Pregnancy Help...

[SweetAlie]

i am new and not sure if i am posting in the right place... if not i am sorry...

my friend got a male and female chin about a month ago. the people my friend got them from where giving different answers as to how long they had them. 2-4 yrs. i know that is a BIG difference. :wacko: but....

what i am inquiring about it is... after doing a lot of research with and for my friend... we are just not sure the people told her the truth about the female being pregnant. (i am getting a baby a boy if she IS pregnant.) we CAN see movement in her belly, as if she IS pregnant. she does eat a lot and lays on her side a lot. we understand that is some symptoms of pregnancy. the problem is that the people told her that the female is due the last week of february. as you all know... IT IS THAT TIME NOW. her nipples ARE NOT very long either. i felt for them MYSELF as my friend held the female. as i have read, the nipples will be LONGER as the pregnancy gets farther along. so we are confused a bit. WE HAVE NO IDEA if what the people are telling her is true. they told her that they have NO IDEA when the conseption date is and that all they know is the end of feb is the due date.
so, my friends hubby is underway and has 5 kids and does not have the time to take the chins to a vet at the time. i know that is probably not a good reason to you all, but for her it is hard to do things with 5 kids. and yes i know i could probably help her, but she is not the type to look for help. i guess you can call it stubborn.

plz help with any info you may have from your experience. we really are not looking to get lectures from people here. i know that may sound rude... just talking from experience, from other forums. we just really need some HELP right now. :thinking:

THANK YOU to all who may be able to give some ideas... even a little info may help us A LOT. :thumbsup:

 

[tunes]

My best advice to you is to have everything ready (baby safe cage, formula on hand, extra cage to separate dad into right now, etc.) and wait. If she's pregnant she will deliver. If she's not, she won't. Even IF the previous owners saw the actual mating take place, that means nothing. He could have mated her for a week before that and a week after and no one will ever know the exact date she conceived. You can guesstimate, jot it down and count 111 days from then, but it still doesn't mean she conceived on that particular date.

Relax, sit back, and wait. People ask me constantly how I know when my females are pregnant, and my answer is always the same, when I see kits in the cage.

I know you aren't looking for lectures, and it's not intended to be one, but someone is going to say it so it might as well be me. If your friend isn't willing or able to take her chin to the vet, then she shouldn't have one, especially a pregnant one. I have three kids, am a single mom, have 250 chins, and around 30 other animals. I work a full-time job and I drive my kids to school 130 miles each and every day. With all that, I still have time to take my animals to the vet if they need it, and my vet is 2 hours away. Maybe with this your friend lucked out. If everything goes well, she may not need to see a vet. Just watch and wait. But what if it was an emergency situation? Would your friend then be able to see her way clear to taking the chin to the vet?

A little example of what could but hopefully won't happen: http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=223

 

[Cuddlebug]

Peggy is right. The only way to know for sure is when you see kits. I have had girls fool me more than once, thought that they were pregnant and they weren't. I agree that there are signs that she may be pregnant. Usually, if you feel movement they are due with in the next couple of weeks. That said< i wouldn't go poking around on her belly. You could kill or injure the kits. Just take Peggy's advice and wait to see what happens.

 

[SweetAlie]

i sure will let my friend know to just leave her chin be. i know that is what we have read during research as well.

tunes: WOW, u sure loves animals. i do too, but would never have patience for breeding animals. i think it is so great that there are types of people like you out there giving all those animals a loving home.
thank you for your advice. i would like to inform you that i WILL be there for my friend if the chin has her babies. i live 2 houses from her. like i said, she is stubborn, but in emergency situations i am sure she will do the right thing. i also told her that i WILL be there PERIOD while the chin is having her babies, in case anything DOES go wrong. we have an emergency clinic about 3 miles from our homes.
also i have taken care of a couple kittens that were a few hours old, when the mom did not want to nurse them. i had them for 3 LONG days. of course we are praying that NOTHING goes wrong with the chins. i am hoping that the chins would be somewhat similar to caring for a newborn kitten. if not, i am sure i will be told on here, or find info in more research.

the other concern we had was the fact that the previous owner said he had 6 chins in one cage. the cage that was given with these 2 chins. we are not sure if they WERE this chin couples babies. altho he did say she DID have a litter before. not sure when or how many. so we are pretty much learning a lot and learning along the way. my friend was told the female was pregnant and she agreed to buy the 2 chins and all their belongings. she didn't mind. so i am doing my best to support my friend in the process.

