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Ares

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This is if @Urblock and I merged into one person.
 

Ares

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This is what my house sounds like.
 

Ares

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Cool! That gobble sound is pretty wild. How many chinchillas you have?

I have 3 right now, a black one (Sherman), a white one (McClellan), and a gray one (Grant).

I have heard every noise in that video aside from that gobble lol.

Unfortunately they are in two cages right now because Sherman and McClellan have a rather visceral hatred for one another.
 

Sculpt

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I have 3 right now, a black one (Sherman), a white one (McClellan), and a gray one (Grant).

I have heard every noise in that video aside from that gobble lol.

Unfortunately they are in two cages right now because Sherman and McClellan have a rather visceral hatred for one another.
That's too bad. I wonder if there's any kind of classical conditioning you could do to reinforce some positive associations with interactions between the two?

The classic is, reinforce with food. You can keep food out of their cage (or a least 6 hours) and then bring them together with food. They should associate the positive experience of food with seeing the other. You could also do the same thing with their toys (if they have them). Do that every day for a week.

If they immediately attack each other, you could do the same thing except have a see-through border (their cages or aquarium glass) between them.
 

Ares

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That's too bad. I wonder if there's any kind of classical conditioning you could do to reinforce some positive associations with interactions between the two?

The classic is, reinforce with food. You can keep food out of their cage (or a least 6 hours) and then bring them together with food. They should associate the positive experience of food with seeing the other. You could also do the same thing with their toys (if they have them). Do that every day for a week.

If they immediately attack each other, you could do the same thing except have a see-through border (their cages or aquarium glass) between them.

You're right on where I'm at right now.

The story is the white one got injured, and I needed to isolate him, because the other two were trying to groom at his wound.

Since then the two fight to the point the white one lost a chunk of his ear.

I've brought their cages together so they have been aggro thru the bars but cannot fight.

I do treats and feeding/water at the same time now.

And I want to start letting them out for playtime as a group to socialize them as you might an adoption.

I figure the only way to fold him back in is to do it like they say for a newly adopted chin.

Previously I had the bigger/newer cage on wheels in the living room away from the older cage, just moved it a few days ago.
 

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You're right on where I'm at right now.

The story is the white one got injured, and I needed to isolate him, because the other two were trying to groom at his wound.

Since then the two fight to the point the white one lost a chunk of his ear.

I've brought their cages together so they have been aggro thru the bars but cannot fight.

I do treats and feeding/water at the same time now.

And I want to start letting them out for playtime as a group to socialize them as you might an adoption.

I figure the only way to fold him back in is to do it like they say for a newly adopted chin.

Previously I had the bigger/newer cage on wheels in the living room away from the older cage, just moved it a few days ago.
One thing I learned that usually works with cats that may apply in this case, is to feed them at the same time where they can't see each other. In the cats' case, they were fed on the opposite side of the door, so they could smell each other while they ate and then they associate the smell of the other cat with food. I don't know shit about chinchillas, but just brainstorming. Maybe put a towel over their cage bring em next to each other, and feed em?
 

Ares

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One thing I learned that usually works with cats that may apply in this case, is to feed them at the same time where they can't see each other. In the cats' case, they were fed on the opposite side of the door, so they could smell each other while they ate and then they associate the smell of the other cat with food. I don't know shit about chinchillas, but just brainstorming. Maybe put a towel over their cage bring em next to each other, and feed em?

The feeding component doesn't work the same with them as dogs or cats where you feed at a set time.

They eat hay which is kept available to them at all times, along with compressed pellets made from the same types of hay which help them grind their back molars.

I do give them hay and pellets and treats/chews at the same time, but they don't have mealtimes like a dog or cat might.

From what I can tell, this entire disagreement started when the white one injured his butt by dropping too hard into a bedding tray with wood chips.

Some of the chips got embedded in his skin like splinters and the pain of trying to dig them out and the constant chasing got the white one to the point where his fur was so thin I could see thru to his skin, which is very abnormal for chinchillas.

I had to take him into my own hands and work out his splinters with my fingers/nails, after which I kept him isolated the last few months to give him stress-free time away from the aggression so he could heal and rebuild his coat.

He's doing much better, but the first time I let him see his brothers there was a fight, and every time since when they even see each other thru the cage bars up close they will kack at eachother (shittalk) and try to bite.

They are like teenage boys at this point, I think I may have to just supervise their scuffling in open space outside of the cage and manage their aggression.

In the end I have two cages now, and I can just keep them apart if need be, but I really would prefer they live together.
 

Ares

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Watching my Mom's dog this week.

There is some kind of drainage overflow piped out to my neighbor's yard, just across our shared driveway.

If the dog goes over there he sniffs the end of the pipe , he typically begins shitting within 5-10 seconds of circling.

Its like a dog pooping Easy Button lol.
 

Ares

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Today he didn't even get to the pipe, just like within 5 feet and popped a squat.

I should partner with my neighbors and sell this as a service to dog owners lol.
 

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