Hi all, on Monday one of my three chinchillas, Snake, passed away due to old age and I'm left with a bit of a delicate situation I would welcome some opinions on. I'll have to do a bit of backstory to explain everything, so sorry if this is a bit long.
I had three chinchillas who lived together, Chong (dad, 19, neutered) and twin girls Snake and Big Boss (both 18). Chong's mate and the twin's mother, Cheech, sadly passed away many years ago. (I didn't intend to breed, it was accidental.) The three of them had lived together almost all of their lives, mostly happily, with a few squabbles here and there.
Snake has always had health problems, eye infections and such from elongated tooth roots. Big Boss has always been extremely healthy. Chong has a heart murmur. About a year and a half ago I found Chong unable to move one of his back legs and rushed him to the exotic vets. After extensive tests they thought it could be one of two things, a slightly dislocated vertebrae, or spinal disease. He was loaded up with painkillers and nerve meds and the rest and I separated him from the twins while we waited to see if he would heal and it was the vertebrae, or if it was spinal disease and we would have to make the decision to let him go. Or even if he was suffering and lonely on his own and it wouldn't be fair to keep him going. It was sort of none of the above. He got slightly better, but has never gained full use of that leg, and his tail seems a bit wonky too. He came off the meds eventually and is thriving on his own. He has to be all on one level, although the vets agreed to him having a couple of boxes to sleep in, even though he can jump on them. He's mobile, he's happy and he loves being on his own because he's not bullied for his food and can eat a raisin slowly in peace etc. He seems so much happier than he ever was with the group, which is the weirdest thing of all. I tried to re-bond him with his daughters a couple of times, but they bullied him. Mostly it was Big Boss that was the instigator. So for a year and a half they've been separated.
A year ago Snake had a health scare but recovered fully, then suddenly on Monday she deteriorated rapidly and passed away on her own at the emergency vets. Seemingly it was just her time.
I'm now left with two single chinchillas. Big Boss is still grieving, and I know I need to give her time. But her whole life she has lived with a group, first of four, then three, then just her and her sister. She's never been on her own and I'm worried she won't do well. But I'm also not sure trying to bond her back with her dad, Chong, is a good idea. Even if she's lonely and that means she doesn't bully him, he needs to be on one level for his back/leg problems, whereas Big Boss loves her platforms and shelves and being as high and possible and bouncing around. Also I don't want to stress out Chong who has a heart murmur and all these other mobility problems when he's really, really happy right now. But I don't want to leave Big Boss on her own if she's lonely. And I don't think bringing in a new chinchilla when my two are 18 and 19 is a good idea.
What would you do in this situation?