(this is suppose to be about the chins i know, sorry for going off topic here... but, i have a feeling that you all may think that i AM the friend i am talking about. i assure you that it is NOT me. i do not want to have any animal that is pregnant. i do not have the patience for more than one animal of the same kind at a time. i only have 1 parakeet for the time being. i am really just trying to help my friend get as much info from experienced people as i can. as she is not a forum type.)

i do, as my friend does too, thank everyone for your help. :thumbsup:

 

[Parkerspetchins]

Make sure your friend knows that she should separate the pair so they don't continue to breed, who knows what messed up genetics she is introducing into the chin world. Which means she needs at least one other cage for now. If the female has a litter of chinchillas with both sexes, the male/s (minus yours) once they are weaned can live with dad and the female/s can stay with mom. She will need at least one more cage for back-up in case any of the chins do not get along at some point. So she is looking at a minimum of 3 cages at this point if the female has kits, 2 right now to separate the pair as soon as possible. That is the responsible thing to do. She has no idea what these chins have in their genetic background, if they are related even, and are passing to any offspring they have. Think of the pain and heartbreak that malocclusion can cause (not to mention the vet bills). Both the chinchillas and the humans that love them suffer.

 

[Cinder and Me]

Are you sure one is a girl and one is a boy? :thinking:
Just thought I'd throw that out there...

 

[VolunteerChin22]

I agree that your friend should seperate now if you suspect she could be within a few days of delivering because the female will go into heat immediately after/during birth. The male can injure or kill kits trying to mate with the female and she most definately will get pregnant again. This is not ideal for chins who are nursing as it can deplete their calcium levels. Your friend does not sound committed to the responsibilities of breeding from what you have said, so it would be a good idea to keep them seperated permanently. I haven't seen anything said about where these chins came from that leads me to beleive they are of breeding quality anyways, if not even related to each other. Keeping 6 chins of opposite sexes together in one cage is not a good idea at all. If your friend does have a male kit, I would ask polietely to take the father too and to prevent your friend from breeding again, but that is just imo.

 

[SweetAlie]

today I checked the female after finding out what they look like down there. she IS female. not exactly sure about the male yet. i know what it needs to look like as well and will have to get my friend to look tomorrow.
good ? though. i said the same thing to my friend today about the chins. never know what the previous owners told her or left out. the couple she got them from were not helpful at all in giving her any info that she needs. seems like they just wanted to get rid of the chins and be done with them. they recently had a newborn and said they did not want the responsibilities anymore. sad huh...

as for the info i DO know... the chins look to be standards. they both have the gray with the white belly. the female also had a toe missing on her back right foot. the toe that would be the middle. so she has a Y shape for toes. it is weird lookin. i said that it could be from a few different things but we will NEVER KNOW. i really do hope they are not inbreeds and that the babies are healthy and live long happy lives.

as for the info about after giving birth... yes she knows the stuff stated above. i made sure she knew too.
which brings a ? to mind... is it better to have 2 chins, of same sex if not wanting to breed, OR is it okay to have one alone? i am only wanting to buy 1 male, but if suggested to have 2 then i will try to get the father as well, if there is not 2 males in the little. if there is even more than 1 baby. i am home all the time as well and would give only 1 all the attention he would need or desire.

the cage these chins are in now has 3 levels. the top level can be blocked off due to there being ONLY a hole big enough for the chins to jump from the top level to the middle. my friend was wondering if it would be okay to just block the top level and leave the male in the bottom 2? the female would be alone in the top to have her kits and care for them. i have read of some people having cage next to cage. so will it be okay or stressful for the chins to live above and below each other? i have not looked up this to find an answer so i figured i could just ask here?

once again... thnx to all advice and concern.
take care

 

[Anne-Lise]

The decision to have one or two chins is entierly yours. However, they seem to get more independant when they got a friend. If you are not home very often though, it could be agreat thing.

 

[tunes]

If you can house two, I always like to see chins in pairs. Even though you are home all the time, chins are primarily nocturnal, which means their active time is when most people sleep. Having a cagemate gives them someone to bounce around with, and also to cuddle with when they sleep during the day.

As far as the cage situation, it should be fine to divide the cage into two parts for the expectant mom and dad. Where the mom is, all the shelves should be removed so mom will stay with the kits, and so the kits won't get hurt should mom decide to give birth on the shelves.

 

[Riven]

Under the education section of my site there is a section about breeding, and it shows a collection of photos of things that can go wrong in breeding, birthing, and pairing. I suggest you and your friend check it out, just to be prepared for what might happen.

Make sure the "male" is indeed a male and separate them ( as was said above ) good luck, with any luck their will be a boy and a girl and you guys could split them into same sex pairs! One for you, and one for her!

