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[mike]

Hi everyone, I recently adopted a  male and female chin from a very bad situation and horrible conditions. They are in good health. (yes they are male and female ) They are about a year and a half old and have been together for about a year. They have never produced any offspring ( the male is not neutered ) I have recently put them in a new cage and they have now stopped sleeping together, in fact, they have been sleeping at opposite ends of the cage. They do not fight and I do not see any missing fur nor is there any fur lying in the cage. They do take food from my hand however, they are a little shy but that is understandable and I know it may take some time for them to warm up to me. My questions are:

1) why haven't they produced any off spring
2) why aren't they sleeping together, did I do something wrong

[GrayRodent]

I'm not sure what you mean by "very band and horrible conditions" but if those conditions caused a lot of stress or malnourishment you can expect behavioral problems. Chinchillas typically can't produce offspring when there is a lot of stress or if they don't have a proper diet. The female tends to self-abort. It's also possible they just won't breed.

There's also a possibility one is sterile or the pair just aren't a good match for each other and won't breed. I recommend getting the female examined by an experienced vet to assess her breeding capability. If you suspect malnutrition you should probably have them both examined and make sure their teeth are okay and see how much weight they need to gain back. There are adjustments you can make to their diet to help if need be. If the cage was not properly taken care of sometimes parasites can be an issue so make sure their droppings are a proper consistency. They should be hard and not mushy.

[jmdebb]

do you actually want kits?  the reason i am asking, and i'm not bashing you or attacking, just fyi, not knowing their background its best not to breed them, too many things can happen.. if you are interested in breeding, find a rep breeder, ask lots of questions and then breed.  i have seen so many horrible deaths from chins that shouldn't of been breed, even with good stock, many horrible things can and does go wrong.  i just hate to see your loved furs die.  so many people have said "well how can you learn if you dont just breed".. well, its best to learn by finding a mentor, so you can eliminate many problems that can arise from breeding by learning the do's and don'ts of breeding.  this comes from experience, from someone that did have mentors and thought she was ready to breed.  i had quite a lot of knowledge, but it still wasn't enough, and i shed many, many tears, and i now have a few chins/kits out in my yard   i'm not saying that something will always go wrong, but when breeding just any two chins, but you never know what you may end up.. what if malo is in the genes, or any other health issues... rep breeders will pull any chins from their breeding if they have any issues at all, to make sure that they are all healthy ...

hope i didnt step over the line here..  but to me its not worth taking a chance on losing a fur baby when you dont know their background, its heartbreaking and i hate to see others go thro that

jean