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[Jasonred79]

Erm... I love my little fella... feeling rather parental...
And now I know how MY parents feel lol... I'm having the ol' parental urge to find a nice loving wife for my kid, and see him with a child and family of his own... (not gonna let him leave my house though!)

...

Is this a good idea? Or am I just being unrealistic?

Cause, I have no intention of becoming a Chin breeder... I would limit them to a 1 child policy, and that's it. ... Only reason I didn't start him off with another female is cause I wanted him to bond faster and stronger with me, and having a rival for his affections might have gotten in the way. ... oh, yeah, I guess that there were logistics too, but mainly it was so he would bond solely to me...

...

so... happy with things the way they are now, but what would make Popsicle happiest? Are Chins social enough to want a wife and offspring? Or would he be equally happy with another male to buddy buddy with? Or is he fine with just me?

... Also, I'm 35, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to outlive the little fella... that makes me sad... ... now I know why Chinese and Japanese say there is a special section of Hell reserved especially for children who die before their parents... (utter nonsense, to me, but I understand how people felt it went against the whole filial piety thing)

... I guess I might be looking for ways to make Popsicle immortal, or at least pass down something of himself to another generation?

...

What's the oldest recommended for a male Chin to breed? Maybe once he's advancing in years, I'll get him a young wife, and I'll have Popsicle Jr? ... Or just let him have some illegitimate kids with some random female Chin belonging to someone else, and just take 1 male for myself?

... I'm... confused...

...

Maybe I just need to get married and have kids of my own, lol...

[GrayRodent]

Breeding chinchillas is not a game for the faint of heart. Things can and do go wrong and you never know what or when or if but if they do you're going to have to be prepared to live with the consequences if there are complications. Anything from the female killing the male in a fight to the female or kits dying from complications related to pregnancy or even nursing. It's not the norm but I've helped people on this board with things like that.
Secondly if you're going to breed, which I may someday do myself, it is always best to go for the highest quality animals you can. This pretty much rules out breeding pets unless you're pet happens to be an award winning pedigreed chinchilla. If I were to breed I would do my best to obtain award winning breeders with the best conformation and quality in the industry. Any chinchilla that you breed should be pedigreed as well and from a highly reputable breeder who is going to remove chinchillas with genetic defects from breeding if they should occur. My male is pedigreed and may be show quality but I still wouldn't want to breed him because he is average size. I'll never know because chins ought to be showed in their first prime and mine primed out last year.

Chinchillas do not get depressed if you don't breed them. The trouble comes when you put them together and they bond as a breeding pair and then you separate them. Sometimes that can cause one or both animals to become depressed to the point of death. I've seen chinchillas like this on the board a few times. Sometimes the owner will neuter the male and sometimes they'll just let them breed. Neutering is a high risk procedure. I've helped owners who had to deal with post operative complications and usually the outcome is good but it can be extremely difficult to make it that way.

As far as I've heard from others' experience chinchillas can be very tame even in pairs and even if one in the pair hates people. I guess they are not like birds in that respect which often stay wild when paired. If your pair does breed you can have up to four kits as well and if you can't sell them you will have to keep them in separate cages because they will breed with each other after 8 weeks. And inbreeding is dangerous especially for female kits that are not fully grown. My recommendation is that if you want to breed you will want to keep separate animals for breeding that are not your favorite pets.

And getting married and having children is a very respectable thing. Animals are nice but people have a much higher purpose.