Yet another surprised (and freaked out) chin grandparent!

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

popcorn

New member
Joined
Mar 13, 2019
Messages
2
Hi everyone,

I'm glad I found you all... especially right now. An hour ago, I discovered that our beloved mrs had given birth to a kit without warning. She had one kit and it's adorable! I'm freaked out though. I've been frantically researching what I should be doing to make sure everyone is safe and happy. Things I'm most freaked about:

1) I read on Chin Chronicles: "You should very gently feel the chin-mum's stomach 4 hours after birth to firstly check it is warm, as if not, there may not be enough milk being produced and you may need to hand feed the babies yourself for them to survive. Secondly, if you detect lumps and the contractions have stopped, there is an unfortunate chance of a trapped/dead kit still inside and you must call a veterinary surgeon immediately."

I wasn't present for the birth, but I did witness the placenta pop out. She ate it of course. Is that a decent sign that she only had one kit in there? I had a glancing tummy feel. My chins are rescues and we haven't quite developed a hands on relationship yet, so it's hard to get in there. I wouldn't call her tummy warm, but I don't have the experience to know better.

2) We haven't separated mr at this time. He seems contentedly and proudly standing watch over momma and baby. My wife is bringing home a separate borrowed cage... How critical is separating him if all seems calm?

Baby is dry and presumably warm, snuggled up to momma, chirping away. I think I even witnessed a brief baby popcorning! Seems like a good scene to me?

Thanks in advance for sharing all your wisdom and advice.

D
 
update:

after having to intervene in 2 near-hump attempts, I've separated the mr...

Breaks my heart. On the one hand, I can tell he wants to be a proud, protective papa. He's been nuzzling the newborn like crazy...
 
I can't really help with the first question of how to check if she is done, if she is acting normally though I would think she is done. I do know it can take a couple days for the milk to come in though. It normally requires the kits to start suckling to stimulate it to start. You should weigh the kit and make sure it's gaining weight, since it can take a couple day for the milk to come in it's ok if it loses a little bit but should be gaining by day 3.

Although the male often will help out with the kits the female unfortunately does go into heat soon after giving birth, so they have to be separated to avoid them mating again. You don't want her to be pregnant and raising a kit at the same time, that is too much. Since the male is good with the kit you can allow it some time later with the kit to give the female a break. The father can't nurse it obviously but he can keep it warm so mom can have some playtime or something.

One thing you didn't mention is the cage they are in. You need to get mom and baby into a kit safe cage if they aren't already, bar spacing 1/2" or less (or the kit can escape), remove any ledges and hiding house too. It doesn't sound like it's the case but you don't want the mother being able to get too far away from the kit yet. If you have a small cage that isn't high (like only a foot or two high) that would be best, kits, even newborns can climb, and you don't want it climbing and falling very far.
 
Back
Top