In need of some advice

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Narcissus

Narcissus

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Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
510
Location
idaho
On October 22nd I picked up three female chins from a lady who had decided to stop breeding (Two of my pet chins I bought from her 3 years ago.) She had sold most of her herd, aside from the few she was going to keep. She had some unfortuante family issue arise and could no longer keep these three females. when I picked them up she told me that the standard 10 year old female had been separated from a male on july 26th. When I brought them home I weighed them and put them in a baby safe cage just to be ready in case. I waited untill today to move them into a bigger cage, two weeks past her last possible due date. Before transferring them into a bigger cage I decided to weigh them. The 10 year standard has gained 20 grams, the 2 year old beige has gained 23 grams , but the 9 month old black velvet has gained 106 grams. I called this lady and asked if the BV was ever exposed to a male and she said no. she said there is no way she could be pregnant. She told me it is probably just her growing. She was feeding PRCS, and I do also. The only difference in diet is I feed loose hay and she did not. I dont have much experience in younger chins. Could this weight gain be from her growing or should I just keep them in the baby safe cage untill 120 days from the day I got them? I cant imagine she would lie to me, but I'm just worried.
 
I would say better safe than sorry and keep her in the safe cage. Could just be growing but what do you have to lose by waiting a few more weeks.
 
I agree with jags. It doesn't hurt to keep her in a baby proof cage, but I have seen chins gain that much and more when growing. My bv female gained 130 grams last month and she's 1.5 yrs old. Final growth spurt!
 
Are all of them housed together? If not, I'd keep her in a babysafe cage just to be sure as that is quite a substantial weight gain. If they ARE all housed together I would KEEP them all together (probably still in a BS cage) as separating will make it harder to put them back together.

NOW, how old is this animal? 106g in an adult (or almost adult) animal IS supsect BUT in a young animal...that's a pretty normal monthly gain especially if with a change like cubed to loose hay. Chins generally eat a TON more loose than cubed. Not that it in itself would cause the huge weight gain...growing up would. Just saying, if she's younger than 6mos it very well may just be growing.
 
She is 9 months, well, almost 10 months. She was born 2-10-12. Yes they are all together, I was hoping to keep them together. Ok, ill keep them in baby safe cage for a couple more months. Thanks everybody, it is a relief to know it could just be diet or growing.
 
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If she's not an ebony (which tend to have growth spurts differently than other colors) then I'd say that's an aweful big weight gain for a chinchilla and to keep her in a babysafe for the 111days from purchase.
 
She is a black velvet, no ebony in here pedigree. Im going to keep all these girls together, if she continues to gain weight and is in fact pregnant, should I just let them stay together or should I separate them?
 
I've had chins of differing colors have significant weight gains (think 100-200grams) between 1-2years of age in my slower growing lines. Its very typical for them. Like everyone else said though, better to be safe than sorry and keep them in a babyproof cage.

As for whether or not to separate, I'd suggest keeping them together unless you notice any changes in behavior that suggest aggression. I breed a lot of trios and quads and know which of my females will happily help raise other females' kits and which won't. You don't have that luxury, so check on them everyday and look for signs that the possible mother is feeling stressed or confined and won't accept the other females around. Usually if you see any signs of chasing or lots of grunting/spraying, defensive posturing, and loose fur then I will separate that mom from the others b/c when she litters there will be issues.

Cheryl
 
The other thing to check would be to double check the sex of the others to just make sure they are all female.
 
I've had two bv here (mother and son) both put on a significant amount of weight between 9 and 12 mo. Had never seen that with my ebony line, but also know others with Bv experienced late growth spurts.
 
well she has gained 165 grams.... she will let me touch her belly and loves to lay across my hand when I place it in her cage. her belly feels soft, not hard like the female I had that was pregnant awhile back. I hope she is just growing.
 
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well she has gained 235 grams. her tummy still feels normal, and I cant see nipples, but she isnt really found of letting me lool at her tummy. her attitude has been changing and I habe seporated her from the other girls because she is getting grumpy towards them. I was told that while cleaning thier cage the day before I got them they were all placed in a cage that was attached to another cage with 2 males in it. so if she is pegnant, she had to have gotten bred through the bars of the cage. still crossing my fingers for it being just a growth spurt, but she unfortunatly does look a lot bigger in the hip/belly area.... everybody pray that things go well either way. im stressing!
 
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