Very interesting that she became more aggressive and territorial after the surgery, especially since her ovaries were left intact.

Both my male and female did pushups for the first time 4 days ago. Strange though how I haven't seen them do any since. Maybe I should change the subject to "first and last time pushups?" LOL It's almost as though they are defending their new territory (the outside cage I put them in four days ago). The female seemed to be acting like she was co-defending. I've read that territories are more defined and most often maintained/defended by males during times of plenty (a lot of food) and that during times of drought (limited food sources), these territories often break down.

Ever since my chucks came out of brumation, I've been very intent on feeding them all sorts of food (lots of flowers, especially abundant this spring). I'm wondering whether my chucks, which are so used to each other's presence, simply stopped doing pushups the same day they started because, after getting used to their new surroundings, they realized that there were no chucks that they had to defend their resources from. I've heard some people notice that a particular chuck they had wouldn't eat until they saw another chuck eating, almost like they are being territorial over resources (food) rather than the space itself. Reminds me of my kids. When I give one of them something to eat, the other two say "hey, I want some too!", even though they weren't even thinking about eating until then.

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