Introducing new chin

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Narcissus

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
510
Location
idaho
I'm new to this forum and I want to thank everyone for all the useful information I have found already from this site. I have a question for any body who has any ideas. I have a three year old standard make, his name is Rafe. I have purchased a medium ebony female. She is only two weeks old at the present time, so I have six more weeks to prepare for her. We have decided to name her Akasha. What is the best way to introduce them when she finally gets to come home? She will be very little and im affraid he might hurt her.... Any ideas?
 
Unless you plan on breeding -- DON'T.....even if you plan on breeding, wait until she's much older.
 
She can't be introduced to him until she is at least 8 months old. If you put her in with him now, he will breed her. Contrary to popular belief, females do mature at a very early age and can, in fact, conceive at even 2 months of age. This would be very dangerous for her.

When she is old enough, and after you have carefully considered whether you want to be a breeder or not, here is a link to introduction methods http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13659 that should answer most of your questions.

Welcome. :)
 
I do not plan to introduce them until she is a year old. I guess I should have been more specific, would it be benifical to place her cage next to his now, so they can get used to the smell if each other? Or would that be more stressful on them? I breed sugar gliders and mini schnauzers. I do intend on breeding my chins. I just want to make things as "stressless" as possible.
 
You can, but be sure you keep a good distance between them. It's not unheard of for chins to have conceived through the bars of a cage. They are persistent little buggars.

You might also consider attending a show or two before you put them together, to see if they should be bred or if they are going to be a good match for each other.
 
sad to say, but there are no chin shows where I live. I have researched both pedigrees and I'm confident they will produce good babies. No lethal factor. Thank you for the advice, I will keep their cages far enough apart so they can't breed
 
Welcome to the Forum
It isn't a lethal factor or pedigree you need to watch it is the quality of the animals themselves even animals with a 30 generation pedigree doesn't mean they should be bred. There is no way to know with a 2 week old kit if she will even be breedable. Quality aside there is no gaurentee that she will be big enough to safely pass kits and how good quality is the male, Here is an over view of what they look for at shows

Body should be blocky. If you are looking from above the shoulders should be as wide or about as wide as the hip.

v Face should have a small nose, not long like a rat but rather a short nose.

v Head and neck, the neck should be thick with little or no dip in the neck behind the head.

v Size bigger is better

v Fur. You want density or a lot of fur. To check the density you can blow into the fur and see how much skin you can see. The less you see the better. When you stop blowing see how fast the fur bounces back. You should not be able to see where you blew.

v Finish is the overall appearance. The fur should not look wooly, fur should be flawless

v Color all colors should have a bluish tint. White should be bright the animals should not look reddish, orange or yellow.

v Veiling this is how well the color covers the animal

v Fur Length is very important. If the fur is too long the animal looks shaggy. The overall look should be smooth with no obvious abrupt changes.

v Texture. Fine textured hair that looks soft and flowing is desired. Course hair will not look smooth. If you blow across the fur fine fur will ripple, course hair will lay down

that is just some of what they look at. Good luck. If you are going to breed it is worth the drive to go to a show. People travel pretty far sometimes but if you are breeding it is worth it. Most people buy adult animals when breeding so you know what you are getting
 
Thank you to everyone for the advice. I bought my male from a breeder in montana. He seems to be a good looking chin. I a aware if the idea that the baby I have bought may not be breedable. I deal with breeding issues similar to these with my sugar gliders. I would love to go to a show, does anyone know where the closest one to me would be? I live in idaho.
 
Probably Colorado or a California show. You may have to travel a few hours, but the shows are very much worth it. You can also pick up good quality animals at the show and obtain knowledge and guidance from other breeders at the shows.
 
You won't be able to put them together until she's about a year old. A breeder I buy from told me chins are sexually mature at 13 weeks. If she were to get pregnant at only a few months old, there's a good chance she and/or her babies would die during child birth. She won't be big enough for her body to handle the pregnancy and birth. You should not breed the female until she's full-grown, about a year old.
My first chin was a boy. I went to get him a friend. I found out a couple weeks later the friend was a girl. I was told by everyone to seperate them immediately! I hated to do it because they were cuddlebuddies, but I had to so my baby didn't die. It just wasn't worth the chance!
edit: Sorry, Ididn't read ahead before I posted! You can keep them in seperate cages at least 3 inches apart. They can communicate that way :)
 
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my friend and i was reading and wondering, how far does a female cage need to be away from a males cage, since she has both male and female and the cage distance between her two are about a good 3 1/2-4 inches away. and she does not want to breed them. would she have to move the cages further away?
 
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