Questions about dust bath and brown velvets

Thearina · Nov 1, 2009

On Oct. 5th my mom and I went into a petstore that had just opened a few months ago. While there we seen that there was 2 chinchillas in a purple super pet cage priced at $75 for the adult and $60 for young baby. Their cage was the nastiest I've ever seen and smelt horrific. There was poop and urine caked on the shelves and the bedding looked like it hadn't been cleaned out in months. There was also a baseball sized ball of poop, bedding, and urine molded together in one of the bottom corners. There was nothing for them to hide in or chew on and no hay in sight. The store owner didn't know what color the adult was only that it was not the normal gray so that was why it was price more. He said the adult was a female and he didn't know about baby. He said the adult female could be pregnant because there had been a male in with them, dad to the baby and same color as the adult female, but he had already sold him. He said the he had only had them 3 weeks and that the mom was around 3 yrs old and the baby 3 months old. I knew as soon as I seen the mom that she was brown velvet and the baby was a gray. I asked to handle them and he had me get them out because he didn't want to handle them. The mom was good with being handled but the baby I think had never been handled because it barked and tried to bite. I checked the baby's sex and it was a girl. Both chins smelt just as bad if not worse the the cage, had yellow urine stained stomaches, extremely dry dull fur, and their ribs and hips were easily felt and didn't have any muscle on them. I don't think they have had a dust bath in months if ever even though the store owner said the previous owners said they gave them dust bath before bringing them in. I asked if he was interested in trading for them and he said yes so we traded an aquaium tank and stand for them. I think the only reason he traded is because the he seen how the baby acted and new it would be hard to sell plus the he said he mainly likes dealing in birds, reptiles and fish.

After we got them home we left them in a pet carrier and throughly cleaned their cage. Put clean aspen bedding, a couple of wood and grass huts, and hay. We through out their food because there was bugs crawling in it and gave the a mixture of 50/50 oxbow and mazuri because the baby would only eat the oxbow and the mom only mazuri. We gave them a dust bath right away and the mom hopped right in but the baby didn't know what to do but after watching the mom for a while figured it out. When the mom noticed the hay she started diving in eating. We figured the mom was pregnant because her stomach was really round but the rest of her was skinny. We gave them dust baths everyday for the first week until they started smelling better and the fur started feeling better. I kept a check on their weight and the baby started really putting on weight (over 50g to date) and the mom a little as well. The mom ended up giving birth to 1 baby on Oct. 23. The baby is light tan in color so I'm guessing its going to be brown velvet like the mom because the dad was suppose to be the same color as the mom. I've been weighing the baby every day and it weighed 59g when born and been gaining 2-8 g a day, it weighed 93g today Nov.1. I've read the FAQ on breeding but still have a few questions.

1) How old does the baby have to be before its first dust bath? I know the mom can had it 7-10 days after giving birth but I've read different things for the baby some saying 7 days and others a couples months.

2) I read on the FAQ about the lethal factor of breeding velvets together and was wondering since the mom and dad were suppose the be same color (Brown velvet) does anyone know of any genetics problems I need to watch for in both the babies, the older gray and 9 day old baby?

3) Is there anything I can give the mom to help her put some weight on? The mom weighted 617g the day we got her and weighted 647g a few days before giving birth. I weight her the day the she had the baby after having it and she weighted 595g.

4) Will the mom natural wean the baby or will I have too? We plan on keeping the baby with the mom and its sister if its a girl. I looked up pictures of sexing babies and the baby looks to be female but I check every time I weigh it just to be sure and plan double checking at 6 and 8 weeks to be sure. We left the sister in with the mom and baby because she not mean to it and will clean and check on the baby. The mom nurses and cleans the baby well.

Also just in case anyone was wondering we moved the mom and older baby to a different cage (marshall townhouse) from their original one before the mom gave birth. After the mom gave birth we blocked off the top part of the cage and took out all but 2 shelves which are at the same height as there wood hut. We also put cardboard all around the sides to baby proof since we didn't have anything else.

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

tunes · Nov 1, 2009

1) How old does the baby have to be before its first dust bath? I know the mom can had it 7-10 days after giving birth but I've read different things for the baby some saying 7 days and others a couples months.
Whenever mom bathes, the baby bathes. There's no need to wait for a certain age.

2) I read on the FAQ about the lethal factor of breeding velvets together and was wondering since the mom and dad were suppose the be same color (Brown velvet) does anyone know of any genetics problems I need to watch for in both the babies, the older gray and 9 day old baby?
It won't cause genetic problems. What it can do is cause less babies to be born in a litter.

