My new chinnys along with the first decent pictures of my original

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Yea i know im going to have to make a run out to the pet store today
Its not the worst thing that could happen but its not the best thing...
I guess now i wont have to worry about attempting a trio
 
I assume that's just the beige? What about the standard?

We only have males, but to me that looks like a female.
 
Actually, a FN isn't going to be safe for babies unless you use rat wire around it. You have to prepare for the fact that this female may be pregnant. Either get a baby safe cage or modify a FN section specifically for her.
 
The last picture is the cage they were kept in for 2 years

That cage IS horrible and I've had a pair of gerbils in a bigger/nicer cage than that.

Obviously you guys have never been to a ranch or a large breeders home. As Tiff pointed out, that's larger than breeding cages would be in most ranches. Seriously, all this spazzing over a cage that isn't bad at all is silly. They look well cared for, they don't look thin or abused. As someone else said, you don't get that look after one dust bath if they were in horrible shape.

You've got them now, against everybody's advice, and you've probably got a pregnant female there - yipee!! Now you not only have two new chins, but probably a litter of kits on the way. Great way to start out your breeding herd.
 
Thats a male im sure of he has alot of space between genitals and anus
At this point im gonna schedule a vet visit since they've been together for two years already and well we all know what that likely means

And as far as what tunes said i see it this way. Atleast I know abit about chinchillas and I read alot on here so ill have more knowledge than a small child which is who would have been handling everything if i didnt take these two...
Im just saying id rather take care of these two and there possible kits than a 7 year old

Also my original cage is baby safe as far as i know the bars are less than 1/2 inch spaced
 
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Why take them to a vet? You're just gonna stress them out more than you already have by bringing them into your home out of their old environment. Start educating yourself on what to do and be prepared for babies. Separate them, put the female in a baby safe cage and watch for babies. Understand that you may have to be prepared to take the chin to the vet if there are birth complications, understand that you may need to handfeed kits. Read through as many threads here as possible. That's pretty much all you can do.
 
Unless you have a really good chin experienced vet, I personally wouldn't waste the money on a vet visit...
 
Ok so no vet visit.
Well so far i have a baby safe cage as far as i know since my original cages bars have less than 1/2 inch spacing and ill get the FN now and seperate the male and female into that

Whether everyone here agrees or not i do think its better that i handle all this than a small child.
Ill admit me doing all this is less than perfect but it is the better of the two situations
 
maybe if the female is pregnant, you can see if someone in your area who has experience breeding, would take her in? i know i wouldnt be comfortable with a pregnant chin after having one for a few months. there are so many things that can go wrong. and just as you felt that you needed to help these chins, im sure someone else feels that they need to help you with the pregnant one. it wouldnt be fair for you to wake up one morning and have to see something go HORRIBLY wrong. this is just my opinion, and im not expecting you to take any advice from me...
 
Don't wait until you have babies to put her in a baby safe cage. If you're gonna put her in a FN - it needs to be modified now, period. You have to make preparations before the eggs hatch, that way you have no accidents.

The bottom of this FN is an example of what you need to do if you want to go that route:

DSC_0298.jpg
 
I have a cage already that would be baby safe it has very small spacing and as far as i know noone around me breeds.
Out of everyone near me ive talked to im the most knowledgeable in chinchillas
 
Congrats on the new chins, they are gorgeous.

As far as baby safe cages. I was AMAZED at how small of a space the babies could squeeze out of! I got a trio of chins surrendered to my rescue & the female had babies. Those little ones want out of that cage MORE than any other animal I have ever dealt with! I had re-vamped my cage by attaching hardware cloth around the edges, but didn't do the top of the cage, and they climbed up the walls & climbed out the top & off across the floor they went zooming!

It would be wise to remove any & all shelves/ledges before she has the kits because you want to be sure she is staying with them & that she doesn't injure them by jumping off the ledges & landing on the kits.

You will need to be sure that all food dishes & water bottles are accessible to the kits.

I am simply telling you things I learned from experience. I ended up with 1 (possibly 2 more) pregnant chin....and was totally unprepared! Thank goodness for the wonderful advice I recieved from this forum..otherwise, I have no clue what I would have done!
 
Ok thank you :)
Ill go to home depot grab some wire cloth and baby safe it along with taking out the shelves and anything else she could hurt herself or a kit with and switch to my smaller food dishes
 
I'm probably going to be out of line here, but I hope I'm not. I'm a long time lurker of this forum. I've had a chin in the past, but not for a long time. I'm extremely active in the fancy rat community. We hold a lot of the same view points as the chin community when it comes to care and breeding, etc.

We get a lot of newbies saying they got these rats that were "supposed to be both males". Then they slip later, admitting they knew they were a male/female pair and such.

Looking at the OP's past thread history, and just listening to the inconsistent stories, and knowing the OP is a minor, this seems very intentional.

She was set on making them a trio, then said ok, well she can separate them. They are both 100% males. Yet, she even says that they told her is a was a male/female pair a couple times. None of it really matches up, so I'm just gathering that this was an intentional thing.

You now have two males, which you very likely are NOT going to be able to bond together. And a female who is pregnant. You are going to need two separate cages, and you're going to have to order modified pans for the FN, because with most small animals, if there is a will, there's a way for them to get to one another and breed again or fight.

