Totally Clueless!!??

[Kosher]

I am a new chin owner and 2 of the chins got are a mated pair with the female pregnant she is due in oct from what i was told by the prev owner. I really have no idea what to do for her.:hair:

Should she be in a seperate cage?
What about dad is he a threat to the babies?
any special diet for mom?
any other advice would be welcomelease:

 

[Cuddlebug]

Check out the FAQs in this section. There is a lot of fantastic information in them. After that, if you have any questions, fire away and we will be happy to answer them.

 

[Kosher]

Check out the FAQs in this section. There is a lot of fantastic information in them. After that, if you have any questions, fire away and we will be happy to answer them.

Read them but what about prenatal care and when should i put mom in a separate cage as she seems to get along really well with the male and i dont want them to be lonely any longer than necessary

 

[tunes]

Unless you plan on her being perpetually pregnant, then you're just going to have to deal with them being lonely. Trust me, they'll survive apart. If you know mom is due to deliver in October, then separate them now. Even if the former owners saw a mating, they could still be wrong and it could be sooner or later. If it's sooner, you're risking a breedback. Leave them apart until after the kits are weaned. Putting a male back in with a female isn't always the brightest idea after the female has had kits. She can become extremely territorial and protective. They can attack each other and the kits can end up hurt.

Are these animals of breeding quality? Have they been evaluated by a qualified breeder or judge? If they haven't been, then when the kits deliver, separate them into same sex pairs if the offspring will allow. Female/female, male/male. There is a lot that goes into breeding, but the first and foremost must be that the chinchillas are of a quality to be bred.

As far as prenatal care, good quality food, good quality hay, fresh water, and a kit safe cage. That's all you really need.

 

[Kosher]

is there anything wrong with a chin "mutt"? they have not been examined as far as i know but im not trying to start a farm or anything these are just pets who happened to get pregnant is there something wrong with that? i am not trying to show them or any thing special. please excuse my ignorance

 

[tunes]

There is no point to a chin mutt. When you breed two exceptional quality chins, you can still get mutts, but you also get much better quality animals. There are plenty of mutts already, there's no need to intentially breed them. It's no different than breeding a dachsund and a german shepherd. What is the point? It's a mutt that no one should deliberately breed.

 

[Riven]

Breeding is about responsibility, to the chins you own, the chins you produce, and to the new owners of the chins produced. Pedigrees and chins from breeders are important for breeding not because they aren't "mutts", which really isn't the correct term, but because nothing is known about their genetic history. You could be breeding a variety of different health problems because you don't know. Not to mention general lack of quality of the animals, pedigreed healthy animals with good color, confirmation and fur quality tend to end up in rescues less. Think about it like a car, would you rather have a car with crappy paint and all banged up ( poor quality ) or a nice car that looks good ( quality ). Humans are drawn towards beauty naturally.

I had an awesome mentor ( and still do, several of them actually ) and I once asked when I started breeding why she bothered so much with pet people when tons of breeders would be happy to own animals from her, and she told me flat out... pet people deserve great chins too.

 

[Chinniechantel]

Malocclusion is what is wrong with mutt chinchillas. Until you have hand fed a dying chinchilla for months trying to keep them alive, watch a vet file down chinchilla's teeth every few months and the pain they are in, please don't breed them. You don't even know if they are unrelated since you don't have pedigrees...it could very well be mother and son. They you have a whole other sets of problems.

 

[Spoof]

Malocclusion is what is wrong with mutt chinchillas.

Meh, I've actually had more pedigreed chinchillas malocclude than rescues or those of unknown lineage.

The reality is that it is helpful to know the background of the chinchillas. It can potentially save you from heartache and vet bills later on.

Do you have any pictures to share?

i dont want them to be lonely any longer than necessary

There's a good chance mom will attack dad before the babies are born, even seen them kill dad or dad kill babies and mom. You just don't know. Do you really want to risk them?

 

[Kosher]

its not like I bred them she was pregnant(maybe) when we got her i dont plan on having any more babies but i just want to give these a fighting chance

 

[Diamond Dreams]

And the best chance would be for the male and female to reside in separate cages, unless you get him fixed.

