Getting My Chinchilla a Mate

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BeanTheChin

New member
Joined
Nov 26, 2018
Messages
4
Location
Oregon, USA
Hey guys,

I have a male (6 years old) chinchilla named Bean. Over these years I have really grown to love him and I don't want to think of a future without him (I know that sounds cheesy). I got him by himself and then I introduced him to another male (2 years older) chinchilla and Bean was usually aggressive to him in the cage and I ended up separating them sometimes. They were fine running outside the cage though. Bean's brother unfortunately passed away almost 2 years ago, but I was wondering if in the future (maybe 2-4 years down the line?) if you guys would think introducing Bean to a rescued female chinchilla would be okay? I would want them to have babies so then I always have little Beans running around. Afterwards I would get Bean neutered so then he wouldn't be able to have any other babies and if his offspring are males I would get them neutered too. Do you think that this would be okay to do? My concern is that Bean and the female (and possibly the kids) would fight and I wouldn't want to separate them. Thank you for any information you give me!!
 
Getting a female, especially a rescued female, with the intention of breeding is a terrible idea.

First of all not all chins get along with other chins, so their is no way to know if they will even get along. Getting a female does not increase the odds that they will get along. Personality is much more important then age or gender.

Second, you wont know the female's genetic lineage, is she carrying any genetic issues? Do you know Bean's genetic lineage? He he carrying any genetic issues that could pass on to the kits? or ones that you would need to make sure you don't pair him with a female that also carries it?

Third, you would have to separate them for a long period of time during the neutering recovery. Getting a male neutered is a very risky surgery, with a high risk of several things going wrong including death, even for a chin that is young and healthy. Assuming he survives and there are no complications, it still take about 8 weeks for the chin to heal (assuming no complications) and 12 weeks to make sure all the sperm is out of his system before they can be reintroduced. For the first couple weeks you will likely need to be feeding him round the clock since he will be in pain and likely wont eat on his own. 12 weeks is also long enough to break a bond so you would have to reintroduce them like they are new chins. So it is possible that they wont even re bond again, meaning you will need as many cages as you have chins.

Fourth, breeding chins is not for the faint of heart, or wallet, a lot can go wrong. Even in the breeding itself, if they get angry they can fight and kill each other. Males tend to hound the female when she is in heat, which can make her angry enough to kill. That is one of the main reasons breeders have collars on the females in breeding runs, so the male can escape the female. Then there is also pregnancy complications, would you be ok if the female died giving birth? Also have thousands of dollars set aside in case the female needs a c-section and or an emergency spay? Are you able to hand feed kits every couple hours until they are weaned if the female can't or wont feed them?

If you want another chin I would look to getting another male. Some chins do enjoy having playmates but not cage mates. I think that is enough to fill their social needs, like having a neighbor you can talk to and play with, but you live in your own house.
 
Thank you for the information! I definitely wouldn't want to put Bean in any danger and with all this I will definitely not get him a mate. In the past I have introduced him to another male chinchilla and it didn't go well, I had to separate them a lot. The male chinchilla has since passed away, but I try to give Bean as much attention as I can (usually I let him run around my room for 4 hours a night) so hopefully that is enough. Again, thank you for the info!
 
Definitely a bad idea to do intentionally.

I got my male a female when i first started out. (I jsut wasnt thinking things through apparently.)

When she had her first baby, i had no idea she was even pregnant. The little guy escaped the cage and hid under the fridge.. Before i new he even existed. It was a maricale that i let my ferrets out to run that night, and zoey found him under the fridge. That along would have ended very badly.

Theres a lot of things to know and be prepared for with kits. None of which i new, which created a lot of stress over the months. Since chins can get pregnant right after birth, and my having no idea she was pregnant to begin with, i new she there was a good chance she was pregnant again already. And she was. And it was a lot more stress with that litter too.

In the end tho, that first boy died at only 5 years old from possible genetic issues. Which still scares me with the second litter.

I could go on for ever about all the thigns that happend. But im sure you get the point.
 
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