able to relax her a little bit by putting a stuffed toy into her cage but she has since figured out it's not a real boyfriend so she's starting back to her aggressive ways. I'm wondering if the fur biting is part of this.
I also have an adult male chinchilla. They have lived as neighbors but not together for years. I would have the male neutered so they could live together if it would help my female's mood, but I'm worried about a few things:
a)they're so used to living separately they won't live well together
b)the female will continue to be stressed and take out her aggression on the male
c)health concerns for neutering an adult
If you have any advice for any of my issues I would appreciate it. I would go to the vet with my questions, but it's expensive and the vet might not know very much about chinchillas. So I was hoping to get more information here first
Thanks so much!
I've joined this forum because I have concerns with my female chinchilla. She has demonstrated a few behavioral problems, the latest being fur biting. She's pulled out the shiny fur on one side of her body, revealing the woolly under-layer, but not down to her skin. In the past she has shown behaviors of Single Female Chinchilla syndrome because she lives alone. She was aggressive and stressed out. I was able to relax her a little bit by putting a stuffed toy into her cage but she has since figured out it's not a real boyfriend so she's starting back to her aggressive ways. I'm wondering if the fur biting is part of this.
I also have an adult male chinchilla. They have lived as neighbors but not together for years. I would have the male neutered so they could live together if it would help my female's mood, but I'm worried about a few things:
a)they're so used to living separately they won't live well together
b)the female will continue to be stressed and take out her aggression on the male
c)health concerns for neutering an adult
If you have any advice for any of my issues I would appreciate it. I would go to the vet with my questions, but it's expensive and the vet might not know very much about chinchillas. So I was hoping to get more information here first
Thanks so much!