Boy??? Girl??? help needed asap

[Agroeve]

Ok so i just got my 2 baby chins
and i was hoping to introduce them to my adult rescue girl over time. I was supposed to have gotten 2 girls but i am pretty sure i got one of each. I dont want the bro/sis combo to breed nor do i want my old girl to get pregnant so looking to verify that i have bought me a boy and a girl. if so i will have to have the boy neutered. Any help greatly appreciated. here are the pics (sorry about the poop in the one
i believe layla is a girl and she is 3 months but
I think Daz is a boy and he is 2 months

TIA for helping

 

[Jawramik]

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure you're right. The chin in the second photo definitely looks male to me. First picture looks female, though I'm less certain because the angle of the photo isn't quite head-on (or butt-on, as the case may be, haha).

If you don't want babies, I'd separate them immediately. I think they're too young to be sexually mature just yet ....but that's assuming the person who incorrectly sexed them is correct about their age. Better safe than sorry. If they're older than you think, it's possible the female is already pregnant.

Also, make sure you do your research and give some thought to neutering the male. Neutering a chin isn't like neutering a dog or cat. Their testes are tucked up inside their abdomen, so the procedure is more dangerous and invasive for chins. There's a chance of serious complications both during the surgery and recovery. Recovery also takes some time (I think it's something like 8 weeks). I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't have him neutered, just that you should understand what the procedure entails, and if you decide to go ahead with it, you'll want to be sure you find a vet who is knowledgeable and experienced performing the procedure on chins.

 

[Amethyst]

I agree the top one looks like a girl and the bottom one a boy. One little thing to help remember is if there is a gap (between the anus and cone) it's a chap. Although not always, males can breed as young as 8 weeks, females as young as about 12 weeks, so I would separate them now just to be safe.

I also agree you really need to make sure you find a chinchilla knowledgeable vet, the surgery is risk and there is a real risk of death or complications. Assuming no complications it normally takes a couple weeks to heal externally, but it takes up to 8 weeks for all the sperm to be out of the system, so do not put him with any females again until then. Also from what I've heard chin should be at least 6 months before you neuter them, so they have a better chance of surviving going under anesthesia, again talk to your vet about that.

 

[Agroeve]

Thanks guys, i have telephoned my vet and was told they can neuter at 5 months. A separate cage is not an option as i already have 2 and no room for another lol. I can put a false floor into the one they are in now as i am only using the bottom half due to their age but eventually they will need all the space as they get older as half a cage is not big enough. I have only had them for 2 days and to be honest i think the breeder was a bit nuts. She kindly gave me a piece of fur to represent their mother (ew) a fluffy fleece tunnel (broken) a compressed hay block made of god knows what and about 4xs their body size, a bag of 'food' that truthfully looks like what i used to feed my dogs (cubed pieces of brown, orange, yellow etc) and a bag of sunflower seeds and peanuts. Am i being too critical as a new chin owner, too over cautious or am i being rightly sensible?

 

[Agroeve]

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure you're right. The chin in the second photo definitely looks male to me. First picture looks female, though I'm less certain because the angle of the photo isn't quite head-on (or butt-on, as the case may be, haha).

If you don't want babies, I'd separate them immediately. I think they're too young to be sexually mature just yet ....but that's assuming the person who incorrectly sexed them is correct about their age. Better safe than sorry. If they're older than you think, it's possible the female is already pregnant.

Also, make sure you do your research and give some thought to neutering the male. Neutering a chin isn't like neutering a dog or cat. Their testes are tucked up inside their abdomen, so the procedure is more dangerous and invasive for chins. There's a chance of serious complications both during the surgery and recovery. Recovery also takes some time (I think it's something like 8 weeks). I'm not necessarily saying you shouldn't have him neutered, just that you should understand what the procedure entails, and if you decide to go ahead with it, you'll want to be sure you find a vet who is knowledgeable and experienced performing the procedure on chins.

yes she did a kind of a wiggle just as my husband took the photo, naughty girl lol

 

[Jawramik]

Thanks guys, i have telephoned my vet and was told they can neuter at 5 months. A separate cage is not an option as i already have 2 and no room for another lol. I can put a false floor into the one they are in now as i am only using the bottom half due to their age but eventually they will need all the space as they get older as half a cage is not big enough. I have only had them for 2 days and to be honest i think the breeder was a bit nuts. She kindly gave me a piece of fur to represent their mother (ew) a fluffy fleece tunnel (broken) a compressed hay block made of god knows what and about 4xs their body size, a bag of 'food' that truthfully looks like what i used to feed my dogs (cubed pieces of brown, orange, yellow etc) and a bag of sunflower seeds and peanuts. Am i being too critical as a new chin owner, too over cautious or am i being rightly sensible?

