I think he is a she!

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Joined
Jan 9, 2013
Messages
7
Some of you may have seen that I lost one boy and his "boyfriend" needed a mate? Well.. We rescued Dexter from a lady who claimed that he was definately a boy... I am holding up my hands now and admitting I shoud have conducted an examination in her house.. I didnt. I slowly introduced them... Dexter is shy and Curtis seemed to be wanting to be near Dexter but he kept running away... I started to think that Dexter looked girly.. very soft features and shy...

I had not handled him yet so I picked him up and there is hardly any space between the anus and the "cone" Unlike Curtis who has a very pronounced penis and definately looks like a boy.. Very robust and "grumpy" and male!

I have taken Dexter (now calling him Dexy) and put him in another cage... They were together 5 days.. she could easily be a she and I guess it is very possible that she could be pregnant....

I appreciate that we have been very foolish but I am going to read as much as I can on birth and pregnancy... I have seen the horror stories on here.... I am not going to give her up.. She is my responsibility now. I would liked to have had three chins just incase Curtis lost his "friend" (we lost one to pneumonia and one to malocusion) So I would keep a kit if she is pregnant and THEN neuter curtis and keep them as a family.

I have booked an appointment with my vets.
I was wondering though, for those of you who keep a male and a female, I am sure some of you have had the males neutered? Do the males leave the females alone? Because Curtis was chasing Dexter a lot and I dont want her to be bothered and stressed out my all the humping....
 
Well its still possible dex is a boy, chins will mount each others backs in dominance fights too. And the softer features would be unrelated to the sex. If Dex was a girl, well some chins can take years to get pregnant so hopefully your chin is fine and it was really responsible of you to separate till you are sure. ^^ good luck I hope it has a happy ending with the chins being friends for life.
 
Could you post a picture of Dexi's genitals? That way we can help you be sure about the gender. If Dexi turns out to be a female, you will need to count 111 days from the time you separated them. If she does not have kits by then, she is not pregnant.

Yes, males have been neutered. It needs to be done by a vet who has experience neutering chinchillas and if is risky. A lot of chins don't do well when under and there is always the risk of infection. He would then need to be kept in a separate cage for 6 weeks after the surgery so that everything gets a chance to heal and it also gives it time for all of the sperm to die off.

Some neutered males stop trying and others will be have as if they were never neutered. It just depends on the chinchilla.

Personally, I do not see any reason to go through a dangerous operation when the simple solution is to keep them separated.
 
Thank you cuddlebug

she is a girl, she has girls genitals and... well... I watched him mate her.. Several times. Does that mean she was definately in heat? I dont want to keep two separate chinchillas... I have had five chinchillas including Curtis and they have all had a relationship with me but Curtis is my longest standing chinchilla and he has no regard for me.. he cannot stand the slightest bit of human contact. He loves other chins. Dexy is my responsibility now, I am not giving her up or giving her back - they really like each other. My vet is a small exotic specialist, he sees chinchillas all the time and curtis is a very strong and robust chin. I don't want him to have unnecessary surgery but If my vet is comfortable with it I will proceed and keep them together, happily.
 
If they've mated several times, you'll now need to keep in mind that 111 days from that date, you may find a kit or four in your cage.
 
I would definitely not neuter him yet, in any case. The kit may turn out to be a male, and then you would have to put him through the process as well, which as others have mentioned, could be quite dangerous and not worth it. If it comes down to it, you might just want to keep the kit(s?) with the same sex parent and put their cages next to eachother so that they can all be somewhat social without the risk of another pregnancy or the risks associated with neutering them?
 
Just because your male humped the the chinchilla does not mean that it is a female. Males will hump males to prove dominance. Also, chinchillas will mate when the female is not in heat. the best thing to do, however, is to count 111 days from the day you separate them. And, yes, they need to be separated until you get him neutered and they will need to stay separated until 6 weeks after the neutering to avoid the possibility of getting pregnant again. Female chinchillas have two uteri and can carry 2 pregnancies at one time.
 
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