Will a already pregnant chin allow mating again?

[redforlife]

Hi there,

Does any one knows if an already pregnant chinchilla will allow mating while she is having her pregnancy? Or will she be rejecting any attempts from the male?

 

[tunes]

Yes, she will. It's called a breedback. A female can get pregnant while she's still pregnant, forcing her to be perpetually pregnant.

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

And breed-backs are not good for any female. If you aren't planning on having kits, you should separate the male and female. If the female is pregnant already, you should separate the male as well, to prevent a breed-back (assuming she hasn't already been breed-back)

 

[Kylelemler]

Someone on here can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe in somewhat rare cases a chinchilla can be pregnant and get repregnated later on. I believe chinchillas have two uterus tubes. They can get pregnant in one tube and breed several weeks later and get pregnant in the other tube. And when labor comes they give birth from both tubes giving you a healthy kit(s) and unhealthy premature kit(s). Hopefully someone out there can confirm this.

 

[redforlife]

Thanks for the input guys. Did not know that a breedback can occur at any point of time during a chinchilla pregnancy. I'm not into breeding but I have two lovely pet chinchillas living in seperate cages. I'm constantly refreshing and looking to gain my knowledge about chinchillas when i have the free time.
I have read about breedback a lot but almost all articles stated of breedbacks occuring during days before a female chinchilla give birth or to a week after. As long as the estrus cycle is there. Which prompts me to wonder if a mating can occur again at anytime while a chinchilla is already pregnant.
I have also read about what Kylelemer mentioned about female chins having 2 uterus horn. Like what Kylelemer mentioned, does that mean that if a breedback occurs in the early pregancy days, the second uterus tube gets conceived and you can have babies in both tube at different stage of development?

 

[Sue]

Yes, I can. We've had several litters with premature kits along with full term healthy kits, meaning the second uterine horn was impregnated after the first. I've even had one female that delivered a second baby three days later after giving birth to a kit. Another female got pregnant in her second uterine horn a month before giving birth to the first litter and so gave birth to healthy kits again three months later. She & her sister are exceptions though, extremely fertile. And in all cases the male was separated out at least one month before delivery was expected. So it is very possible to have a double pregnancy going on at the same time. But while it might seem stressful, it's not more so than if a female has four or even five in a litter from the same uterine horn (which we've also had). They just need a period of rest afterward and good nutrition at all times. It also means sometimes that there needs to be some supplementing (milk) as well from the rancher.

 

[redforlife]

Thanks for clarifying Sue! You gave a very good example of the possible scenario.
This prove that breedback can occur at any time even if a chinchilla is already pregnant. Its really nice to know important information like this that is not easily found in your usual Chinchilla guideline.

 

[jags]

What Kyle and Sue has stated above is true, we have even had them birth a month after the first ones were born.

 

[jbcstratton]

Had a premature kit born here with a healthy full term kit, assumed that the premature was from the second uterine horn pregnacy a month later as kit was formed but small.

 

[poetrue]

I had one female that would get pregnant in both uterine horns if I didn't catch she was pregnant and remove the male. She would have one huge kit one day and then between 1-4days later would have one or 2 premature kits that may or may not be fully formed. Since she was large it was often tough to tell when she'd gotten pregnant. I pulled her out of breeding for this reason.

Cheryl