Is it ok to breed these chinchillas?

[Mookie]

I Have a 2 year old female chinchilla, and a 1 year old male. THe problem is I got them both from petstores. I would get them both checked out by our exotic vet that has chinchillas, and experience with them, to see if they are breeding quality. My male is a **** ebony, and my female is a silver mosaic. I would have homes for the kits. And I have a cage for the female if and while she is in labor, or if the male has to get neutered instead.

 

[Mookie]

Neutering a male chinchilla

I Have a male and a female chinchilla, and I want to get my male neutered. Whats the risk, and price? How can I prepare for his arrive home after surgery? It's either that or I let him and my female breed. A silver Mosaic, and a **** ebony bought from a petstore, vet checked.

 

[tunes]

So this doesn't become a repeat of Yahoo, where you ask the same question 10 times hoping for a different answer, I've combined these threads so as to create less confusion.

 

[Dragonflye]

Are the chinchillas already in the same cage? If so, then she very well could be pregnant. Pet store chins should not be bred. Not because they wouldn't make pretty babies, but because you have no way of knowing their health histories.

Your vet would be unable to give you an accurate assessment of quality, as the actual overall health of the animal at that particular vet visit isn't the only factor that determines quality breeding stock.

Just because you are prepared with a cage doesn't mean you should breed them.

I would separate them and enjoy them as pets. Period.

 

[InkedupTara]

Are the chinchillas already in the same cage? If so, then she very well could be pregnant. Pet store chins should not be bred. Not because they wouldn't make pretty babies, but because you have no way of knowing their health histories.

Your vet would be unable to give you an accurate assessment of quality, as the actual overall health of the animal at that particular vet visit isn't the only factor that determines quality breeding stock.

Just because you are prepared with a cage doesn't mean you should breed them.

I would separate them and enjoy them as pets. Period.

I agree. Petstore chins should not be bred, just for those reasons listed above.

Enjoy them as pets.

I Have a male and a female chinchilla, and I want to get my male neutered. Whats the risk, and price? How can I prepare for his arrive home after surgery? It's either that or I let him and my female breed. A silver Mosaic, and a **** ebony bought from a petstore, vet checked.

Were they bought together, like living in the same cage at the store? Most stores only carry one or the other for this reason, well at least here anyway.

Why are those 2 the only options? Why not just seperate them and keep them seperate?

 

[Claire D]

Firstly, welcome to CnH :wave: You will find plenty of good advice and support here, given by experienced chinchilla owners, breeders, and rescuers.

You sound like you are just throwing these chins together with no real understanding of what you are doing - you're not going to get anyone telling you it is ok to breed chins in that manner - you need to have a good, hard think again about what you want to do with this pair of chins. Getting the male castrated is going to be your best option if you want to keep them together.

It is not advisable to breed from non-pedigreed/historied chinchillas - there are all sorts of problems which can occur and a search of the forum will show you some of them.
Breeding chins is not for the "novice" chinchilla owner and you will need to have a chinchilla competent vet nearby in case of emergencies and plenty of money for vets bills. Emergency C-sections can cost upwards of $600 - anything up to $1000 and that's just for the initial surgery.

Neutering the male is the best option for your chins - a male can be neutered any time after about 6 months but this pair should be separated NOW (if they are not already) so that the female does not get pregnant. If she is pregnant then you will need to read up on the many, many threads here which cover preparation for pregnant chins.

You will NEED a chinchilla competent vet to perform the surgery and average costs are around $100 I believe (someone from the US please correct this if it is wrong) which is similar to the UK (£40-£100).
Having a chinchilla competent vet is essential for performing neutering on a chinchilla - it is more complex and "fiddly" than doing a cat or dog and anaesthetic risks are greater.

As for post-op care - have a look at the page on my website which is all about care of chins immediately after surgery: http://www.davidson-chinchillas.co.uk/pages/initial_post_operative_care_of_chinchillas_following_surgery.php

 

[menagerie]

I think Tunes covered well why the chins should not be bred on Yahoo answers.

 

[saszygirl1]

i have a 2 year old female chinchilla, and a 1 year old male. The problem is i got them both from petstores. I would get them both checked out by our exotic vet that has chinchillas, and experience with them, to see if they are breeding quality. My male is a **** ebony, and my female is a silver mosaic. I would have homes for the kits. And i have a cage for the female if and while she is in labor, or if the male has to get neutered instead.

if you have to ask this question that should be enough to know not to breed them.

 

[eroomlorac]

Why ruin the fun of owning such wonderful pets but complicating it all with trying to breed them? It's a lot of work and possibly a lot of heart ache. I am a pretty experienced pet owner and have actually bred Siamese cats in the far past. Just owning pets is so much more fun and relaxing than breeding. It's hard to find good homes for the offspring if you're as picky as I was about my baby cats! It got to be too stressful. I spayed and neutered them and ever since I've just enjoyed my pets. When I want a 'cute baby' fix, I visit my friend who breeds and enjoy HER baby chins.

 

[mishellyshel]

they sound like they are beautiful pets.........why not keep them that way.
share some pix of them, get a little more experience and then perhaps if you want to venture in the world of breeding you can get a nice breeding pair from someone here who has been breeding quality chins.

i have a petstrore chin, who i love very much and he has maloclusion and has to take medicine and be handfed 3 times a day. i would never ever want to pass that on to another chin or anyone because it is painful and he is only 5 and will probably not see 6.

enjoy CnH and have fun with your babies. hopefully you will take the advice you have received here.