Unexpected Surprise!

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AcidicAngel

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2016
Messages
9
Location
Sheffield, UK
**I apologise in advance for the long winded thread!**

Well we had a rather unexpected surprise yesterday morning.

Nibbler and Shadow our two "male" chinchillas became parents!
Nibbler is a 5-6 year old Standard Grey male, no pedigree. Bred by my fiancé when he had his pair of Standard Greys.
Shadow is a young female, no exact age on her but we suspect between 1-2 years old. She's a TOV(Black Velvet) from what we can gather and, unfortunately, a pet shop chin. Bought as a male in April 2015 along with another male, we're both now kicking ourselves for not noticing that Shadow was actually female. The other TOV we bought, Midnight, was actually male(saw the nads myself!) and had to be separated due to fighting with Nibbler(that's all explained now!!!). We no longer have him.
I've counted back and Midnight was separated way longer than 120 days(I know gestation is 111 but just to be sure) ago so the kits are definitely Nibblers.

Sadly we do not have a spare cage at the moment and so Nibbler is, unfortunately, having to continue living with Shadow. We have a cage on order which should be here ASAP so he can be separated from mum and kits.

Mum and kits seem to be good, both decent weights(43g & 48g). Dad is even helping keep the kits clean and safe for now, which is a good sign. Still going to separate him ASAP though, there's a chance he's already bred back to Shadow and one more litter is going to be tough on her. Luckily I have vets that will care for and operate on small rodents(I checked, chin specific) should she have any complications, and she is a big girl.

I have been dealt with an unexpected surprise, but honestly it's come at a decent time. I've been doing lots, and lots, and lots of research breeding chinchillas as I had planned to buy some pedigreed chins in future and start breeding- Yes, I have red every single horror story thread on this forum and looked at all the pictures, I am prepared to deal with that. So I have an idea of what to do, what not to do, what to look out for, etc... Of course due to these having unknown history, etc. they will be pet only and the parents will, as mentioned, be split ASAP.
So far all is good. They are both suckling well and regularly, both parents are cleaning them and watching them. I have handled them, checked their eyes, ears, etc. for any issues or illnesses. All looks good, I'll have a look at them in a few days to see what genders they are as I'm aware they could be swollen for the first day or so.
I will be weighing them daily to track any weight loss/gain and make sure both are growing well as one is smaller than the other, once I'm sure they are both gaining steadily I'll move to weekly weighing.

With regards to checking her for more babies, I've done the best I can and can't feel anything else but she's not handleable and really doesn't like being touched. She will bark at me for touching her and getting her out of the cage by hand for cleaning can be a nightmare. I've done my best to calm her down while we've had her but she's not taken to any of it. I've let her come to me, offered treats, etc.. Nothing. Luckily she's really good about me handling and checking her babies, no issues with that at all. As long as she can see them and hear them she seems to be fine.

So now the only thing I have left to say is.... What colours are they?! Research tells me that Standard Grey x Black Velvet would yield approx. 50% SG and 50% BV. Looking at these two, my best guess has been one Standard Grey(slightly larger) and one Black Velvet(smaller). Anyone agree or have other ideas?

Larger, suspected first born. Weighs 48g. Standard Grey(I'm 99% certain).
10th%20may%202016%2011_zpsiaafpbgm.jpg


Smaller, suspected second born. Weighs 43g. Black Velvet? Or dark Standard grey?
10th%20may%202016%2014_zpsed6jiyq1.jpg


Both together.
10th%20may%202016%2013_zpsjnxjavrt.jpg


Excuse the not so good photo's, they really don't like staying still lol.

Parents:
Nibbler- Standard grey from two Standard Grey parents.
8th%20March%202016%201_zpsuane1jay.jpg


Shadow- Black Velvet. At least from what we can see and research. This is why neither of these were ever intended as breeders. No history, no pedigrees...
8th%20March%202016%202_zpstuxby3bm.jpg
 
Just an update-

Both babies are girls, I tried to get photo's but it hard to do that one handed with wiggly babies that don't like it.

Both have gained 1g each this morning and now weigh 44g & 49g.

11th%20May%202016%202_zpswkjhmtib.jpg

11th%20May%202016%201_zpsczxdxre2.jpg

11th%20May%202016%203_zpsl2fvvy42.jpg

11th%20May%202016%204_zpsdynloqid.jpg
 
I have no idea what happened to the images in the original post so I'll re-post them here.
Both are girls, now named Smoky and Kali :)

Larger girl- Weighed 51g this morning.
10th%20may%202016%2011_zpsiaafpbgm.jpg


Smaller girl- Weighed 45g this morning. Will be keeping an eye on her as she's not gaining as much as her sister.
10th%20may%202016%2014_zpsed6jiyq1.jpg


Still no closer on their colours, after looking around I'm leaning towards TOV for the smaller girl. They look very different when compared, here's a photo from this morning of them together. The smaller girl, Kali, has a "mask" on her face but Smoky doesn't.
12th%20May%202016%203_zpsbcgiacym.jpg


Kali's little "mask".
12th%20May%202016%202_zpsv18xqctv.jpg
 
Looks like a standard gray and a black velvet to me. Get daddy separated asap. You will need to count another 111 days from the day you separate them because they probably bred back.
 
Looks like a standard gray and a black velvet to me. Get daddy separated asap. You will need to count another 111 days from the day you separate them because they probably bred back.

Nibbler was separated on Tuesday(17th May) so will count 111 days from the 9th May(Kits birth date) and then 111 days from 17th May as well. Since they could have bred any time between then.

Thank you for confirming their colours, I posted in a group on facebook and had them confirmed.
It's a shame my posts need approving or I would have updated this thread sooner than now. Instead I've been putting it off due to the post approval thing(quicker to post on a facebook group!)... Not only that, the forum seems pretty... Well, dead. I don't see much activity.

Either way we had to wait for the new cage to arrive before separating Nibbler and that arrived finally on Tuesday so he was separated as soon as possible.
Shadow is on pregnancy watch and so far she seems to be good, she's still doing well with the two kits which are growing nicely. I got some decent shots of them earlier so will post those here.

Smoky- Standard Grey.
20th%20May%202016%204_zpsbnghhl6c.jpg

20th%20May%202016%202_zpsllvp3lrw.jpg


Kali- Black Velvet.
20th%20May%202016%201_zps4xqobdq5.jpg

20th%20May%202016%205_zps0wxmgh1n.jpg
 
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