OH boy..(literally!)

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wombat

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Sooo the girlfriend and I decide to go on a trip to Wisconsin for the weekend, and we had a very very surprising phone call...Aparently both of my chins aren't boys! I got the chins less than 3 months ago and while on vacation, my brother calls me and says that there's a baby chin in the cage...Very surprised we drove back home...to find that sure enough one of my chins was NOT a boy! The ebony one we have is the mother of a new born kit. I don't know where to begin...because this is not only my first two chins but my first baby. The sad news is there was two babies in the cage, however one of them was dead when my brother found them, but the other is well and running around. I don't know where to begin with my questions...

First off, the father keeps trying to hump the mother, is that something I should stop?

Secondly, the mother was eating something that was a dark brown/blackish in color...and i have no idea waht it was...the picture of it will be up soon. Any idea what this was?

Third, the chin is a male, should I keep all three in the cage, or seperate them?

and finally, is there anyhting special I should do for the mother? I know the water/apple juice thing already, but anything else?

I'll have pictures of the kit and that disgusting black thing in a minute.
 
I don't know much about chinchillas and breeding, but she could have been eating the placenta.
 
Take the daddy chin out, you might have another litter in 111 days now because she can get pregnant that easy. You need to get them in a baby safe cage right now, I see you are still online here, don't wait or the baby chin will escape and chill to death, get eaten, starve or something. Read the baby FAQ section I think it has to be 1/2 by 2 inch spacing.
 
Yes, you should stop the father from trying to hump her by separating them. You may already have a breed back and could be looking at another baby chin in 111 days though. Leave the baby with the mother until it is ready to wean, but the father needs to be separated. It could have been placenta, as Haley mentioned. Keep the mother and kit in a quiet place and try the 50/50 apple or cranberry juice in a bottle plus a water bottle. Read up on the chin breeding section FAQ. Good luck.
 
The cage the kit is in should be fine for tonight at least, it's about 3/4 inch spacing, however the plastic pan is about eight inches in height until the metal cage starts, and i've already moved everything away from the edges to prevent him from climbing anything. There's only one problem with removing the father, I have NOWHERE to put him...I'm going out tomorrow to buy a cage...I was 4 hours north when this happened.
 
img00184.jpg

New kit.
img00185.jpg

New kit again.
img00192.jpg

Placenta?
 
I am afraid the father won't leave the new momma alone, she needs to just sit still and tend to her kit, if she can't the kit may not survive till morning. Do you or friends have a cat carrier, bird cage anything?? To put dad in?
Added: Is she taking care of him?
 
She is taking really good care of the kit, she's sitting in the hidey house with him all snuggly and warm. Update on the dad though, as of right now we've got him in a cardboard "take home" box from a pet store...I'm going to get a cat carrier from my girlfriends house though.
 
OK, put him in the bathroom if it's safe cause he'll eat out of that in 2 minutes. Can your GF bring the cat carrier? Are you getting it right away I hope. Congratulations on your beautiful baby!
I'm sure he can get out of that cage, and yes they jump and climb already. Better keep a overnight vigil on making sure he stays in there.
 
We got the cat carrier. Mom's still staying close to the kit and keeping him warm. He's been feeding on and off.
 
Quick addition that I hadn't mentioned earlier. I had asked my brother to weigh the chin, and according to him, he weighs 25grams.
 
Oh wow, that is super tiny if that is the right weight. He looks bigger in the pic. He will get out of the cage in a matter of hours, if not already. You need spacing that is 1/2" or less. The mom was eating the placenta, and that is perfectly normal. For sure count down 111 days because I would bet she is pregnant again. Poor momma! Make sure to keep her away from daddy chin this time, because another breed back could kill her. Good luck with the little one!
 
I'm sorry, he was weigh'd incorrectly. He measured in at 1.2 oz, which my brother thought was 20some grams, when really it's 34...so yeah he's still 34grams as of today. I'm heading out to get the cage for daddy and supplies for mommy.
 
Make sure you get a good cage for the daddy, because that should be his permanent home for him. :) You wouldn't want any more babies and if they are put together again, she will wind up having more. Also, more than likely, she is pregnant again. Females go into heat directly after birth, which is why he was after her like crazy. You can probably put the baby boy with his father as a cagemate when he is old enough (about 8 weeks would be fine). It may also be time to get a new cage for the momma, one that is baby safe for her and the kit, but also for when she's done nursing him so she's out of that plastic one.

Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions!
 
I think mom gets special supplements while she is nursing. Do you have a digital scale. You can weigh the baby every day too. There should be lots of helpful facts on this forum for you.
 
You should hang two water bottles in with mom. One should have just plain water and the other should be a mix of half 100% apple juice and half water. Other than that, she should be fine. Have you read the breeding facts under here? They're very good and very informative! :)
 
Baby safe cage spacing is 1/2" x 1" squares; anything larger, and they can escape. :)
 
I was just about to say the same, the kit can EASILY get out of that cage if inclined. On the up side he looks good, even 34 grams sounds a little low to me, but pictures can be deceptive.
 
Yeah, dad was trying to mate with her so you will need to watch out for more babies as she could have easily gotten pregnant again.
When the baby is ready to be weaned (around 8 weeks) you need to take the baby out and put it with the dad so that the baby boy chin does not try to mate with his mother. They can and will do this. Also, boy and girl chin parts are hard to tell apart if you aren't used to what you're looking at, so are you absolutely sure that the baby is a boy? Both boys and girls have a cone which may make you think it's a boy. If it is really a girl and you put it with dad, dad will try to mate with it and it will be wayyy too young for that. Is there any way you can take a picture of it's parts and post it here for people to tell you for sure what it is?
 
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