cannibalism??

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Narcissus

Narcissus

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
510
Location
idaho
I'm going to try and make this as short as possible, while still giving all information needed. about 3 weeks ago my friend called me and said her niece's chinchilla was acting funny. she told me they thought "he" was constipated because "he" would stand on his back feet and push really hard. I immediately went over and as you have prbably allready guessed "he" is a she, and she was in labor. she successfully delivered two very tiny kits (28g and 30g). although very tiny they both seemed healthy. I tried my hardest to get the little girl and her father to let me take them to my house for a while incase they needed supplementing.... but, they wouldn't agree to it. I left one of my gram scales for her to weigh them and I brought her a baby safe cage. I told her to text me every morning with the weights of the babies, which she did religiously for the first 2 weeks..then.... nothing. I tried calling her and no answer for 6 days. This morning her father called me in absolute furry. he said "come get these freak rodents, I won't have cannibals in my home" I was confused but I rushed over. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. The mother was eating one of the babies. I was in such shock that I stood and watched her for a couple of minutes. coming to my senses I reached in and grabbed the living kit, the mom, who had before been very hard to catch didn't even move when I reached in the cage. she just kept on eating the dead kit. I pushed her away and disposed of the dead kit.i found out that the young girl had gone to cheerleader camp and had left her little brother in charge of feeding and watering the chins..... which he failed to do for 6 days. my questions Is this, has anyone heard of this before? do I dare put the living kit back with its mother? I have no problem hand feeding him, but I know that moms milk is best. some advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
had left her little brother in charge of feeding and watering the chins..... which he failed to do for 6 days. my questions Is this, has anyone heard of this before?
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Chins are equal opportunity eaters and will eat anything they can get their paws on if hungry from wood to meat. There is also the chance that the baby was already dead or dying.

If you are feeding mom unlimited pellets I'd stick the baby back in with her and keep an eye on them.

It is normal for moms to eat dead babies. Not heard of one eating a baby that is that old -but then again she was starving. Probably for the best they are out of there.
 
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If the mother wasn't fed or watered for 6 days she was probably lacking needed nutrients to continue caring for her kits. Perhaps her milk was drying up and both the kits were starting to suffer in addition to the mother. Do you know if the kit was alive or dead prior to her starting to eat it?

When a female gives birth to a kit they generally eat the afterbirth for the added nutrients. The mother could have done the same thing with the kit, in absence of getting food, in order to get the nutrients that she needs for herself and her surviving kit.

Do you have a show cage by any chance? If so, then you can put the mother in the show cage for a short period of time (with a small food bowl and attach a water bottle) and put the kit outside the cage. The kit can then go in with the mother to try and nurse, but get away if the mother becomes agressive. I've done this when I'm trying to foster a kit that seems to be going ok when I'm there, but I'm worried the mother will turn on the kit. Usually I will find the kit happily snuggled up underneath the mom and can then remove the show cage a few hours later. On the otherhand if you find the kit hiding in the corner of the cage acting defensive or with any injuries, you'll then know to keep the kit separated from the mom and handfeed!

Cheryl
 
After 6 days of no food or water ( if it was out ) mom might not even have milk anymore, she may have dried up.

Usually mom's don't just eat their babies of 3 weeks, so I'm guessing that there were other issues there. I would first feed and water mom then try to put the kit back with her under supervision. The best thing for a baby is it's mom.
 
Wow that is nuts!

I agree with what the others have said, poor baby probably was becoming so weak from not eating or nursing if her milk was drying up....if I had to guess, I would say the baby died and mom was taking care of it, the only way she knew how.
They didn't start out at such great weights to begin with, how much had they gained for those first two weeks?

Stupid young brother, never leave animals in the hands of some men....I had a hermit crab that I trusted my boyfriend (now husband) to water and feed while I was away for a weekend...I got back after a few days and he was dried up!
Totally had forgotten to take care of him for me.

