Hi Debbie, the female is just a few days shy of 1 year old, and she's the larger of the two. The male is still a baby, coming in at about 7 months old. The female just came out of heat about a week ago before I introduced them, so by the time she is in cycle again the male will be 8 months old. They are just standard grays, but came from a reputable breeder close to me. I may look into breeding other strands in the future, if all goes well with these two.
Growing up we used to breed chinchillas, but my mom really did all the work. So when I saw the cute little babies the introducing was already done, the babies were made, and all I helped her do was weigh them and take care of them and whatnot. So some of this is familiar, and some of this is new to me. Luckily I have her help, as well as the help of many well informed people like you all
Thank you for your advice, we are now back from our two day trip, and the chinchillas are together and doing fine. They're not sleeping together again, but she has been to the bottom, hes been to the top and no fighting. But I stay home all day with our children, so I will still keep an eye on them.
THanks again!
Jacqui
And I gave her a 1" square and she took some bites and then threw it down and walked away. So my quesiton is, I know to increase the hay, I will work on her eating the toast, what other options do I have? There has been no change in her appetite, there is no evidence of anything funky with the poop (mucous, blood, etc) Smells like poop I guess no real foul smell, and she is maintaining her weight, actually gained a few grams from a couple days ago. She's active, and if it wouldn't for me seeing the poop I wouldn't even know anything is wrong. And she's drinking normally. She did have a raisin after her weighing today, but I'm not going to give her any more until it clears up.
Its funny that I get all distraught when my chin is mad at me! LOL I'm sure she'll get over it, but its like taking 10 steps back in our "trust level" we have going. So I thought placing the scale inside the cage for the weighs would eliminate the possibilty of another high-stress weighing/running away session. As soon as she wakes up from her nap I will try the container/dust bath idea.
Ok he's done. I actually have to kinda shoo him away! Next I try to lure the female over. She LOVES her raisins and loves me and will always come running. But when the scales in, SHE WONT COME NEAR ME. She runs off to another part of the cage. I take the scale out, here she comes! I put it back in, well now my little guy thinks he needs to be weighed again, and off she runs! LOL. It's a vicious repetitive cycle! Any suggestions as to how to get the female to come over near the scale? 
