Gender ID 101

Happy New Year everyone!

Last week, a couple contacted us about taking in their chinchilla, Rose, after "she" started attacking "her" cagemate. After taking a closer look, we discovered that Rose was actually a boy. He'd become overly aggressive when he smelled the female chin in the next cage. The mating instinct kicked in, and he turned on his cagemate.

Since this is the second chin in a row to come misidentified, a mini lesson on gender ID is in order. It's easy for long-time chin owners and even pet stores to misidentify the gender of a chinchilla. The female cone looks similar to a male penis. The difference is the spacing between that and the anus. Baby chins are especially difficult to determine. The pictures below illustrate the difference between an adult male and female, respectively.