I doubt the mom had started to eat the kit while it was still alive, I have never seen this, though I have seen them nibble on a kit while trying to deliver it, but have never seen a mom "eat" a kit, dead or alive.
Not saying it couldn't happen, if she was hungry enough, survival of the fittest takes over unfortunately :-(
 
The kits were gaining 2-3g a day and were doing well. I do not know if kit died on its own or if mom killed it. I feed mom(whom im calling Pearl) she drank A TON of water and devoured a good sized amount of hay. ive been hand feeding baby for now. he weighs 78g. my husband is in the process of customizing a cage for me *POETRUE* thank you for the idea. I dont have a show cage but I do have stuff to make something similar. I'm going to keep hand feeding for awhile just to be sure. Thank you for all of your advice. I had never encountered something like this, I dont deal with kits very often.
 
The longer you hand feed the harder it will be to re-unite them, the longer mom goes without a kit nursing the lesser chance she will be able to produce milk will be.

I've seen mom's eat dead newborns down to a half eaten skull, at low weights, even with good gain, they would've been about the size of a larger newborn...
 
we made a cage inside of the cage that mom was in. she is inside of the smaller cage, baby can go in the smaller cage to nurse and can get out if mom is aggressive. so far baby has stayed with mom and is nursing. I'm going to watch his weight and make sure he is still gaining weight. thanks for all your help.
 
I'm so angry after reading this. I hope that father is never allowed to have pets in the house again! In the end it's his responsibility if the children were of a younger age (it sounds like they were). Who lets any animal go without food or WATER for 6 days? Especially a new mom. Ugh. Please keep us updated on the kit.
 
Huffnpoof said:
I'm so angry after reading this. I hope that father is never allowed to have pets in the house again! In the end it's his responsibility if the children were of a younger age (it sounds like they were). Who lets any animal go without food or WATER for 6 days? Especially a new mom. Ugh. Please keep us updated on the kit.
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My thoughts exactly children should not be given this responsibility on their own while the parents just check out and couldn't care less...
Some people shouldn't be parents, and I guess what do you expect from a kid who's own father doesn't care enough... Of course he just copies dad and 'checks out' and doesn't care..

I hope mom and remaining kit do well with you <3
I have no helpfull advice on kit rearing but want to wish you and mom and kit all the best, and thank you for stepping in and taking them on!:clap1:
 
Turn for the worst.... at 6 a.m. I checked on them, everything was going good baby was snuggled up to mom. checked on them at 8:30a.m., 10 a.m., 12:30pm and everything was fine. I went in at 2 and I couldnt believe what I saw. baby was outside of the smaller cage, his tail and right back foot were completly missing, a huge gash in his abdomen, and still alive. Mom was chewing off her own front foot. I immediatly rushed them to the vet. baby unfortunatly died before I could get there. shortly after we arrived mom went into what im considering a convulsion and became very aggressive. she attacked anything that moved, even the blanket we had underneath her. another convulsion and then she went limp. dying shortly after. the vet and I are both shocked, I'm having a necropsy done...... I cant stop crying. any ideas on what happened? the vet said possibly poisioning?
 
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That's very bizarre. I have heard of mothers turning on kits and I have heard of self mutilation, but not in conjunction with each other. It sounds like she could have had poisoning or potentially had some sort of brain abnormality/tumor that influenced her behavior - the convulsion could have been a seizure also due to an abnormality. But those are only guesses. You should get some real answers when the necropsy comes back. And unfortunately another thing to think about, there could have been genetic issues at work here that may have been passed to baby as well that would have manifested down the road.

So sorry this happened - don't beat yourself up for trying to keep them together. You took precautions and unfortunately it sounds like you were going to lose the mother anyways.
 
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it was just so weird.... I dont know if it matters, but I found out they were using cedar bedding.... I know it causes repirtory issues. but I've heard of rats going crazy when certian cedar chemical is ingested..... praying for answers.
 
OMG, I'm so sorry! Thank you for helping them anyway. That is crazy. I wonder if somebody gave the chin drugs at her old house?? I am so sad for yoy, you are in my thoughts. Rip chinnies
 
I know I'm getting a little far out here,but is there any case or possibility of rabies in chinchillas?Looked back through posts saw heavy water intake initially and then episodes of bizarre behaviour. Or even something else neuro similar to mad cow?
 
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