Hello From Maine-unexpected babies on the way!

[fullmoonjewel]

Hello Everyone,

I've been lurking here for a few weeks now and thought I'd finally get around to introducing myself. By night I'm a Phlebotomist on the night shift at a large hospital (a true vampire). By day I'm a jewelry designer and aspiring writer. I sell my jewelry on Etsy.com under the shop name echomoonjewelry.

I've had many animal companions - everything from hamsters and guinea pigs to rabbits, parrots and dogs (I spent about 10 years working for a breeder of Rhodesian Ridgebacks). Currently we share our lives with a 22 year old Amazon Parrot with a nasty vocabulary and a mean streak a mile wide.

About six weeks ago I added 2 wonderful chinchillas to the household. I bought them from a lady who had to get rid of them for family reasons and she didn't give me any info on where she got them or their background other than they were 10 months & 14 months old. Her ad in the paper gave the impression that they were both female and she didn't let on that they were actually male & female until I went to pick them up. Apparently she originally had designs on becoming a breeder. By the time I found out, I already had my heart set on them, so I brought them home anyway.

Jozy, the boy, is a hetero beige and he'll be a year old this month. He's quite small (only 400 grams at his vet appt 2 weeks ago), but what he lacks in stature he more than makes up for in personality. Within 3 weeks he'd decided there's no place he'd rather be than hanging out on my shoulder. I had to take him to the vet because I had him in my lap while sitting in a chair and he jumped off. About 10 minutes later he started barking incessantly. I was really concerned he'd hurt himself badly. When I called the 24 hour emergency vet they told me in no uncertain terms that they had zero experience with chinchillas and suggested I wait until the chinchilla vet's office opened in the morning. I sat up with him all night and called as soon as they opened. I took him in and apparently when he jumped - he bit his tongue and that was why he was crying. A shot of metacam and he was back to his old self - thankfully! I'm now a whole lot more careful when he's climbing around on me!

Lili, the girl, is a big beautiful black velvet. I don't know how much she weighs but she's built like a tank. Easily twice as big as Jozy and much more laid back and a bit more stand-offish, but when she does choose to interact she's a love-bug. They are very tightly bonded to the point where they become agitated if they're out of sight of each other.

We're head over heels in love with them both. They've have very quickly made themselves at home in our hearts. BUT.... it seems Lili was already pregnant when I brought them home. At first we just thought she was fat & lazy, but she just kept getting bigger and rounder.

I brought her along for Jozy's vet visit because I didn't want him anymore agitated than he already was. The vet (who is also a chinchilla breeder) took one look at her and confirmed she was pregnant and said she probably had about 3-4 weeks to go yet. She's absolutely enormous at this point and does nothing but eat and sleep! So, we are frantically preparing for baby chins. The vet also said she had a calcium deficiency, most likely from the pregnancy. I've been spiking a raisin with powdered calcium lactate each day for her, but she's pretty snarky at this point so I haven't tried to pick her up to check out her teeth again. How would I know how much is too much or vice versa?

When I found out they were male and female my immediate thought was to get him neutered so they could stay together. But, I have some concerns about that. He has such an incredible spark to his personality - alway happy, incredibly curious, constantly looking for interaction with the humans and everything he does is at warp speed. My concern is that neutering him might alter his personality - and he's so wonderful just as he is that I would hate to have that happen. Now I'm not sure what to do.

I've been through the forums on babies and breeding and found lots of helpful info. Any other advice anyone can give?

Sorry to be so long winded!

Jozy-Boy

Lili-Girl

 

[tunes]

First - Welcome!

You've tackled one of the huge obstacles - you have a chin savvy vet available. After that, it's just preparation. Personally, I would not keep giving her raisins. We're not big on raisins around here because of the sugar. Try getting a bite sized shredded wheat damp and rolling it in the calcium powder. Chins love their shreddies and they are a better alternative than raisins. I know she doesn't like being handled, but if you only do it every couple or three days, she can learn to live with it. Just keep checking her teeth. When they turn the yellow/orange they should be, go a couple more days then stop on the calcium. Watch her closely though. If she already is losing calcium, she will most likely lose more after the delivery and you will have to restart the calcium for a bit.

