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[tcamp01]

So I rescued 2 chins from some young children who just were not ready for a pet commitment. I had them caged separately from my other brood, which consists of my two original chins and and their 3 children, 2 of which have just reached maturity the other just joined them and pops in the main cage with mom. We had some structural issues with the cage housing the 2 new comers so we had to put them in general population with the other brood while new shelving such came in the mail. Everyone got along fantastically for the first couple days. I was interested to see if we could keep them all together so I kept them all housed together for a little bit longer, about 2.5-3 weeks and still no problems. Today I came in for the cage cleaning/feeding/maintenance and I found a newborn crawling along the floor and the chins fighting violently in the cage. I immediately separated the two back into their own cage and scooped up the baby to determine who the mother was (I still dont know who exactly the mom is, but I have a general idea). The only chin willing to take care of the kit was the original brood mother, who clearly wasn't the mom because she is white and the fur would still be stained. The two new comers where hurt during the exchange, both have small cuts and scratches along the back and butt area and 1 has severe fur loss on its hind quarters. Can someone please shed some light on why this free-for-all broke out and is there anyway to salvage the relationship between the new brood and the old? Here is a rough family tree to give a better understanding of the situation:

Original Brood:Snoopy(female, brood mother), Chin Chin(male, brood father), Spike (male, first born), Waffles (female, second born, suspected mother of baby), and Moo Moo(female, youngest, just joined the rest in main cage).
New Comers: Basil (male, some minor scratches to the back), Paprika(female, more significant scratches, severe fur loss, the other possible mother of baby, showing signs of depression, but only in last hour or so since fight)
Mystery Baby--parents unknown, sex unknown..for now. caged with brood mother because she was the only female willing to nurse.

As you can see, I have some experience with chins so please no first time chin owner advice. I am looking for a more in depth explanation.thanks for any help you can provide

[GrayRodent]

Most breeders will put females in separate cages that are connected together with a tunnel arranged so the females can be fitted with a collar that prevents them from entering into the tunnel and getting in with another female. This prevents fighting with the other females. It is because chinchillas are very territorial and usually don't tolerate living together in large colonies in captivity. Some breeders do breed with a colony but do so knowing that fights can break out and they do loose chinchillas on occasion. Colonies are kept together in spacious cages with plenty of secluded places to run off to and hide from attackers when things heat up. Perhaps the cage was not set up properly to facilitate this with the addition two new chins. It is just the way it is with keeping a bunch of chins in the same cage regardless of their relationship to each other or how long they have known each other. It even happens sometimes with monogamous pairs.

Males when kept together in a cage will often fight with each other if they can smell a female in heat and it is best practice not to keep a cage with multiple males in it with females in the same room. Females usually have a post-partum heat and I imagine that was the trigger for the fighting in an already volatile environment. Whatever chin delivered the baby is likely pregnant again. I recommend supplementing their diets with calcium powder just in case for the sake of the female since calcium depletion becomes a concern in those cases.

Males that try to mate with a female that is not in heat will often get attacked by the female. With the other female being in heat it may have prompted the other male to get excited resulting in a fight with a female that was not. The female may have been in a fight with another female as well since females are very territorial. It could have resulted from not having a place to retreat into. Of course it is all speculation. When you have so many chins in a cage it can be very chaotic.

It is my understanding that having male and female siblings together in a cage is very poor practice since inbreeding at this level often results in genetic defects and abnormalities in the kits. They are best kept separate. Breeding chinchillas with unknown backgrounds is also not good practice because they could be carrying genetic defects. Sometimes that is why they end up at a pet store. This is very bad for the industry and horrifying for pet owners who find out their chin developed malocclusion, tumors, or epilepsy. Although it not always possible to separate your pre-existing breeding pairs safely I strongly recommend separating the offspring right after weaning to prevent inbreeding and attempt to keep cage population to 2 or 3 same-sex chins to a sizeable cage.

That is my non-expert based on my limited knowledge of breeding chinchillas. Hopefully others will comment soon.

[tcamp01]

Most breeders will put females in separate cages that are connected together with a tunnel arranged so the females can be fitted with a collar that prevents them from entering into the tunnel and getting in with another female. This prevents fighting with the other females. It is because chinchillas are very territorial and usually don't tolerate living together in large colonies in captivity. Some breeders do breed with a colony but do so knowing that fights can break out and they do loose chinchillas on occasion. Colonies are kept together in spacious cages with plenty of secluded places to run off to and hide from attackers when things heat up. Perhaps the cage was not set up properly to facilitate this with the addition two new chins. It is just the way it is with keeping a bunch of chins in the same cage regardless of their relationship to each other or how long they have known each other. It even happens sometimes with monogamous pairs.

Males when kept together in a cage will often fight with each other if they can smell a female in heat and it is best practice not to keep a cage with multiple males in it with females in the same room. Females usually have a post-partum heat and I imagine that was the trigger for the fighting in an already volatile environment. Whatever chin delivered the baby is likely pregnant again. I recommend supplementing their diets with calcium powder just in case for the sake of the female since calcium depletion becomes a concern in those cases.

Males that try to mate with a female that is not in heat will often get attacked by the female. With the other female being in heat it may have prompted the other male to get excited resulting in a fight with a female that was not. The female may have been in a fight with another female as well since females are very territorial. It could have resulted from not having a place to retreat into. Of course it is all speculation. When you have so many chins in a cage it can be very chaotic.

It is my understanding that having male and female siblings together in a cage is very poor practice since inbreeding at this level often results in genetic defects and abnormalities in the kits. They are best kept separate. Breeding chinchillas with unknown backgrounds is also not good practice because they could be carrying genetic defects. Sometimes that is why they end up at a pet store. This is very bad for the industry and horrifying for pet owners who find out their chin developed malocclusion, tumors, or epilepsy. Although it not always possible to separate your pre-existing breeding pairs safely I strongly recommend separating the offspring right after weaning to prevent inbreeding and attempt to keep cage population to 2 or 3 same-sex chins to a sizeable cage.

That is my non-expert based on my limited knowledge of breeding chinchillas. Hopefully others will comment soon.

thanks a bunch for the advice, we where planning on getting the males fixed so that this situation doesn't happen again. normally we keep a close eye on their breeding activities, however, when the cage needed to be worked on we had to move them in together, and I'm guessing that's where the mystery kit came from. I was skeptical about moving them in together for even a couple days and it seems that I was right all along. Thanks again for the advice, I will make sure to supplement with calcium as well.