Rehoming

[kyrilliondaemon]

I'm glad you're giving her another chance

[DrKMcK]

I am so glad you are giving her another chance. She was likely very startled when your other chin leaped onto her cage. With all that had happened to her before you got her, she may have viewed this as an attack and was trying to fight back the only way she could. I hope she settles. Poor little chin.

[BrainGirl]

Maybe, but she is really territorial! She still attacks the bars when she senses another chinchilla nearby but when they're not she just acts depressed. It's the only time I see any real activity out of her, she doesn't run and jump like a "normal" chinchilla and she doesn't get into mischief like a normal chinchilla either. Now that's a sure sign of depression in a chin!

Ooh, she just jumped up on the toilet! That's the highest I've seen her jump since I brought her home. That's a good sign

Hopefully once she lets go of her partner she'll be able to accept other chinchillas. That's what happened with Pippa. For the longest time she remembered her sister's name even and I couldn't mention it without her stopping whatever she was doing and looking around for her

[corrieberry]

Shame that sounds so heart-breaking! I hope things get better soon. How long have you had her now?

[RedSky]

Aww poor little mite, I really didn't know they were that intelligent.

[BrainGirl]

I've had her less than a week corrieberry. She's definitely improving, as in not instantly freaking out when she notices other chinchillas, and also showing more signs of normal chinchilla mischief! She is still the most incredibly snuggly chinchilla I've ever met. Last night I lay down with her and she huddled into my neck. I didn't need to hold onto her, she wanted to be there. It was so sweet! We must have lain together for 20 minutes at least before she decided she wanted to go exploring.

[kyrilliondaemon]

I'm glad she's improving

[corrieberry]

I'm sure she will settle down. Do you think you could try handling her *after* you've played with the others so she gets used to their smells? I don't know if that would work...

[BrainGirl]

I already do that I suspect that the major problem is that she's depressed, and that if she wasn't depressed that she would be a lot more mellow. Unfortunately, I think the reason she's depressed is that she's lonely but because she's lashing out I can't trust her to have companionship!

The local breeder has years of experience and has offered to help me with introductions. She's really good with chin behaviour so I'm going to take the two intended partners to her and see if she can sit them down for a matchmaking session LOL!

[RedSky]

So glad you have someone to help and I really hope they make some progress.
Can chins only live in groups of two?