What color are they?

[Chinniechantel]

I have a lady who had a pair of chins have babies about 4-5 months ago and contact me for advice. There were 6 and all but one died. It was an accidental pregnancy. Now she had breedback quads born, and one died so far. I told her how rare that is, and she should not be bred again.

She has 3 that are thriving now, and getting bigger with a little help from her and lots of advice from me! The first litter she used KMR, and now she is using the proper milk, so that may have something to do with it.

One baby is a standard. Weird thing is, I don't know what color the other 2 are! They parents look like standards, maybe a light ebony but definitely standards. The kits look tan to me, but must be violet? That is the only thing I can think of. Please help this is driving me nuts! :hair: She gave me permission to post pics for your advice.

Here are the babies:

Another:

The parents:

 

[Rickman]

Maybe the standards are ebony/violet carriers - only thing that explains the results!
Darkness of the one on the left, and tail on the one on the right are my reasons!
Hope they're not related pet-store chins!!

 

[chinsNdobermans]

Those babies look violet to me but that lighting isn't great.

 

[furrylovables]

Those babies look like Violets to me too.

 

[3CsMommy]

I'm seeing 3 violets and a standard or light eb. The three that match don't have the tipping you'd expect on a standard, or really any other color.

 

[Chinniechantel]

Thank you! That is what I thought. They just look...off, but that could be poor quality chins and or the camera. She swears the eyes are black, so that makes sense they are violet, maybe beige tinted poorly colored violets. I guessed the parents were v/c, she had them given to her as a pair, so it very well could have been a breeding pair. They must be violet wraps because she says the belly's are not white. So odd!

 

[shuboyje]

I'd give the bellies time to lighten up, it's not unheard of for babies to have off color bellies. I agree with what some others have said, my bet is they are siblings.

 

[Chinniechantel]

Yeah, I thought so too about the sibling thing. They had so many babies both times that they are very likely to be related and both carry that multiple gene. The first babies were all also under 30 grams....like 20. This time they were much better but she had better food, cages, etc. the second time around. She learned her lesson the hard way...with 6 total dead babies that chins cannot have co ed playtime even supervised, that is how all these kits came to be.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

Looks like violets to me as well. They remind me of Pip and Squeak when they born except they are violet wraps.

They are all very adorable.

 

[starleomach]

Look like violets to me here

 

[Cuddlebug]

Agreed, it looks like violets to me, too.

 

[Chinniechantel]

Great, agreed! I have never seen violets look quite like that, but also have not seen any inbred tiny violets. She is doing a very good job with them now, and will not be putting the chins back together again. The boys will stay with daddy and the girls with mom if possible. She and her daughter leaned a very tough lesson, twice. She has spent a great deal of time for the past 4 months now handfeeding 2 sets of kits in a row.

 

[TOJO]

This is a little off the subject, but I've heard chins have 2 uteruses. If that's true, the smaller ones could have been conceived later. I've had litters like that, where one is much smaller. Can anybody confirm or deny that about 2 uteruses?

 

[Cuddlebug]

Chins have 2 horns to the uterus. It is possible for a chin to get pregnant at 2 different times, therefore there could be a noticeable difference in the size of the kits.

 

[arf2184]

Significant size difference in large litters is not uncommon. The larger is probably just a more aggressive eater.