Other than that, separate dad from mom, put mom in a baby safe cage. If you don't, he can breed her again before she even delivers this litter, and he will almost surely breed her immediately after she does. If you read through the breeding and babies section, you probably read somewhere about hand feeding formula. Get that and keep it to hand. Other than that, you just wait for the big day.

 

[mishellyshel]

:welcomewagon:

such cuties!

 

[alli713]

Welcome! Peggy gives good advice so follow what she tells you as far as separating male from female.

I also want to say that it looks like your girl is actually a standard grey, not a black velvet. She probably just has some darker veiling, which some standards do, but she isn't dark enough nor veiled enough to be a black velvet. She's still cute though! )

 

[fullmoonjewel]

It's actually not a very good pic of her. She's definitely a black velvet - for some reason I just can't get her to photograph well. Her undercoat is solid deep black as well the veiling. Regardless - it doesn't really matter to me what color she is - we love her. Thanks for the replies about the raisins. I also keep shredded wheat on hand for them so I'll try that. She's a VERY picky eater though and I'm sort of concerned she won't like the calcium taste if it's on the outside. I've finally finished baby proofing their travel cage and I'm getting ready to move her into it today. When I picked them up I found that their cage was entirely too big to fit in my jeep and I would have to come back with a friend's truck for it. So... I had 2 chinchillas in a carrier and nothing to house them in. I stopped at a Pet Quarters on the way home and bought a 19" x 36" hoppity habitat rabbit cage. After I picked up their big cage a few days later, I decided to save the smaller cage as a travel cage for them. Since the bar spacing is too big, I bought 1/2" wire mesh and I've been attaching panels of it to the outside to make it escape proof. Finally finished this morning.

 

[tunes]

I forgot to mention that part, about the 1/2 x 1 inch or smaller wire spacing, but you already knew anyway!

I have to agree with Allison - that picture you posted of her is definitely a standard, regardless of the photography (at which, I suck BTW). I was also looking at your profile picture, and that's a standard photo, with as much as I can see of it. She looks like a nice dark standard, but a black velvet would definitely be black rather than gray. She is a cutie though, regardless of what color she is and as you said, you love her regardless.

If you get a chance though, post a side shot and we can tell you for sure, but for now she's a standard by the photos.

 

[fullmoonjewel]

OK - I just tried the shredded wheat with the calcium and she completely rejected it. She actually snorted at me before hopping away...

Does anyone have any other ideas of something less sugary I can try?

 

[fullmoonjewel]

I guess she could be a very dark grey. I'll admit I'm not any sort of expert on coloring. The lady I got them from said she was a black and HE was a standard grey. The whole way home I kept looking at him in the carrier thinking "he really looks beige to me and I'd swear his eyes are deep red". So when I got home I did some poking around the 'net and came to the conclusion he was a hetero beige. I'll try and get a decent side shot of her when I get her out for playtime. But, like I said - she's beautiful and we love her lots. It would definitely be nice to know for sure one way or the other though.

 

[lauralynne]

Hello & Welcome!

 

[fullmoonjewel]

People of Earth... HEAR ME!

When I push this red button your insignificant planet will be vaporized by my space de-mod-u-la-tor!
MUWAH-HA-HA-HAAAA!

...Ah...ahem...yes, YES...A few select slaves - er - "specimens" shall be spared my wrath.

Let the hopefuls come forth, present their choicest raisins and GROVEL before the might of Jozy!

Oh - ahem - I also have an opening for a court jester and... uh ... someone in waste management

YOUR DOOM IS AT HAND! That is all.

Sorry - couldn't resist. When we downloaded this pic off the camera and got a good look at it we cracked up and decided he looked like an evil genius plotting world domination - all he needed was a big red button.

