Orphaned 3 week old kits...

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Sand_Dance

Member
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
20
Friend of family has 2 kits, 3 and a half weeks old i think and the mom has run away! What can be done to save these kits? They eat and drink on their own but im sure they still need milk of some sort. Am i right?
 
Thanks for info Tunes, ill pass it on.
Not sure on specifics cause its not my family but a friends family but from what i understand kits were brought in for weighing and when they came back out cage door was open and mom was gone. Their cage is out on their lanai.
 
A lanai??? What state are these babies in? I can't imagine that it is cool enough anywhere in the US right now to keep chinchillas outside? They are not outside creatures.

I think I would run away too...just saying!
 
We are in Hawaii. Some people do keep their chinchillas outside. I dont but i know of a few ppl that do.
 
Chinchillas should not be kept outside, they will die from the heat.

Chinchilla kits need to be fed every two hours around the clock goats milk from an eye dropper
 
Yes i know they should be inside. I have only one & he is kept indoors in my air conditioned home. I cant control if others choose to keep their's outside tho..

So even at 3 weeks old and eating on their own they need to be fed every 2 hours round the clock?
 
Every two to three hours would be a good estimate on how often they should be fed. They're only three weeks old and they still need to be fed the concentrated nutrition that they can only get from milk. I hope they find the mother chin. Why is anyone keeping chinchillas outside? That's just crazy...
 
Personally, I'd report it to animal control if I saw people in Hawaii of all places with chinchillas outside. It's inhumane. Talk about hot and humid. I too hope the mother chinchilla is found. It is deadly for a chinchilla to be loose outside. Does not sound like these people ought to be breeding. I hope the kits make it.
 
I can definitely believe that it happens. We should keep in mind that those of us on here who have sought out this forum are so "into" our chins that we do this and we think of and regard our chins in a certain way but I can only imagine how many pet owners are out there who think what they are doing is fine. They simply have no clue. Whether it may be they didn't do research before getting their chin or what have you but I guarantee this happens more than we care to imagine. JMPO
 
I dont even know if animal control would do anything about it. When the humane society here had chinchillas for adoption i believe they were also outside in their lanai area where they keep the rabbits, guinea pigs etc. ( not same cages or anything, just same area in an outdoor lanai area.)I dont know if they still keep them there now days as i havent been there for about 5 years but i remember they used to before.
 
Hmmm.. perhaps people in your area just have no idea of chinchillas temperature needs? Personally I don't think guinea pigs or rabbits should be kept outside either but they don't have the same heat requirements. However any animal is going to be in distress when it is super hot and humid if they are stuck outside in it especially if they don't have ample shade. I'm surprised all the chinchillas aren't dropping dead. My girls look too hot if it gets to 73-75 degrees I can't imagine letting it get over 90.
 
Depending on where you live at in Hawaii...it's not that hot like how it is in the Mainland. Like Wahiawa (up Heights)/Mililani area it's much cooler than other areas like Kapolei/Ewa Beach....which I have seen ads on CL about rehoming chins in the Kapolei area...and they were outside. Which over there's its waaaay hot.

My chins are inside our room. We don't have AC but our place is at a cool temp....even colder when we have our fan on even during the day.
 
Fans do not do anything to cool a room - they simply improve air circulation.

Standards for care are universal - chinchillas are not suited for temperatures about 75 degrees period. Have some of them probably lived? Yes. Were they miserable, sick, weak furred, and skinny? Probably. Just because you can survive in conditions do not make them appropriate for continuous care.

OP, I would assume the mother is not coming back either from heat stroke, predator, etc. They need to be fed every 2-3 hours round the clock. And they should be moved inside. I am scared to ask if the cage is baby proofed - is bar spacing 1/2"x 1/2" or 1" x 1/2"? And the father of these chins...where is he? You will need to separate any female kits from brothers and dad at 7-8weeks or 200gs. They will and can inbreed. If you need help sexing the babies there is a sticky at the top of this section.
 
Both kits survived. I have adopted one of them. I was wondering if i posted a pic of him if someone could tell me his color?
 
Ok great thanks! Let me just figure out how to do it lol its been a while since ive posted pics to a forum
 
I was involved in a rescue with a member here. I drove hours to pick up a boy outside in the heat, in a dog kennel, with frost-bitten ears from the prior winter. It does happen.

Good luck raising kits. There's lots of info here.
 
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