 

[tunes]

its not like I bred them she was pregnant(maybe) when we got her i dont plan on having any more babies but i just want to give these a fighting chance

Nobody suggested otherwise. The suggestions given were for after this. She's already pregnant, so it's not like you can do anything about that. The comments were made in case you decided to do it again.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

What was done before you got them is done, but you should seperate them now, if she isn't pregnant now you are just prolonging the inevitable. They will do just fine in their own cages and it relieves you of the role of breeder. Trust me, unless you are prepared to deal with dead or dismembered kits, dying females, and 2hr round the clock feedings day and night just seperate your pets and enjoy them for just that - pets. And if 111-120 days go by from the day you seperate and you don't have kits and you want them to have company adopt them each a same sex friend.

Being a successful breeder is more than having a pair that came to you already together and leaving them together. Like was already stated, you have no way of knowing if they are brother/sister or mother/son, and all kinds of problems can crop up from inbreeding. Even the biggest breeders seperate pairs that have been together if they aren't producing top quality animals. Think of it in terms of dogs - if you adopted two german sheppard dogs and they were consistently producing dogs that didnt quite look like german sheppards, why would you keep mating them? Or even worse if you rescued two mutts from a shelter would you breed them? Same principle.

 

[Riven]

i dont want them to be lonely any longer than necessary

Actually you indicated otherwise, suggesting that you didn't want them to be apart, boys and girls will mate, they don't care.

 

[Dustbunnies]

He meant he didn't want to separate them sooner than he had to. Now he knows he has to do it ASAP and that they can get pregnant again right away.

 

[Kosher]

thank you dustbunnies for seeing what i meant and not jumping down my throat. I am separating them 2nite only problem is I don't have another food dish I can rig up another water bottle(not glass but it'll do in a pinch) i bought them timothy hay earlier today and they are loving it up! If i sell the kits should I let potential buyers know they are not for breeding then right?

 

[Dustbunnies]

If you have a small ceramic human dish, you could use that. Or maybe just pile some pellets up on a shelf corner away from the water and bedding for just this one night. You can pop by a petstore tomorrow and pick up a cheap dish and a glass water bottle. Hay is more important than pellets anyway. Buy the way....what brand pellets are they eating?

And yes, sell the kits as "for pets only, not for breeding." Maybe someone on here will buy them. You should be as open about what you know/don't know about them as possible. It is only fair. Maybe she will only have one or two and you can keep them!

 

[Kosher]

actually i am feeding them carefresh complete. I don't know about keeping any kits I already have 4 and that seems to be as much as i can handle right now
BTW; Any suggestions 4 the birthing cage?

 

[VolunteerChin22]

its not like I bred them she was pregnant(maybe) when we got her i dont plan on having any more babies but i just want to give these a fighting chance

I was responding to this that the op wasn't sure the female was pregnant but was just told she was by the previous owner...If there isn't a confirmed preganancy which could be possible, since it sounds like all parties involved are fairly new to this, then they should be seperated right away to avoid one. Odds are she is, but there isn't any reason to wait and possibly overestimate the due date and wake up with the male in the cage and babies. That just invites breedback and is safer for the kits.

Yep just put pellets on a shelf or in a clean area until you can get another bowl. I am not familiar with that pellet...

You can tell potential new owners that these chins are for pet quality only...some breeders have contracts they make potential new owners sign.

Not sure what you mean for suggestions for the birthing cage...should be one level so that mom stays down with the kits to feed them and keep them warm. ledges also introduce the possibility mom might jump down and land on a kit on accident. the wire spacing should be 1/2" by 1/2" or 1" x 1/2" - kits will get out of any spacing larger.

 

[Newt]

I dont have anything to add, I just wanted to say I hope the birth goes smoothly!
Also, I have three girl chins that all live alone, and so long as I give them plenty of attention they dont seem lonely at all. So dont worry, your chins will do fine after the separation!
Good luck and keep us posted....oh and cute kit pics are always welcome!!