I have a pregnant chin and need a little help.

[daniellewrhs09]

Hello! Let me start off by saying I hope everyone is doing great!!! I have a few questions and hopefully someone with experience will see this and won’t mind answering them and please if anyone has any kind of additional information that will be helpful to me in the near future I greatly welcome it!!! I believe my chin is pregnant right now. I have weighed her every now and then since I got her back in April and she’s been pretty steady at 23.4 ounces but on Sep 27th she was 25.6 ounces and Oct 14th she was 28.2 ounces so since Sep 27th (her first weight gain weigh in) she has gained a total of 4.8 ounces. Do you know around how far along a chin is when she starts gaining weight every day? I read online it was around day 42. Has that been anyone’s experience or do you know if that’s true? And do you know if at some point nearing the birth does she stop gaining weight? And if they do, do you know around what day that would be? Also is it true that around day 90 her nipples will start coming up? Or do you know how far along she is when she starts sleeping all the time day and night? I’m trying to figure out how far along she is but I keep getting different info from different places so I figured my best bet would be to ask someone who has been through it. This is my first experience with a pregnant chin. I have hedgehogs and got through their pregnancies but I know nothing about a pregnant chin. Thanks for reading and if you can answer any of my questions I would greatly appreciate it!! And as I mentioned before, if you have any kind of other information that would be helpful I would love to read that too!!!!

 

[Amethyst]

I'm not only not an expert but have mostly only read stuff about breed, but I can tell you want I do know. You may want to reach out to a breeder, they would be able to give you more informed info. Breeding chins is really not something to take on lightly, a lot can go wrong, so it's best to have a breeder, ideally one you bought one or both your chins from, to mentor you, they would also know their breeding stock the best.

Chins are pregnant for roughly 111 days (but it's best to count up to 120 just to be safe), and from what I've heard they gain the most in the last couple week before giving birth, so at around 90+ days. However weight is not a good indicator at all for chins, some gain a lot in chunks, some gain steadily the whole time, some don't gain at all, and in some odd cases (my guess is the chin was overweight to begin with) chins have even lost weight when pregnant. Also if you don't know for sure she is pregnant or not there are other things like tumors that can cause weight gain, so a vet visit is not a bad idea. Aside from that, to get an idea of how far you can count how long since she was last with a male, unless you still have her with the male, in which case I would separate them right away especially if you have no idea when the mated. The male can mate with and get the female pregnant again (their uterus has two "horns" so if kits are only in one side they can get pregnant with another litter on the other side) a few days before and after giving birth, meaning she will be trying to grow new babies while also nursing newborns, which is very hard on the female and in some cases can even kill her. Also make sure you have a vet that you can go to that has experience with chinchillas, difficult births do happen and needing emergency c-section is not that uncommon.

Also just so you know, most people weigh chins in grams, it's just easier to see small weight changes since they are so small. For example a weight loss of more then about 20 gram is enough to be concerned (as in reason to keep an eye on the chin) but that would only be about 0.7 in ounces, which doesn't sound like much so might not raise alarm.

 

[daniellewrhs09]

I'm not only not an expert but have mostly only read stuff about breed, but I can tell you want I do know. You may want to reach out to a breeder, they would be able to give you more informed info. Breeding chins is really not something to take on lightly, a lot can go wrong, so it's best to have a breeder, ideally one you bought one or both your chins from, to mentor you, they would also know their breeding stock the best.

Chins are pregnant for roughly 111 days (but it's best to count up to 120 just to be safe), and from what I've heard they gain the most in the last couple week before giving birth, so at around 90+ days. However weight is not a good indicator at all for chins, some gain a lot in chunks, some gain steadily the whole time, some don't gain at all, and in some odd cases (my guess is the chin was overweight to begin with) chins have even lost weight when pregnant. Also if you don't know for sure she is pregnant or not there are other things like tumors that can cause weight gain, so a vet visit is not a bad idea. Aside from that, to get an idea of how far you can count how long since she was last with a male, unless you still have her with the male, in which case I would separate them right away especially if you have no idea when the mated. The male can mate with and get the female pregnant again (their uterus has two "horns" so if kits are only in one side they can get pregnant with another litter on the other side) a few days before and after giving birth, meaning she will be trying to grow new babies while also nursing newborns, which is very hard on the female and in some cases can even kill her. Also make sure you have a vet that you can go to that has experience with chinchillas, difficult births do happen and needing emergency c-section is not that uncommon.

Also just so you know, most people weigh chins in grams, it's just easier to see small weight changes since they are so small. For example a weight loss of more then about 20 gram is enough to be concerned (as in reason to keep an eye on the chin) but that would only be about 0.7 in ounces, which doesn't sound like much so might not raise alarm.

I really appreciate the info you provided. I’m by no means a breeder. I started out with a boy and girl both a little over a year old and they were bonded and he died suddenly from unknown reasons (he was fine when my mom Checked on them and 20 minutes later my roommate checked and he was dying so I got him out and before I could even get him to the car he was dead) in front of her and she was clearly grieving so I bought a female 4 month old to put with her but she attacked her so the breeder sent the first boys brother and she bonded with him. I never once seen them breed or a plug but I started to notice she is sleeping day and night so I weighed her and she had gained a little so I went ahead and separated them then. I had read about the double pregnancies so I knew to get him out of there. And I did actually convert her weights into grams today because it was easier to see her weight change like you said. And I did contact the breeder and asked a few questions with her as well. Her page is http://www.bobbieschinchillas.com/for-sale.html
You may have heard of her. She helped me with some info today too. I’m going to search around my area and see if there’s any vets with chin experience so I have one I can take her to. And again thank you so much for your help and if you think of anything else feel free to let me know. I gladly accept any help and information I can get since this is my first pregnancy experience.

 

[Amethyst]

Actually knowingly putting an intact female and an intact male together means you are intentionally breeding them, which makes you a breeder, even if just a one time breeder. Unless you didn't tell them you planned to put him with your female or told them you intended to get into breeding the breeder should have never sold you an intact male to go with your intact female, that is very irresponsible of them. If you don't intend to breed you can pair a female with a male but the male needs to be neutered first (or the female needs to be spayed, both are risky surgeries but spaying has a higher risk of death), or you can pair them with a female. Not all chins get along with all other chins, it's like humans where you can't put two random people together and guarantee they will be friends, their personalities need to mesh. So just because she didn't get along with one female doesn't mean she wont get along with a different one that matches her personality better. I'm guessing the male had a similar temperament to the one that passed which is why they bonded. Unless you intend to continue breeding (which I do not advise) I would keep them separate from now on, or get the male neutered if you have a vet that knows how and has done so successfully. If she is pregnant you can also likely pair any males with the father once they are weaned and you can keep any females with the mom. Males will mate with their mother and sister(s), once old enough, and the father will mate with his daughter(s), so you can't keep them together.

Chinchilla mating takes literally split seconds, hop on, hop off, and the deed is done, which is why it's not advised to even allow males and females to have playtime together, it can happen faster then a person can stop them. So if they spend any time together in a cage unsupervised it's very likely you simply missed it. You also don't always even see the mating plug, just like most people never see the female heat plugs, since it can get lost in shavings or the chins simply eat it before you see it. It's also not that uncommon for chins to be together for years and then decide to mate one day, so just because they have been together for x number of years without producing any kits doesn't mean they can't. I mention that since some people have been sold male/female pairs and told they were sterile only to be surprised to find kits in the cage one day.