ETA: I am a married mother of two, but my husband is gone 9-11 out of every two weeks, so basically for most of the time I'm a "single mother" I have about 100 chins, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 3 horses, 1 goat, fish, 2 guinea pigs... Split the responsibilities of a two parents family in half, and I bet I win. But a sick animal, is a life that needs help. That animal didn't ASK to live with anyone, they asked it to live with them, and are responsible for that life. Just my thoughts on that.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Well said Riven. Two chins are really not any harder to care for than one, unless you need more than one cage but even then not that much different. What is the bar spacing on the cage they are in now?

 

[SweetAlie]

thnx for all of your opinions on the pairing or not of chins. also the cage info. i do appreciate it.

riven... thnx for letting me know about the education section on your site. i will make sure to go there tomorrow with my friend. best time is while the kids are all at school.
also would like to let you know that i am glad you can handle all those animals and your kids. seriously tho, i do not want to offend you here, but i don't want to here about everybody's life stories just becuz you feel you are BETTER AT what you do. i am sure you are just saying that if you can do it then anyone can, but seriously I AM NOT the one with the excuses. i was telling exactly how my friend is and what she said. hence why i said what i did in the very first message.
i am pretty much like a single mom myself to a 6 yr old daughter. my husband is working 2 jobs and works one of those jobs 6 days a week. due to my being hospitalized for 4 days a yr ago and then being fired from my job after MY BOSS telling me to go to the ER in the first place. we are also a military family. i am a navy vet myself. i know all about having to be WITHOUT my husband and caring for our child ALONE FOR MONTHS at a time. i DEFINITELY WOULD NOT take on the responsibility of animals that i KNOW i do not have patience or time for. i am VERY GLAD to know that you are able to do so yourself. you go girl, seriously. i know for sure that i DO NOT have the patience for a lot of animals as you do. i don't have the money or space either for more than 2-3 animals. i have 1 parakeet at the time and can handle ONLY 1-2 more animals. i like to also give my UNDIVIDED attention when possible to EACH. i do not feel that i would be able to with more than 2-3 animals at one time. so i will stick to what i KNOW i can handle. not everyone is the same, especially when it comes to caring for others or for animals.

anyway, i am seriously NOT HERE to hear others LIFE stories. i know that sounds very rude. i am ONLY here to get info about chins and how i CAN HELP my friend. also to learn along the way, so when i get a chin or 2 myself i will know what to possibly expect and how to handle the situation.

again, i am NOT here to offend anyone or make anyone upset. if anyone feels i am not being fair or overly rude, then plz feel free to let me know and i WILL leave this forum.
i really just need help with CHINCHILLA stuff and thought that was all i was inquiring about.

 

[Parkerspetchins]

my friends hubby is underway and has 5 kids and does not have the time to take the chins to a vet at the time. i know that is probably not a good reason to you all, but for her it is hard to do things with 5 kids. and yes i know i could probably help her, but she is not the type to look for help. i guess you can call it stubborn.

Not to be rude or offend anyone but I think the "life story" was mentioned because your friend's "life story" got thrown into the mix and the point was, even though your friend may not have time to go to the vet with a sick animal, it is her responsibility and other people do it even though they are just as busy as your friend is...

Everybody, in this section of the forum at least, loves chinchillas and wants to give advice that will help chinchillas and maybe the owner too, though that might be secondary at times. Has your friend sexed and separated the two chinnies yet? If help is what is truly being asked for then that is the first step. If she isn't pregnant already, the longer the two are together the better the chances are that she will be unless it turns out that they are same sex after all...

 

[tunes]

SweetAlie - Please don't leave mad. The only reason I pointed out to you about being a single mom with a lot of animals was that to most people on this forum, it doesn't matter one way or the other. If you take an animal into your care, then you owe that animal the care that it deserves. That's it. That wasn't for a pat on the back or an atta girl. We realize this isn't you, and that you're put in a hard spot worrying about these animals and not having control over the situation, we're just giving you "ammo" so to speak, to go back to your friend with. Basically, other people do it, so can you.

I agree with Parkerspetchins as well. TRY and talk her into separating the male and female. It's most likely too late already and the female is bred, but maybe you'll get lucky and she's not. You could then just volunteer to take or the other and that will put the breeding issue to bed.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

ETA: I am a married mother of two, but my husband is gone 9-11 out of every two weeks, so basically for most of the time I'm a "single mother" I have about 100 chins, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 3 horses, 1 goat, fish, 2 guinea pigs... Split the responsibilities of a two parents family in half, and I bet I win. But a sick animal, is a life that needs help. That animal didn't ASK to live with anyone, they asked it to live with them, and are responsible for that life. Just my thoughts on that.

I read this the same way Tunes and Parkerspets did given this whole thread has been about your friend all of this is advice was geared to...