I think you're being completely sensible! That breeder does sound a little.....out of touch, and that's me being kind, haha. Peanuts and sunflower seeds are no-no items for chins, and that food sounds awful! Also, I know mistakes happen, but I'd expect a BREEDER to be better at sexing chins. Being able to tell boys from girls is kind of important if you're making baby chins.

Even if you get the male neutered, you're going to have to keep them separated until he's a) old enough to have the surgery, and b) has fully recovered and cleared all the sperm from his system, so you will need to find some sort of solution for a few months. For now, closing up the floor and keeping them on separate levels should work (though if your second level is mesh, you're going to want to either tile it or cover it with a few layers of fleece, both to protect their feet, and to keep them from mating through the mesh, because that is a thing they can do).

Maybe you could get a smaller, temporary cage for the male that you could stack on top of one of the girls' cages?

Once the new babies settle in (give it at least a few weeks), you could try to start bonding the female baby to your older girl. If (and unfortunately, that's a big if) you can have them get along, then they could share one cage, which would free up the other cage for the male. But the new ones need some time to settle in and get to know you before you should even start trying that. And there's no guarantees that the two girls will ever want to share a cage.

 

[Agroeve]

Yes i am thinking of using my daughters old guinea pig cage for after surgery so he can be completely separate until he is recovered after surgery and is safe to go back with his half sister. Its on on one level but lots of floor space so room to move around without the need to jump. i can put him away from my girls so he can be calmer but its not a long term option as its going to involve a push for space but we can just suck it up and manage until he is well and my girls are safe. Thinking of kicking my son out to make room (lol only joking, he is 30 and just split with his girlfriend and moved back home so i would not be that mean)

 

[Amethyst]

Just to make sure you keep your expectations realistic, it is very possible that you could end up with none of them liking each other and all need to be cages separate. There is no guarantee even the females will get along, not all chins get along just like all humans don't get along. So I would look into the possibility of needing to have 3 cages, maybe get a new cage that can comfortable house two (like a double ferret nation for example) if it comes to that.

The male being separated from his sister for at least the next 5 months (3 months until he can be neutered and then 2 months for the sperm to be gone) is often long enough to break the bond between chins, meaning they may not get along again. You will need to go through the bonding process to reintroduce them again as though they are new chins, which can take months. They can't have any physical interactions until 8 weeks after he is fixed, no play time together at all, mating literally takes a split second, faster then you can stop them. Also as mentioned make sure the false floor is solid, chins have been known to mate though wire floors of the cage, and if you end up figuring out a side by side situation they can mate through the bars if the cages are less then 6 inches apart.

Also trying to bond 3 chins together doesn't always work out either, and really is a lot more complicated then just adding another to a single. You might get lucky, but realistically don't be surprised if it takes months or even years, if it ever works. It's not uncommon for two chins to gang up on one, so it's best of you introduce them one on one at first, if things go well then you can introduce all three together.

 

[Agroeve]

Yes i am worried about breaking the bond and they were never intended to be put in the cage with my old girl as she is a bit antisocial but as shown in the pics below i have already started making a huge cage to spoil my girl, the bottom is finished just have to furnish the top as i make the shelves. I will be making another one for Daz and Layla but if the bond is broken it can be split into two cages. I meant its not an option to have another cage due to floorspace but building up was always going to happen i was just hoping they could have total access and not be separated but i have the 'upwards' room to separate all 3 if needs must. I only thought of the guinea pig cage so that he is not even on top of her until he is healed so he could have peace. there will be no wire floors trust me. i dont like them much, yes they are easier to clean but i always panic about legs slipping down even tho my old girl never knew a solid floor til i built her cage. You can see her sitting in her house in the big cage.