THINK before you breed! Z6

[sublime5981]

I'm sorry to hear about both your recent losses. I just want to reiterate that small breeders are not immune to this sort of thing. They just don't see it as often. I only had one breeding pair(they had 3 litters/5 kits) and Lily tore up a kit in her second litter. He survived but, started life with a quarter sized wound on his side that was raw skin, half an ear missing, and bites on the tip of his tail and a couple toes. Luckily, I was right there when she had them and already had an idea what needed to be done for him. BTW, if it wasn't for this forum and the advice of experience found here, it might not have turned out so good.
Between incidents like these and the previously mentioned "trust" issue with finding good homes for kits, I fine with being a pet owner now.

 

[6Dusters]

How is the mom doing today?

 

[RDZCRanch]

She's doing fine...she let me give her scritches and such. It feels like grooming so it's comforting for her. I stopped and she gave me the squinty death look for not continuing so she'll be fine.

 

[Dragonflye]

I'm glad she's okay Tab. Sorry about the baby though!!

I think about breeding from time to time, and was gently reminded by a friend the other day that I would fall apart if something went wrong and I lost kits or the mama. This is very true. I am happy to have my herd of pet chins. They never fail to make me smile.

 

[Olallie]

When a mom chin loses a baby how do you console her? Do you keep her separated? Give her lots of attention/leave her alone? This is actually something I hadn't thought of, I've done tons of research on babies, but not when the mom goes through something so traumatic. What do you breeders do?

 

[AZChins]

I load that mama up with toys and fun things to do. She'll get extra playtime and pouch time. New moms will take a bit to settle down after they lose a baby. It's important for them to be around other chins, as well. Normally I will put their male back in with them for companionship so they can cuddle and groom. I don't know what other people do, I always feel like I have to do something to comfort (and distract) mommies that have lost their little ones at birth. Thankfully most of the time with multiple babies at least one will survive and give the momma purpose and distraction. I had one lost her newborn last week. She gets extra hay and a shreddie and kisses and Life Line...and lots of other extras that the other chins don't know about.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I do about the same as Susan. I've put her male back with her because I noticed when the mother loses the baby the biggest comfort she can get is being groomed. I've also been giving her a bit extra supplement and some cheerios...just things to distract her. If I find her alone in the cage looking unhappy I'll give her scratches because it mimics grooming. Some of my girls prefer treats and being left alone to deal with the loss on their own, but each of the chins is different and you have to know their personalities and what they will or will not tolerate or accept.

 

[Olallie]

I see! thanks for your input. I'm glad your girl is doing alright

 

[CJR]

I am so, so sorry to hear that. Things like that are why I will always just be a pet owner, never a breeder... I could never take something like that.

Your picture idea is really excellent, a lot of people just don't realize... I've never breeded anything, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that sometimes things go terribly, terribly wrong.

My condolences.

:flowers7:

 

[Takuraktty]

Wow poor Frenchie! How did you calm her down?

 

[3CsMommy]

As far as a story not hitting home for people I plan on taking a picture and starting a gorey baby collection to send to stupid people.

Will other people be able to share/link to it? I visit a lot of forums where people need to see it. :wacko:

Is French Vanilla doing all right?

 

[RDZCRanch]

Frenchie is doing just fine. She's completely back to her old self and more than happy to have her mate back with her. She hasn't had any kits since then, but is possibly pregnant now. When I feel kicks she's going to go into a special cage somewhere that I can monitor her 24/7.

I have the pictures in my photobucket album. When I get a separate album up and going for them with descriptions of how, when, why and where they died, I'll send you and anyone else that's interested, the link to it. I've just been super busy this year.

 

[Stackie]

It would be a good idea to post them. Seems a lot of people lately have been getting a chin and the next day decide they must breed it. It would be a good reminder it's not all fun and cute fluffy babies. There are enough of those cute fluffy babies in rescues because people lost interest or couldn't find homes for them. Breeding should only be done to improve the breed.

 

[annm13339]

I got my guy and never thought about breeding. but when i learned that females spray and the possibilities of dead kits if i were to get a female, just doesnt excite me. so i think that if i want another chin, its going to be another male so i dont worry about that. no breeding for me. ill leave that to the people that know what they are doing.

 

[ChinchillaLoves]

Agreed.
My chinchillas are really cute and they have great personalities and I think seeing babies from them would be SOOOOOO awesome! BUT I Love them way too much to even think about putting them threw something that could hurt them or the babies. As much as I like the thought, I would never ever ever even attempt to breed them. If something were to go wrong, I could never forgive myself. I think your right when saying leave the breeding to those who know what they are doing and have the time,space,money,smarts,ect for it.

Someone has to do it though, so kudos to the great breeders out there!

 

[RDZCRanch]

I completely forgot about posting the pictures. I did post them to photobucket but someone keeps going through my albums and warning on those photos. Because of that I can't post links to the photos so instead I put them on my website under the breeding page. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom to see them so if you don't want to see them, don't scroll down!

http://rdzcranch.webs.com/BreedingChinchillasPage.html

 

[jags]

It takes a strong stomach sometimes when you deal with animals. Mother nature can be pretty cruel sometimes and the more animals you have and the longer you have them the more bad stuff you will see. Last weekend I found a new born kit half eaten by its mom, no hind legs and half the abdomen was gone, but the kit was still alive until I put it down.