Chin Care
As cute as the adults are, babies are cute enough to eat (not literally though). The greatest danger at this time is for the babies to get out of the cage and become chilled, so care must be taken to somehow enclose the holes in the cage if they are larger than 1/2 inch by 1 inch. We have used gutter screening to wrap around the bottom 4 inches of the cages to prevent the more persistent escapees.
At about eight weeks the babies are weaned and the males are removed from the cage to prevent impregnating mum, females can remain with mom until about six months as long as dad is not also present. We like to keep babies for a week or so after weaning just to make sure that they are eating well and not overeating, which can cause diarrhea. But then they can go to their new homes or to juvenile cages to develop before breeding.
This is only a sampling of the information that is available on the care of chins, and there are many good web sites which provide great information. One of the books that we recommend is “The Joy of Chinchillas” by Betty Cogswell, Lani Ritchy and Roxanne Beeman. They have provided much needed research into chins and their diet and health problems. It is available on the internet at many sites and other information is available on their web site at http://www.cachins.org. We are always available to any chin owner for questions and of course to follow up on our chins in their new homes. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
At about eight weeks the babies are weaned and the males are removed from the cage to prevent impregnating mum, females can remain with mom until about six months as long as dad is not also present. We like to keep babies for a week or so after weaning just to make sure that they are eating well and not overeating, which can cause diarrhea. But then they can go to their new homes or to juvenile cages to develop before breeding.
This is only a sampling of the information that is available on the care of chins, and there are many good web sites which provide great information. One of the books that we recommend is “The Joy of Chinchillas” by Betty Cogswell, Lani Ritchy and Roxanne Beeman. They have provided much needed research into chins and their diet and health problems. It is available on the internet at many sites and other information is available on their web site at http://www.cachins.org. We are always available to any chin owner for questions and of course to follow up on our chins in their new homes. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
