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[dianah]

fluffy's due to give birth on the 26th - i think she may be a little early as the movement is very strong and you can actually see movement on her bump rather than in her sides - from quite a distance! she also spent quite a while in the nesting box on the bottom of the cage today, she never does that (she usually spends all her time on a ledge)

the cage she's in at the moment with her daughter pippi is a very tall cage (62in) - it does have platforms that prevent falls, the biggest gap is only about six inches. she gave birth in there the first time when we didn't know she was pregnant and thankfully she did that at the bottom.

today, i tried moving her into a single level cage with a low shelf. i don't want to pick her up so i put the new cage opposite her current cage, put the nesting box in there and put pippi in as well. fluffy was looking at it but didn't go in. in the end she went out of her cage - i shut the door hoping she'll go to the new cage - but she was trying to get in the old one and was getting rather stressed so i let her in the old cage and put the nesting box back in together with pippi.

i am not keen on stressing her out this much with the birth pretty much imminent but i am also worried about her giving birth higher up - it's not just the possibility of a fall (i would imagine six inches is a lot when you're only a few minutes old) but also that the nesting box is at the bottom and that's where they'd all keep warm.
i considered removing all the shelves from her current cage but that would mean using a drill to get the platforms out which would stress her out too.

so what to do? should i just leave her in her current cage and put her in the small one once she gives birth? or is there some stress free way of moving pregnant chins?

[Jhenderson27]

Well I had a hard time doing that at first as well with Ebbie.  The best way that I did it was moved all their toys, houses, and everything I could comfortable get in the new cage.  Then I used the one thing Ebbie loves more than anything, her dust house.  I put it in there with her and let her jump in and roll around not know that she had been transported from cage 1 to the small cage.  Once she was done enjoying herself and such she popped out into her little cage where her mate Titan was waiting for her.  She bounced around and barked a few times at me over the course of the first couple hours.  Soon after she got used to it and had no problems.  2 days before she was set to give birth, I took Titan out and pushed her cage close to his so they could still see, smell and enjoy each others company.  She has since given birth with no problems and her and Titan are close to each other but I will wait until the 27th to introduce them again and let them hang out so she is out of the woods with her being in heat.  I have been slowly holding the babies up to him to see and smell them face to face.  I cant wait to have the family back again, I hope all goes as well for you as mine did.  Maybe well have to trade a baby!  haha

[dianah]

i had a second attempt at this last night - she was ok to go in, wasn't so keen on being in though. i put the nesting box in and stuff from her cage together with pippi. she was trying to find a way out and when i opened the cage to put a snug in, she got out through a tiniest hole and back into her old cage.

will try again tonight with the dust bath. thank you!

[ABC Chinchillas]

Honeslty I leave mine in the colony cage to give birth. I have never had any born on a shelf, they always go to the bottom to give birth. I am waiting on one at the moment she has been hanging around at the bottom for a few days

[dianah]

thank you! i think i'll probably end up doing this - she really wants to stay there and it's no wonder really, it's her home where she feels safe.

she gave birth at the bottom when it was her first pregnancy - in the same cage - so my husband keeps saying that she knows what she's doing.
i found her at the bottom of the cage a few times in the past couple of days - she's normally high up and i never see her down bottom unless she's coming out for a run around. so i guess it's a sign, especially if your lady's doing this!

[Jhenderson27]

Well than give her what she wants and worry about it later : ).
Best of luck...and don't forget pics!

[1newChinmom1]

Dumb question time  .....Why don't you take some of the higher shelves out, so she stays on the bottom for sure? That way she could stay in her favorite habitat, and you can be sure the kits are safe. It seems almost too easy a solution, but it might work. My Little Mother and Kit are in a rather big habitat, but with no shelves. That is how I made it safe, and still had a bigger place available for later. Congratulations on being a Grandchin!

The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know......

[dianah]

i know - sounds like the obvious solution! the reason we can't do this is because the platforms we put in the cage as it is such a tall cage - they're properly screwed in so we'd need to use an electric drill (well, with a screwdriver head - whatever it's called, it's husband's job ) and i think it would freak her out.

we will take out some of the shelving so the babies won't be able to get off the bottom (we did this last time) but she can still get up there from the top of the nesting box

grandchin!  no one's called me that yet! brilliant

[ABC Chinchillas]

One of mine gave birth today. I left her in the colony shelves and  all like I always do. She had her kits just fine at the bottom. I find the kits start getting on the shelves at a week (the lower shelves) rarely higher than that for a bit but they go up as they get older with no troubles

[Jhenderson27]

Another reason as Jo Ann always says and I have seen is that the little kits love to climb up.  However they do not know how to go back down.  So when they get high they let go and fall.  If its to high well I'm sure you get the picture.  Better safw than sorry I say.  To each their own, I choose to not risk it as I am new to this.  Good luck to all.

[dianah]

thanks guys,

j - the babies will have no way of climbing up - the bottom shelves will be taken out but the big girls will still be able to get onto the lowest platform & onto the higher shelves from that. this involves a lot of acrobatic jumping though and there's no way kits could do it.
the only thing i was worried about was them starting out high up. once they're down, that's the only place they can be for quite a while.

[Jhenderson27]

awsome....you sound like your gonna be a helluva chin mom.   

[dianah]

  i hope so. i hope this time fluffy will have an easier ride with no mastitis (i'm secretly hoping there'll be more sleep in it for me!)

[Jhenderson27]

Ha sleep.  What's that.  Vanessa and I wake up all the time just to check even though they r sleeping away.  We are just worry warts.  What colors do u think your gonna get?

[dianah]

oh, not that sort of sleep. we'll be definitely getting up to check on them (crazy chin parents!)

last time, fluffy had mastitis so we had to hand feed for the first couple of weeks - pippi was very keen on the bottle and suckled her fair share and more within five minutes. ffynn (who was then called skinny) was trying to resist so every feed took about half an hour as we had to put a tiny drop of milk on my finger, put that on his lips, wait until he licked it off and do that again and again and again so we had an hour of sleep between feeds at best.

so if i could only get up twice every night to check on them (i get up at half five for work anyway and my husband's taking next week off) that'd be awesome!