Lost 1 day Old Kit please help!

[user 2197]

Hello everybody, i am brand new here!
the reason ive come here is i am hoping for a little help in looking for my lost kit! it's only 1 day old. yesterday i tried to determine if the kits could fit out the cage, but it seemed they could not, then this morning i woke up and both of the babys were missing from the cage, but one was just standing behind the cage so she is safe! the other kit is completely missing, i have let the mother out to look for him, but im not really sure if she is looking for him. i know he is in one room as all doors were closed all night to it, but it is a large "simplicity" style apartment single room, with a kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. i have moved all the appliances and other large things (desks, entertainment center, etc) to try to find the little guy but it is to no avail yet.

any tips would be greatly appreciated, i have never had kits before so i am quite distraught at the moment.

I am also wondering how long he will still be ok without feeding at all... i have been looking for about 2 hours, but he could have been missing for up to about 10 hours maximum from the time i went to bed to now.

 

[user 2197]

also, i am sorry if this doesn't classify as an emergency around here. but they are only 1 day old and do not know anywhere but the cage they live in, so i fear he is not only hiding from me but lost himself. will the kit go back to its mother when it is hungry?

sorry for all the questions at once, but i am freaking out a little.

 

[starleomach]

All you can do is keep looking, Hopefully he won't have gone too far. Remember he is very very tiny so he could have fit through some small holes

 

[lovemychingary]

I'm so sorry, I'd be really worried too. I'd let the mother out every hour or so just to try to attract the kit from where they are hiding. I know if i were a kit, i'd be looking for my mama. good luck!!

 

[user 2197]

i have located him, he is hiding in the back of my fireplace... theres no way for me to really get back, i have tried using a few things to push him out/hope that he would come out, but he will not... so i am keeping an eye on it hoping he will come out on his own... but its been about an hour now and hes still just sitting in there.

 

[Jenn]

can you hold his mom where he can see her? maybe he would come to her...

 

[user 2197]

i have tried to lure him out with his mom, i have also tried to scare him with semi-loud noises, and ive tried to push him with a plastic coat hanger, no matter what i do it seems he wants to hide back there.

 

[Laurie]

Please stop trying to scare him and poke things at him to get him out. Kits are very fragile and you could end up killing him. He is hiding because it is his natural instinct to hide.

Do you have a small temporary carrier you can place the mom in and put her near him?

You need to face the possiblity he will not come out and without his mother's milk he will die.

 

[user 2197]

i have not really been trying to push him, just gently poking him in hopes he will feel it is uncomfortable and leave, the little guy is really starting to scare me, i have called my cousin who used to work with these types of fireplace in hopes he can dissemble it around the lilttle guy.

 

[tunes]

Scaring him will only make him dig in deeprr to his hiding place. Put mom's cage right down in front of the fireplace and leave it there. Go away and shut the door to the room and let it be quiet. Mom will hopefully call to him. He got out of the cage, hopefully he will climb back in.

 

[user 2197]

well, i took a slightly more aggressive route, but with my cousins help over the phone i disasembled the fireplace enough to grab him out of there.

thanks for the help everybody, i am very glad he is safe and feeding from his mother as i type!

once my mom gets home i am going to have her watch them while i go to the hardware store and find some hardware cloth, from what i hear it is a screen type of material that i can attach to the outside of the cage to assure the little guys stay in there, if anybody else has any other good ways to baby-proof the cage please let me know.

 

[Jenn]

yay! I am so happy you were able to get him out, even if it was the hard way. But desperate times call for desperate measures! Definitely baby-proof the cage to prevent this from happening again.

 

[Essentia]

Hardware cloth wrapped around, or another cage with bar spacing 1/2in by 1/2in or smaller will be your only options.

 

[user 2197]

well, i just got this cage yesterday so they would have a nice big cage for them all, so im thinking i will go with the hardware cloth route

does anybody know what stores will carry this? i am guessing places like Home Depot or Lowes should, possibly walmart?

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Hardware cloth wrapped around, or another cage with bar spacing 1/2in by 1/2in or smaller will be your only options.

Bar spacing should be no larger than 1/2" x 1"

Home Depot or Lowes will have hardware cloth. I haven't seen it at Walmart before.

 

[bchins]

Are you saying the dad, mom, babies (possibly opposite sexes) will all be caged in one cage? Just wondering because inbreeding could happen, and that is NOT a good thing.

 

[user 2197]

currently yes they are all in one home, but i do not intend on keeping the babies, once they are old enough to be weened from their mother i will be giving them to friends.

 

[bchins]

Okay, I see.

 

[GorillaJTA]

If the male and female are still together, you may as well the keep the hardware cloth on hand and start counting another 111 days, because you probably more kits coming.

 

[Jenn]

If the male and female are still together, you may as well the keep the hardware cloth on hand and start counting another 111 days, because you probably more kits coming.

yes, the male should have been seperated already, long ago, to keep another pregnancy from reoccuring. You really don't want the 2 of them to keep breeding without good, proven backgrounds, and because breeding nightmares (worse than what you've already experienced) can occur.