Surprise litter of kits...

[ellymay]

I bought a pair of Chinchillas from the pet store believing the male had been neutered. I've had them almost 5 months and yesterday my beautiful female had yet another (she was a breeder at the pet store for 6 years) litter of kits. One of the babies is very tiny, the other looks a little more the size I think there supposed too, although both babies are healthy and active. There eyes are open, and although they have a tiny bit of a wobble for the most part are climbing, jumping, running and playing. Mum is feeding, cleaning, and for the most part always has at least one baby under her. I still have dad in the cage right now. Not expecting a litter of babies we didn't have another cage and so I have no way to seprate dad. When our paycheque comes in we're going to see if we can afford to pick up even maybe a rabbit cage for now to get him out of there with her. He doesn't seem to be bugging the babies or mum too much... actually a lot of the time he seems to help round up the babies or keep them warm, but I just don't want him breeding to her again so soon, and I'm suspecting he wasn't neutered like we thought.
Mum had them a day and a half ago and still seems to be a little wet around her bum... that worried me some, because I'm used to dealing with hamsters and wet tail, but she shows no signs of anything at all being out of sorts with her at all. Shes eating, drinking, and acting completely normal, but I wasn't sure if her still being a little wet after a day and half was normal (its a very little bit, but I'm very parnoid when it comes to illness with my pets).
The vets around here know completely nothing about chinchillas at all, although I'll probably take the male up to the city (5 hours from here) and see if they can tell me if hes neutered and if he isn't get him done, so my wonderful little mummy can FINALLY have a break.
I've had a chinchillas before but never a litter of babies and I was wondering what I should look for in mum if shes having any trouble, what I should look for in the babies for any trouble, and if theres anything I can do to help either. My mum has had probably 14.. 15 litters of kits in her life, and I'm sure knows most of this stuff herself, but this is the first time shes had a litter in my home, in her new cage, and I want to do everything I possibly can to help her.
I talked to the pet store and they told me to give her some non-fat soy milk, and some yogurt as a treat, so I gave her a little bit of both, and have been keeping the soy milk on a water bottle beside her regular water, water bottle.
I know these are things usually checked out before a litter, but we thought he was neutered and we were safe, but now that the adorable, sweet little babies are here, I just want to make them and mum as healthy and comfortable as possible.

[Marcia]

I don't think he is neutered. You say you've had them for 5 months and the gestation period for a chin is roughly 111 days which is just over 3 months, that means that they mated whilst they were with you.

Have you weighed the kits? You need to check that they are putting weight on daily.

And where are the pics?!

[forsakendecay]

Congrats on the new kits! I'm not a breeder and I have never had any babies - the reason why is because chinchillas do not do well under anesthesia or surgery. This is what I've always been told. It is doubtful the pet store had him neutered.

Not to put a damper on your wonderful new surprise, but I don't think it would be worth it to try and neuter your chin. You may just have to keep them separated if you are not prepared or want another litter.

Chinchilla vets are not that common but they are more coming around each year. I had to search extensively to find an exotic vet before I got my first chin. Now I have all males for the reason that I don't want any babies. Don't get me wrong, I'd love them, I just wouldn't be able to give them away.

Show some pics of the lil guys!

[Jennicat]

Quote: Originally Posted by forsakendecay Not to put a damper on your wonderful new surprise, but I don't think it would be worth it to try and neuter your chin. You may just have to keep them separated if you are not prepared or want another litter.

I would go back to the pet store and demand that they reimburse you for vet bills and to neuter the chinchilla. We neuter our males at the rescue, and we've had great success with it.

[forsakendecay]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jennicat I would go back to the pet store and demand that they reimburse you for vet bills and to neuter the chinchilla. We neuter our males at the rescue, and we've had great success with it.

Really? I've heard of it being done here and there but I also heard that it wasn't recommended. Actually, it's good to hear you've had great success rate with it.

[ABC Chinchillas]

I would also complain to the petstore if they sold his as nueterered as he obviously is not. He possibly could have bred back so mark your calander for 111-120 days.

Mom may be a little wet by her opening for a day or two, some light drainage is normal. But some of the wet may actually be fluids from mating so be ware

[Jennicat]

Quote: Originally Posted by forsakendecay Really? I've heard of it being done here and there but I also heard that it wasn't recommended. Actually, it's good to hear you've had great success rate with it.

The biggest problem is that so few vets are experienced with chinchillas. The same problem used to exist with rabbits -- the vets weren't knowledgeable, so rabbits often died while being fixed. Now that protocols have improved and the vets are more experienced, there's a much higher survival rate. There's a rescue in Europe that's apparently neutered over 400 chins at this point.

[ellymay]

Thanks so much for your help! Everyone is doing well... one of the babies is very tiny and the other is growing like crazy, but both are continuing to grow and not go the other way and both are very active and seem to be very healthy. Both have there eyes open, climb and crawl a lot around the cage, and I've even noticed them already picking up pieces of treats, food, and hay and chewing on it.
I don't mind having litters and the reason for spaying him wasn't so much to stop having babies around but just because the female is so old I wanted her to finally be able to have a break, and I also didn't want her to be a senior mum and end up with a shorten or lesser quality of life because of it. And when you try to seprate them they seem to get so depressed to the point where they both start losing weight and don't move around the cage at all (they've been together for over 7 years). Me and my husband have decided actually to keep one of the babies (not sure which one yet ) since our beautiful Chins are so much older and we'll be able to have a young Chin around. (When they get to 6-8 weeks we'll take them into seprate cages so they don't breed to mum.. I was looking yesterday I'm pretty sure at least one is a boy).
She does't seem wet at all anymore so I would say it was just a little bit left over from having her babies.
We've been giving her non-fat soy milk, they said at the pet store its excellent for her to help with milk production and just give her some caluicm, and I've noticed the last few days shes been using her mineral stone more often then normal.
I'll have some pictures up soon I have them on my camera just haven't put them onto the computer yet lol
Thanks again, and any suggestions or help would be greatly appericated.