Before introducing new chinchillas to the herd

[Darren Lim]

The general consensus is that all chins who are coming into a new home should be quarantined for 4 to 6 weeks, in a totally separate area of the house. During this time, there should be NO cross contamination. Hands should be washed and clothes should be changed when going between cages. Nothing that touches chins or touches where chins have touched should be shared between the existing and the new chins.

One of the reason for quarantine is to make sure that the new chin does not bring an illness to the existing chins. But, this is not the only reason.

[Darren Lim]

What i was taught was this.every herd nomatter how big or small carries its own bacteria.This bacteria is harmless to that herd.when you bring in a chin from a different herd, the two different bacterias clash.for this reason, even if you know the chins are definately healthy and even if they come with health certificate, the chins should be quarentined.This way the new chin will slowly pick up the bacteria from your home rather than hitting it full on, and the bacteria it came with will slowly be replaced.
This is how it was explained to me so that i could understand it easily.
i have always found that when i have had a death, i quite often have 2 or 3 close together, even though they could all of died from different causes.i dont know why it has worked like this for me or if anyone else has also found this.