EMSChins
Hendryx Chinchillas
My heavily marked mosaic Patches gave birth this morning to what at first I thought was a litter of triplets. While feeding and doing general cleanup in the chin room at 6 am her fat self greeted me at the feeder giving no indication that she was about to litter. She began happily munching away at pellets and hay.
Unfortunately she bred back in January after surprising me with a litter of two kits so the sire was not removed in time from her cage. She is a fairly large chinchilla so was not showing signs of pregnancy. I had her marked with a due date of 5/12/12 due to the male being in the cage at the time of delivery of the unexpected kits and the possibility of a breed back.
At 7 am I decided to check again to find B34, B35 and B36 in the cage with her. Mom was disposing of what was left of the placentas and any other evidence in the cage. Babies were all cleaned up and starting the process of learning to nurse and establish a pecking order. All was well. I thought we were finished.
Checked on them several more times throughout the day. No fighting amongst the kits and mom eating and drinking, resting with kits tucked up underneath her nursing. No signs of labor or distress. Getting up to eat every once in a while.
At 1 pm I go down to find 3 dead kits in the cage. I am sick to my stomach thinking mom killed the babies. When I go to remove them, all of a sudden, 3 live kits scramble out from underneath mom. The dead kits are wet, and one is still warm but I unable to revive it. Mom made an attempt to clean up all three and keep them warm.
She delivered the additional 3 stillborn kits approximately 6 hours after the 3 original kits. All 6 kits were approximately the same size ranging in weight from 33 to 41 gms and all were fully formed and mature.
The 3 live kits weigh, 33, 35 and 41 gms. To my knowledge this cannot be a case of a premature labor occurring at the same time as a full term birth since the sire was shut out of the cage.
Has anyone else experience anything like this? There was no foul odor or discharge associated with the later delivery. Mom again appears fine. Nursing and eating, drinking, no abnormal discharge of note. Is there anything further that I should be looking for?
Unfortunately she bred back in January after surprising me with a litter of two kits so the sire was not removed in time from her cage. She is a fairly large chinchilla so was not showing signs of pregnancy. I had her marked with a due date of 5/12/12 due to the male being in the cage at the time of delivery of the unexpected kits and the possibility of a breed back.
At 7 am I decided to check again to find B34, B35 and B36 in the cage with her. Mom was disposing of what was left of the placentas and any other evidence in the cage. Babies were all cleaned up and starting the process of learning to nurse and establish a pecking order. All was well. I thought we were finished.
Checked on them several more times throughout the day. No fighting amongst the kits and mom eating and drinking, resting with kits tucked up underneath her nursing. No signs of labor or distress. Getting up to eat every once in a while.
At 1 pm I go down to find 3 dead kits in the cage. I am sick to my stomach thinking mom killed the babies. When I go to remove them, all of a sudden, 3 live kits scramble out from underneath mom. The dead kits are wet, and one is still warm but I unable to revive it. Mom made an attempt to clean up all three and keep them warm.
She delivered the additional 3 stillborn kits approximately 6 hours after the 3 original kits. All 6 kits were approximately the same size ranging in weight from 33 to 41 gms and all were fully formed and mature.
The 3 live kits weigh, 33, 35 and 41 gms. To my knowledge this cannot be a case of a premature labor occurring at the same time as a full term birth since the sire was shut out of the cage.
Has anyone else experience anything like this? There was no foul odor or discharge associated with the later delivery. Mom again appears fine. Nursing and eating, drinking, no abnormal discharge of note. Is there anything further that I should be looking for?
I am glad that they are doing well.
