13
« on: February 07, 2010, 11:55:56 AM »
I'm thinking about getting another chinchilla today.
I have had Dewey since last June. He's a 5 yr old standard gray. He'd had a mate at his previous home, but she died giving birth. (The family had their hands full hand-raising the kits, and decided to give the dad away to a good home)...so I brought him home, and at first he was barbering himself. Having his mate die, and then being re-homed must be stressful! But he got better. I named him Dewey and he's been a really good boy. About 6 weeks later I got another male chin...I rescued him from a bad situation, and HOPED he'd be a friend to Dewey. The new chin was a 2 yr old white mosaic. I had him checked out by a vet when I got him - but I think some damage was unseen. Dewey & Schroeder never learned to get along. I tried a couple tactics I'd read about, but usually Schroeder was an instigator of trouble, and so I kept them in separate cages, but close enough to know the other was around. Even though they didn't like each other, I think it was exciting for them knowing another chin was around.
A few months ago Schroeder got sick, the vet couldn't figure out the problem, I force fed him for 4 weeks before he passed away. Dewey has gotten more attention from me since then, obviously... plus, since he's not a chewer, he gets out-of-cage time in the entire house. He LOVES running up & down the stairs. However, he seems lonely! In the past few weeks he's gotten kind of "pouty". He often just sits on top of his hay bungalow and doesn't move for hours. He doesn't pay attention to the TV anymore, he doesn't really RUN in his wheel anymore. (It's more of a seat to him now).
He still eats & poops fine, so I don't think he's sick. I think he's just lonely. I have tried rearranging his cage and getting him new toys, but it only keeps him entertained for a little while.
I have been thinking about getting him a female friend. Someone to play with at night & snuggle with during the day.
I have weighed out the pros and cons... and for awhile I felt the cons outweighed the pros...but now I am starting to feel differently, especially when I look at Dewey pouting in the corner of his huge cage alone. I have read that chinchillas are very SOCIAL and being alone can actually cause depression/illness.
Wondering if anyone had any advice in either direction....
Also, I planned to keep them in separate cages for awhile, then put the cages near each other so they could watch each other ... then eventually let them have some out-of-cage time together and see how they do. Then when I'm sure they won't hurt each other, I'll clean and re-arrange Dewey's huge cage, and put them both in there together. Is this a good way to go about it? (This is also what I've read).
Thanks for your thoughts.
