Question:We had a totaly unexpected birth this morning, a nice surprise! Only 1 kit was born. The mother seems to be doing a good job and there are no other chinchillas in the cage.
(1) We would particularly like to know at what age can we handle the kit?
(2) Is a heat lamp essential?
(3) At what age will the kit start to try leaping around the cage?
Any other tips and appropriate advice is appreciated - thanks!
Answers:
Chinchillas are born precocial, meaning they are fully furred, their eyes are open, they can move around by themselves and can maintain their body temperature, as opposed to cats and dogs which are altricial. As they can maintain their own body temperature it is not essential to provide them with a heat lamp.
The female should be capable of caring for the young herself and you should only interfere if the young aren’t suckling from the female. Mychinchilla had baby chinchillas before and found that the mum didn't mind me handling them from birth - just to check that the kits we healthy - and only for small amounts of time. I think handling will depened on how trusting your chinchilla is of you. It is also a good idea to weigh the baby on gram scales every day to ensure that it is putting on weight.
If your chinchilla is in a cage with a mesh bottom you should place newspaper on the base to help the young walk around. The kits start exploring the cage from a few days of age and will begin eating hay and chinchilla food at a few days old – copying their mother. Even though they are eating at this age they should not be removed from their mother until they are weaned at around 10 – 12 weeks old. They should be seperated at this time to prevent inbreeding. They can also have a sand bath from about a week old and will copy thier mother.
You can sex the chinchillas by looking at thier bits - females have a small gap between the urethral cone and the anus and males have a larger gap, although they are difficult to sex when they are young! Good Luck!
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well i just bought a 10 week old chin and she is hopping like crazy and many breeders wean them at 8 weeks so u could probobly hold them at about the age just make sure she is standing and stuff on her own to make sure she is strong enough..i am not an expert but if they are sold at 8 weeks then it makes sence that you could hold them a little before 8 weeks.
Many breeders will handle the kits from birth in order to get them used to human touch. It makes them more docile as they grow up.
Im going to be honest with you. I dont now nor have I yet owned a chinchilla. I have however been breeding rats for a while now. Chinchillas and rats are both rodents so some of the same things should apply to both. When in doubt ask a vet but here goes. I wouldnt try to handle the little guy till he opens his eyes for the first time in about probably 3 weeks or so simply because if you try to, Mom's liable to get pretty aggressive and believe me, rodent bites are no fun. I really dont think a heat lamp's essential because Mom's gonna be the little guy's heat source until his eyes are open and he starts growing his own fur coat (Again, when his eyes are open in about 3 weeks). And he'll probably get to jumping around and wanting to play when he opens his eyes ( It's hard to play when you cant see, right? LOL) in about 3 weeks, Congrats!! Let me know how things go. comanche_moon2001@yahoo.com My name's Tracy
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