Chinchilla 'Golden Years'?

[Sunnyastounded]

I have read that you should stop breeding chinchillas around the age of ten to give them a break, which is totally reasonable. My questions are; is this accurate, and does this apply to both male and female? I can not think of a reason why you should stop allowing a male to mate in his later years (except perhaps his overall increase in weakness). If the male seems to be healthy and lively, shouldn't you be able to allow him to do his 'thing' even in the later years of his life?

 

[Twilight Chinchillas]

I've heard of some breeders still breeding chins into their teens. I would think it's less burdensome on a male vs the female who has to carry, deliver, and feed the kits. So see no reason why a male couldn't stay in breeding longer.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

If a male is healthy, happy, and producing healthy kits I leave him in breeding regardless of age.

 

[Sunnyastounded]

How about the female then? Is there a cutoff age where you say enough is enough?

 

[Ronda]

I've asked this question before and been told that the older the animal (male or female) the less quality offsprings are produced. Or I should say the quality of the offspring decreases the older the breeders are. Large ranchers usually try to rotate their breeders at 5 years of age.

As for the female she has fewer babies and fewer live babies and she can also have a harder time recovering from each batch. I personally have a 1998 female in breeding and she has 2 litters a year. When I first got her she would not breed with the first 2 males and since moving her to this male she has 1 to 2 babies twice a year with very few fatalities and she is fat and healthy.

Carole Kessler told me that she had a retired pair in their 20s who had not had babies in quite a few years give her 1 kit. So anything is possible!

Ronda

 

[starleomach]

Baby when she was 23 surprised me with a kit. I thought she had retired herself as her and Harm who was 19 at the time hadn't had kits in a few years. Miss Muffet the baby got 2nd at nationals that year.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I don't have specific ages for any of the chins to come out of breeding. I take them out of breeding when they have issues giving birth or if they stop producing the quality I want. The number of kits a year per animal does not matter to me, so slower production does not mean an animal will be taken out of breeding here.

I've also heard from a couple ranchers that their older animals produce less healthy offspring or that they think the older the eggs in the female, the less likely they are to produce quality offspring. That being said, Shoots had at least two 13 and 14 year old females still in breeding when he sold his herd. I believe there is also an 18 year old male that was the foundation of his herd and he is still breeding very actively. He had over 10 females when the herd was moved.

 

[Sunnyastounded]

Alright. I do not care for how many offspring are produced, but rather that the babies are healthy and the female is okay. With the information here, I plan to keep my male in breeding until he has health issues, and the female in breeding as long as she is healthy, produces quality offspring, and does not have labor issues. If someone thinks this plan is not a good idea, please speak up!

 

[chinsNdobermans]

I have a 14 year old male in breeding, he's a fantastic producer and loves his ladies. He is soon moving to a pair cage instead of a run, as he has slowed down a bit and I have a nice son of his, but I'll let him decide if he wants to retire fully.

My older females retired themselves.

 

[Claire D]

My friend, Debbie, has a homozygous beige male called Fraggle who is 20+ (she also has his son, Fizz, who is 19 & all his offspring have been long-lived into their teens) & still produces wonderfully healthy offspring once or twice a year. I have his latest, beautiful 7 week old beige female kit here & Fraggle is currently wooing a new female.