# hand feeding new born chinchillas HELP!!!!



## geckocider (Nov 22, 2010)

hi

I have had no luck with my local vets soo thought I'd ask on here... Just incase anyone has had to do it... 

I have a new female chinchilla added to my group, she has had kits in the past and given birth to 4 every time but she killed all the first litter and on the 2nd litter kepted 1 alive... Im guessing that she can't produce enough milk for all the babies and they all become weak and then die... I havent had a litter from this female but she was with a male when I collected her so I could have babies in the next month or 2.... 

Has anyone had to hand feed baby chinchillas and what did you use? Clearly I want to make every effort in keeping them alive and Im going to go to the vets once they are born and find out what is wrong with the babies or try and find a solution but would be nice if I could hand feed the kits till something is done... 

Any help would be great... Thank you


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

chins are designed to feed 2 kits, so more than that and you`ll have to supplement them, or they`ll fight and squabble and they rip each others eyes out/ shred ears.

i`ve had a couple of litters of 4 in the past, and as long as you supplement them about 3 x a day and leave mom to feed them the rest of the time they do fine.

i used a mixture of 1/2 evaporated milk / 1/2 warm water, you can add a bit of avipro if you wish.

feed them when they are sitting upright, pop a drop of the milk mix on their lips ( not in their mouth ) so that they "chew" it off- or you`ll drown them.

by the time they`re a week or two old, you`ll be able to put the milk mix in a small hamster bottle and change it twice a day so it dosnt go off.

sounds more like they`re faded from starvation rather than been killed. was she kept on her own when she had them? was there any attempt to help the babies?
if she`s gonig to have that many babies in a litter you`ve got to be prepared to help her, and make sure she`s housed alone so she dosnt get bred back to back.


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## Kare (Mar 9, 2010)

I have not done it but I would think as they are a species that is born fairly advanced that it would not be that huge an issue to replace the milk, you would have to but not the be all and end all that it is with say rabbits. My chin baby is less than 2 weeks and eating solids, so prehaps even younger they could eat softened more liquidised pellets. 

However degus can be majorly affected by lack of contact with they own kind as babies. Seriously life altering mental health type issues. This is where my mind would be if faced with the issue in chinchillas as they are obviously close species in regards to family groups. So will be interested to see if others have faced this from the point of view of you keeping Mum from infacide whilst keeping the babies sane.

As you have so long to plan it maybe worth getting in the Catac orphan feeding teats Feorag recommended on another thread for bottle feeding small animals.


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

pigglywiggly said:


> chins are designed to feed 2 kits, so more than that and you`ll have to supplement them, or they`ll fight and squabble and they rip each others eyes out/ shred ears.
> 
> i`ve had a couple of litters of 4 in the past, and as long as you supplement them about 3 x a day and leave mom to feed them the rest of the time they do fine.
> 
> ...



This! :2thumb: I used the same method, as well. I used to have a girl who'd have litters of 5 or 6 and I just helped supplement the babies with evaporated milk and water. Worked well, and I only ever lost one baby from one of her big litters this way (and it was the first litter she'd had with me, so I wasn't expecting it).


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i`ve had 3 litters of 4, the way they fight and bite each other when fighting for mom`s teats is scary.....i never lost one, but the first litter had terribly damaged noses till the extra food kicked in.
they healed though and did fine, and were super tame and snuggily.


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

Yeah ours used to run about on the desk using the paper tray as a jungle gym during top up time *lol*


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

mine had their own shed


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

I wasn't that lucky..... They had the critter room, but they decided to redecorate and ate the walls *lol*


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## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i have a shed fetish, lol, i have a few.

my chinnies had big spooner all metal chin cages so unauthorised chewing didnt happen. 
their teeth are awesome, can chew through anything!


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

Yeah... Wall. *lol*


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## geckocider (Nov 22, 2010)

Thank you people 

I had read about evaporated milk but wasn't sure if anyone had actually done it  yea ill feed them all every 4 hours or something and make sure I keep an eye on the smaller one and keep and eye out for nibbling and fighting. Im in the house all day and currently trying to feed my multi babies as they won't wean off the mum and the mum kepted fighting them :/ so far ive kepted them alive 

male chinchilla will be removed a few weeks before I'm gonna check her nipples to see if she's pregnant or not see if there is any change  

her first litter was 4 and 1 made it, which is my other female i have... no effort was made to save the babies i think the girl just thought that 4 was the right number and the mum could take care of 4... but because 3 died she never put her with a male for 18 months as she was worried that the females killed the babies... the female had the babies alone so there was no breed back and thats what i will do as my dad has breed them for 20 years and he only allows them to have 4 kits a year (2 litters) max as this female is having 4 each time hes said to only allow he to have 1 litter a year as its less stress on her 

im going to keep the 2 females together away from the male shame all my females hate each other its constant fighting through the bars of the cage.. lol..

oh walls my chinchillas love eating the walls!! I think every corner in the back end of the house has been eaten :/ why do they do it? they have wooden shefls, rope toys, mineral blocks, hay and food... but yet they chose to eat my walls... MY chinchillas have a room thats 12x11 foot where their cage is kept, and then run of the hall ways and my bathroom thats about 8x8 foot...
They have been banned from my bedroom as I found one of them ontop of my wardrobe and the violet male and black velvet female snuggled up under my duvet!! 

whats your view on nutering? I have 2 very beautiful males, one is a violet and the other is a lovely dark black velvet... both are very friendly and love their girls very much but is it unfair to neuter them? the added stress would that kill them??


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

geckocider said:


> Thank you people
> 
> I had read about evaporated milk but wasn't sure if anyone had actually done it  yea ill feed them all every 4 hours or something and make sure I keep an eye on the smaller one and keep and eye out for nibbling and fighting. Im in the house all day and currently trying to feed my multi babies as they won't wean off the mum and the mum kepted fighting them :/ so far ive kepted them alive
> 
> ...


 
Ive got 3 chins and the male is neutered, he didnt seem to notice he had even been to the vets. I have a a male and female pair and a single 12/13 year old girl whos older female friend was pts due to age related problems. They are a nightmare to bond so Im not sure if Chilli will ever get a new friend, she has her cage next to the other 2 but the girls hate each other and try and fight through the bars after pee spraying each other:devil:
Both lots get about 3 hours free wrecking time and they do just that. The room they are in has stripped lower walls and destroyed woodwork and plaster. I have never seen such agile critters as they run up walls using the cages as a back support, nothing is safe from them:lol2: Cant help but love them though:flrt:


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## ladycelestria (Aug 13, 2010)

Forum and Help - Kingdom Chinchillas phone -01592571038between 6-10pm

great forum for chinchilla questions, i used to be a member there when i had my elderly girl Mindy

worth popping along and meeting them as they have seen and done it all


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