Babies still want to nurse

[Asha]

Just had a quick question about weaning. My chinchilla gave birth to two baby girls on March 20th....and they are still nursing! Since they were both female babies, I figured I would just let them live together with the mom even after they were grown because I've read that its ok to do that for females.

They eat regular pellets (Purina Show) and Timothy hay like little piggies, but I still catch them nursing on a daily basis. They are both happy, energetic girls who always come to greet me when I go near their cage. Their current weights as of two nights ago were 418g and 422g. The mom seems to just kind of put up with it, sometimes she pushes them away but has not been doing that too often as of lately. What should I do? They are well beyond the weight/age range for weaning. Should I just wait it out and let the mom decide when to make them stop permanently? Or, should I go ahead and put the mom in a separate cage and force the babies to stop myself? :hmm:

 

[clb]

As long as there is no fighting I would let them be. I'm sure mom will wean them off when she wants to.

 

[Asha]

Works for me! I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't bad to let it continue. I do hear them make squabble type noises from time to time. I always run and check on them but everyone is always ok and chilling out like nothing happened even though I just heard noises!

 

[AZChins]

I've had this happen a few times. It's okay to let them nurse...it's possible the mom doesn't have much milk anyway and the babies are doing it because it is comforting to them. They aren't all that old to be doing this, I've had baby girls nursing at 6 to 7 months a few times and they ended up really bonding with their mamas.

 

[Asha]

Good to know! I was really starting to wonder about it because I was thinking "I'm feeding those little piggies alllllll the time! Surely they don't need milk anymore!" Its actually kinda funny looking when I catch them nursing because they are so big now. The babies practically have to lay on their side to reach. I remember when they were small enough that all you could see was their little tails sticking out when they nursed and now they are giant fluffballs!

 

[Riven]

If mom is thin or gets snippy with them I'm wean them to a different cage for a while. If mom's still producing milk she's taking a lot of energy to feed kits who don't need it.

 

[jags]

I have to agree with Riven. At that age and those weights they really do not need to be nursing and they are pulling a lot from mom that is not helping mom stay in top shape. I also have seen moms kill the babies if they no longer want them nursing and they continue to try to do so.

 

[Dreamlite]

I would just watch moms weight and activity. If. She sees to loose weight or act slower I would seporate them just for weaning. But if she is fine then I would let them be. It depends on the individual.

 

[Asha]

Thanks for the input everyone! I will definitely be keeping an extra close eye on them. I don't want them to hurt each other. I have spare cages so I'll probably move the babies or mom into one this week just to be on the safe side!

 

[Riven]

If you move the babies you can move them into a cage right next to mom's for a week or two then move them back if you want.

I've never left babies with mom's that long but I've seen horses kick in their babies faces to get them to stop nursing, I don't have a problem foreseeing a momma chin going postal on her babies for nursing too long...