If this girls has trips, all boys. You decide to keep the boys, because you're sure to get attached, and they hit maturity, and begin fighting (I'm not saying it WILL happen, I'm saying it can.). They start beating each other and you have to separate. You'll have 6 different cages.

Or what if mum has a bad labor, and a baby gets stuck. You have seconds to rush her to the nearest e-vet. Do you have a ride for that? Do you have $1,000+ for the vet bills. What if she's in such bad shape, she needs to stay the night, potentially have surgery, etc? Can you afford that?

And if her and the babies get ill? Or if all three of them get ill at the same time, or there's an accident, can you afford that?

Maybe you should consider giving the female to a rescue who can afford her, and place her babies in homes that can definitely care for them throughout their entire lives. Then you could get a FN142, split it in half, and give each boy a half.

But I know newbies from the other forum I'm on. They don't tend to listen. Or tend to get mad, think everyone is attacking them, and then just say they're going to leave the forum. But that isn't learning.

If you're going to keep all of them, I suggest opening your ears and really LISTENING to what the people with experience are telling you. You openly admit to not knowing much, and yet you snub your nose at people who've been caring for these critters for years.

I knew a chinchilla breeder. He used the poly-something cages. 4 cages, with a run on the back. A female in 3 of the cages, and one set aside for the male. They were small cages. Maybe 15"X15". The run is big enough for a male to turn around in, and get to the females.

I'm not sure if most breeders use these style of cages, but the chins were happy and healthy. And gorgeous! He had some beautiful animals, and had very good ethics.

That cage may be small, per your standards. But the chins look really healthy, have a nice coat, doesn't look greasy or patchy. They definitely got some care.

Taking an animal from one situation you perceive as bad, and potentially throwing them into another that may go sour is NOT rescuing them.

I have some pics of the type of cages I'm speaking of(Not the exact ones, but very similar):

http://jtchins.com/images/600_Roseland_Pictures1_079.jpg
http://www.chinchillasource.com/image-files/breedingpair.jpg
 
1. The cage is not small or horrific or unsuitable for those two chinchillas. A couple ledges in there and a nice house and it really is not torture for them. So I guess someone needs to come rescue my chins since they're in cages smaller than that and they only get *gasp* one chew toy.

2. Two months or two years those people had them? You keep changing back and forth and I'm thoroughly confused.

3. The pictures posted are both male...there's a space in each picture. I don't know if you just took pics of the beige or of both of them but try using your macro feature and taking better pictures. If you were using a camera phone...borrow a friend's camera or something like that. You shouldn't freak out about possible kits/pregnancy unless you have a female. To know if you have a female you should take CLEAR pictures and ask an expert because you clearly are not one when it comes to chins.

4. Do you know how to measure? In the breeding section people clearly stated what size wire spacing is suitable for a kit. Anything bigger than that means a kit can escape. I suggest you read up in there if you truly have a female and then MEASURE.

I knew a chinchilla breeder. He used the poly-something cages. 4 cages, with a run on the back. A female in 3 of the cages, and one set aside for the male. They were small cages. Maybe 15"X15". The run is big enough for a male to turn around in, and get to the females.

Polygamous breeding cages.;) I use them and many other breeders do as well. We usually just call them "runs". Those and colony cages are the most popular for breeding. I had a friend visit recently that had never seen runs and thought they were small and horrible. She was shocked at how healthy, big, and just all around GOOD my chinchillas looked. A smaller cage is not a death sentence or abuse. If they were kept in something they could barely move in (show cage) for their entire lives or a hamster cage...that would be bad.
 
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Ok well if the chin in that picture is a male than there is no need for this discussion
And they had it for two years im just used to typing months instead of years.
The two chinchillas have been housed together for two years. I dont view there cage as large enough i guess thats up to everyones opinion to a certain extent how i see it is ranchers and breeders have alot more chinchillas so they know what is a proper size cage and just pet owners go by what they view is a proper sized cage
I havent looked into the breeding section much so i didnt know the exact measurments for a baby proof cage i said i think its baby proof... Also the pictures are of the same chinchilla so you guys tell me is it a female or a male with small space? I thought it was a female
 
E.



Polygamous breeding cages.;) I use them and many other breeders do as well. We usually just call them "runs". Those and colony cages are the most popular for breeding. I had a friend visit recently that had never seen runs and thought they were small and horrible. She was shocked at how healthy, big, and just all around GOOD my chinchillas looked. A smaller cage is not a death sentence or abuse. If they were kept in something they could barely move in (show cage) for their entire lives or a hamster cage...that would be bad.

Yeah, those. :] I couldn't remember for the life of me, and googled random words til I got what I was looking for. Lol.

The cages look small, but the chins got around well. And they were such friendly, happy little things. Always greeting you at the cage, waiting for a chew or a piece of shredded wheat or flower stuff that he used as treats.

I suppose from a "pet" stand point, smaller cages look bleak. But from a breeder stand point, small cages aren't horrible. They don't NEED as much space as they get in a pet home (Not saying they shouldn't get it, just that they won't die if they don't.). We're just very accustomed to seeing large, elaborate cages for pet chinchillas. I really don't think the cage was horrible. But I'd have chosen a different hide. It looks smaller because the hide chosen takes up a lot of floor space.
 
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