 

[tunes]

ROFL - When I first saw the big, bold print I thought - Oh Lord, this is going to be a troll.

Excellent picture and text. Can I give suggestions on where to aim the missile that comes from pushing the red button???

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

Howdy and Welcome!!! Cute chinnnies!!!

About neutering Jozy. In the hands of an experienced Exotic Vet, it is a fairly simple process with a quick recovery and minimal complications.

I have had 3 males neutered, all by the same vet, due to fighting, and all 3 did very well afterwards. In the case of Mr. Whiskers and Baby, I think that going through the surgery and recovering together made their bond strong again, as they lived happily ever after until Baby died later, from completely unrelated causes.

When The Snuggler reached adolescence and started picking on Mr. Whiskers, he, too was fitted with his "Little Pink Apron" and now he and Mr. Whiskers are happily bonded and spend most of their time sleeping on each other in their tube and comparing recipes and baking pies!!!

Congratulations on joining a very helpful and informative forum. Best wishes with your upcoming kits!!! The people with breeding experience are here to help you...

 

[fullmoonjewel]

Well, I've transferred Lili to the nursery cage and she is wicked pissed. She refused to take a treat from me, bit my boyfriend and is now constantly climbing up the walls and throwing herself off when she gets to the top, loudly grinding her teeth non-stop. It's been over an hour now and she hasn't let up. I'm really concerned she's gonna seriously hurt herself. Any suggestions?

 

[Ash]

Most chins don't like going from a large space to a smaller space. She'll settle down in a bit.

Also, as far as calcium goes, you could try giving her pieces of cuttle bone, to chew on. What food are you feeding, also?

 

[fullmoonjewel]

I'm feeding Oxbow Chinchilla and Timothy Hay. I've been supplementing with some alfafa cubes since the vet visit. I did get a cuttlebone but they ripped it off the side of the cage so I drilled a hole in it and strung it on one of their hanging toys and that seemed to work out well.

 

[Laurie]

Hello and Welcome to the forum!

 

[fullmoonjewel]

OK. After over 3 hours of listening to her rampage around the nursery cage I poked my head back into the room just in time to see her climb the side of the cage, throw herself off and land on her head. It seemed to me that she was ither going to injure herself badly or the extreme stress might throw her into premature labor. So, I put her back in the big cage. She ran over and nuzzled Jozy then hopped into her hut and went to sleep. But, while I was transferring her back, I checked her out. Don't know if this helps resolve the color question but-the skin on her ears is black and the skin on her feet is mostly black with lighter patches.

 

[starleomach]

Welcome. She is a standard IMPO they can be very dark
This is a black velvet

she is very pretty but I wouldn't trust the judgment on color from someone who thought a beige was anything other than a beige. Looking at your avatar and the photos you posted she is a standard.

 

[alli713]

I'm imagining you don't know how far along she is, since you got her from people that didn't know what they were doing, so in my opinion, you're chancing more issues with keeping her in a large cage with the male.

For one, she could go into labor and have the kits and then get a breedback by the male. Two, when she has the kits, and there are things to jump around in, you risk either mom or dad jumping down and squishing them or killing them. Also, mom may get out of reach of the babies and not allow them to nurse enough. So in either case, she needs to get into a cage appropriate for having kits in.

 

[fullmoonjewel]

You're right, I don't know how far along she is and the people I got her from had no idea what they were doing. The entire top on their big cage just flips up and the lady told me she never bothered to secure it and never had a problem. To me that meant that basically they could pretty much get out whenever they wanted. I can't believe nothing bad happened...

First thing I did when I brought the big cage home was put locks on the top.

As far as her pregnancy goes - the only thing I have to go by was what the vet said 2 weeks ago - that she still had about 3-4 weeks left. And you're right I should separate her as soon as possible, but she was throwing herself around so violently that I was really alarmed by it. I'm going to try it again tomorrow and see what happens.