3) Is there anything I can give the mom to help her put some weight on? The mom weighted 617g the day we got her and weighted 647g a few days before giving birth. I weight her the day the she had the baby after having it and she weighted 595g.
She may just be a smaller girl. Her weight was all baby weight. Just give her good quality feed, copious amounts of good quality hay, fresh water and maybe a supplement. But if you get a supplement, get it from someone who knows what they are doing like http://www.ryersonchinchilla.com

4) Will the mom natural wean the baby or will I have too? We plan on keeping the baby with the mom and its sister if its a girl. I looked up pictures of sexing babies and the baby looks to be female but I check every time I weigh it just to be sure and plan double checking at 6 and 8 weeks to be sure. We left the sister in with the mom and baby because she not mean to it and will clean and check on the baby. The mom nurses and cleans the baby well.
Mom will usually push them off at some point. If you plan to leave the girls all together, just let her do her thing when the time comes. The only reason you would need to worry about it is if the mom kept losing weight and the kit refused to stop nursing. Eventually though, I've found that mom's just dry up at some point.

Also just in case anyone was wondering we moved the mom and older baby to a different cage (marshall townhouse) from their original one before the mom gave birth. After the mom gave birth we blocked off the top part of the cage and took out all but 2 shelves which are at the same height as there wood hut. We also put cardboard all around the sides to baby proof since we didn't have anything else.
Be careful of the cardboard. The mom and sister may chew a hole in it. You can get hardware cloth to put around the cage and it will do a better job.

Welcome to CnH!

Thearina · Nov 2, 2009

1) Whenever mom bathes, the baby bathes. There's no need to wait for a certain age.
Okay, I'll give them their dust bath tomorrow. I looked on the FAQ and it didn't say anything about it so I figured it was best to ask first.

2) It won't cause genetic problems. What it can do is cause less babies to be born in a litter.
I read on the FAQ it said about having less babies but it didn't say anything about if there can be any genetic problems so I figured I ask just in case.

3) She may just be a smaller girl. Her weight was all baby weight. Just give her good quality feed, copious amounts of good quality hay, fresh water and maybe a supplement. But if you get a supplement, get it from someone who knows what they are doing like http://www.ryersonchinchilla.com
Actually she is a bigger bodied chinchilla, so I hope that she'll put on weight. But I figure if she does it will more than likely be after she weans the baby. Plus she still kinda skinny but has put just a little muscle on her ribs and hips since we got her. We were hoping that we would have had more time for her to put on weight before giving birth since she wasn't in very good condition before we got her. We also hoping that maybe she get were she prefers oxbow over the mazuri because most of our other chinchilla came to use being fed mazuri and we very slowly switched most over to only oxbow and they all have at least put on 25g or more. And they weren't skinny before the switch. I know alot people like mazuri but I really prefer oxbow. I just wanted to find out about the supplement just in case. I went ahead and weighed her just over an hour ago and she was up to 602g so that's a little bit but I'm really hoping she put more eventually.

4) Be careful of the cardboard. The mom and sister may chew a hole in it. You can get hardware cloth to put around the cage and it will do a better job.
So far the mom and sister hasn't been chewing on the cardboard at all but that may change but they also do have wood hut, grass hut, grass ball, alfalfa cubes, and timothy and alfalfa hay for chewing. We're give them alfalfa since the mom's underweight and nursing and the sister is still ribby but putting alot of weight. But I'll check on that cloth just in case.

Thanks for reply and answering my questions. I really appreicate it.

Riven · Nov 2, 2009

I am not a big of Mazuri personally. Weight gain usually takes a month or two to really show, especially with her nursing be patient for the weight gain!

I mostly agree with Pegger's, but some mom's will nurse FOREVER if you let them! It depends on genetics and if they enjoy being a mother, etc. Make sure the sister doesn't try nursing because sometimes they will. If it's a female I would leave them all together unless she's huge and older and still nursing then pull her out for several days and put her in a right next to them, them put her back in. Mom's milk should be dried up!

Be careful on giving too much alfalfa because that bumps up your protein a lot.

I would also check mom's teeth, they should be orange like a dirty carrot, if they are not it might not hurt to supplement her a little calcium.

Thearina · Nov 2, 2009

I just don't much care for Mazuri though I know alot people like it. Most of my chins came to me eating. My first chinchilla came to me on that food but I noticed that he didn't really eat it well and didn't seem to care for it much so I decide to try oxbow. I mixed a little in at first and after the first week he would only eat the oxbow and had put on 27g in 3 months on oxbow so I switched most of my other over as well and they all show at least a 20g weight gained and more in others.

I hope the mom ends of doing the weaning herself because the young gray sister thinks alot of the baby and gets upset when I get it out the weigh. I hope I don't end up having to separate the baby for even a little while. But will if I have too. The sister checks and grooms the baby. I haven't seen her trying to nurse from mom. The mom takes really good care of the baby. I don't know the mom's exact age or how many litters she has had.

We only feed a small handful of alfalfa every 2-3 days to just help to put on a little weight.

I've keeping a check on her teeth and they've been looking the right color.

Thanks for the reply.