New baby chinchillas- new pics

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akane

akane

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Aika finally popped out our first litter by Katsu after many weeks of laying around in misery.

I think we actually got what we told Aika to give us. :lol: I haven't seen many colors in baby form yet though so I don't know how they'll lighten or darken.



 
They are all born fuzzy it's just not as visible on the ebonies because there is no contrast to their dark fur. These are more like the agouti colors in rabbits. Darker tops, medium under color, and white to grey tinted bellies. <br /><br /> __________ Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:03 pm __________ <br /><br /> Looks like we have 2 females. 49 and 51 grams. Nice well developed, fat kits. Aika decided to cook these well and go nearly a month later than anticipated. They already have fuzz standing up on their tails and the other litter took weeks to have anything but flat little round tails.
 
Aika is teaching her babies to swear in chinchilla. Earlier I had them cuddling under my blanket and when my husband went to retrieve one he got kecked at (a sharp warning noise) by the mosiac for disturbing her. Then a short time ago the shiba dog went to sniff a baby hiding under the hay loft bolted to the inside of the cage door and the silly little 40gram chinchilla kit told that 30lb dog off in chinchilla words that should not be repeated. I'm pretty sure it was the mosaic again. The dog took a couple steps backward, considered things for a minute, went to sniff the chinchilla again, got yelled at by the kit, and then Aika decided to get involved. She made sure that dog knew what she thought and took her baby away. She's also teaching them to alarm and contact call. Stuff the other litter didn't pick up for another 2 weeks and poorly at that. I have a whole cage of barking, squeaking, kecking chinchillas in the bedroom. At least the kits aren't very loud yet.

More pictures soon but I didn't have time today cause it was cage cleaning day. I have a cute litter of hoglets as well. Floppy ear, never did name her, failed to produce a litter of rabbit kits so 1 iffy litter, 1 failed litter, and 1 miss is enough strikes for my last mutt doe but nestboxes go in the 13th for the new netherland does bred to Kido.

__________ Thu Mar 13, 2014 4:52 pm __________

The only pics to not come out a blur


<br /><br /> __________ Thu Mar 13, 2014 10:45 pm __________ <br /><br /> That little mosaic is going to have to learn some manners. She apparently got tired of telling my husband off for removing her from inside my shirt or blanket while sleeping next to me. This time she just went *CHOMP*. Luckily their teeth sit in such a way that it's hard for them to break skin compared to even much smaller rodents but my husband sure jerked his hand away fast. I always get given that one when they are out now. :p:
 
:lol: We were both sitting on the bed using our computers during my husband's lunch break when the akita climbed up and licked my husband in the back of the head. He yelled at her and she sat down on the floor insistently wiggling. We could not find what she wanted. Then something fuzzy touched my leg and I looked down to see movement. The black velvet chinchilla kit was running about the room. The akita believes she is responsible for all other animals that she's told belong here. We threw the shiba out because unlike the akita she believes all animals exist to be eaten or at least killed if they are too big to be eaten. What do you expect from a 20-30lb dog bred to take down wild boar that may be 10 times their weight?

After much chasing and the use of a flashlight we returned black velvet kit to the cage and went hunting for escape routes. Turns out the person who sold us the used cage failed to mention a missing bar which was no big deal for the adult chin that came with the cage. We had moved him out to a bigger cage with wider bar spacing and moved our pregnant female in to that cage over a month back now. When we put the shelf in the cage a couple days ago because the kits have gotten mobile enough to jump on houses it put the bar hole right on kit level. We've got some cardboard woven through it right now but their mom will probably eat it quickly, chins find cardboard irresistably tasty, so we will have to run to lowes to find a more permanent solution.
 
I have decided we shall name it houdini. :lol: Josh went to check that both babies were still in the cage and forgot they like to hang out in the hay rack on the door. As he's poking Aika to get off her babies which she doesn't want to do out falls a little black thing from the open door. Once again it scurries off under cages, furniture, and in to the closet. Prompting another hunt by flashlight to safely return her.

__________ Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:44 pm __________

6 weeks old









 
Akane! I may need some advice soon! I have never been a rodent person, but I walked into our local pet shop the other day, and saw my first two chinchillas and they were totally adorable! They are supposedly both females, and about six months old that have been housed together. I DO NOT want to breed them, so I hope they are sexed correctly. One appears ebony, and the other gray. They are coming home with me tomorrow. :) They seemed so friendly and cute, and I bet they will be better than TV...which is why they have a new home. I've already ordered a large ferret cage for them. Been researching all weekend, and they seem like great house pets.
 
Be sure to remove ramps from the cage because they can occasionally hit a ramp wrong when running and injure a leg or mouth. You may want to replace the shelves with wood or wrap them in fleece depending on the material and design. Aside from the tendency to kick poop out of their cage and eat anything that isn't metal they make great indoor pets. Cord protectors are a must if you let them out anywhere except a pen or a room like the bathroom with no electronics hanging down. Most do not really like held but will tolerate it to various degrees. They do love treats and most will stick around for petting as well as using you for a climbing obstacle when out. Check out simplychintastic.com for houses, ledges, and toys but he stops taking orders at the end of may. http://www.rondaschins.com/ is a great site for treats. There are several listed as safe for daily use like the rose items and the carnation flowers. Rose stuff goes over great with most of our chins and then we have one odd ball who doesn't like rose hips or rose flowers but will take the carnation flowers the others are really fond of.

Gender is not too difficult. If you can get them flipped over or close to it the females' openings will very obviously be practically on top of each other and the males will have a slight gap. No need to poke around like we do for rabbits. Which is good because getting a chin to hang around upside down is a challenge. At least with 2 right there you can compare them and if nothing else at least tell if they are the same gender. Whatever that might be.
 
If you were closer I'd give the mosaic up for next to nothing. For some reason everyone wants the dark colors and no one wants the cute little mosaic. She's a bit shy but a sweet thing. Likes to pop in and out of a blanket next to you so she has a hiding place to run to. She was slow to take treats but seems to have figured it out. It probably helped her sister is gone so there is little competition. Hachiro takes care of our weaned female kits now and she'd never steal food from a baby. She's obsessively protective of them.
 

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