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[gremlin101]

Hello,
My girl is getting close to having her babies! I was wondering what signs of labor they give? I understand it depends on different chinchillas, but any help would be great!
Thanks.

[GrayRodent]

Typically chinchillas give birth late at night and you'll never know it. They start by cleaning and grooming the area where the birth happens, then they'll stand up, the water breaks, and that's about all the warning you're going to get. Most of the time you are not going to see it happen.

As it comes closer to time the teats will extend past the fur line but not always. Typically they will begin to lay on their side more and become less active as well.
The male must be removed from the cage. After birth the female goes into heat and this can be dangerous to the kit as they are mating. You also have another consecutive pregnancy which is poor breeding practice because it is bad for your dam's health.
The best thing to do is get a good estimate of when conception happens and count 100 days.

We also have a book available:
http://www.cafepress.com/chinchillapet.9620601

[gremlin101]

Thanks so much,
It's just kinda odd to me, because she jumps around a lot (has no levels anymore) and the cage is totally baby-proof. However, she really likes to stand up, like she is stretching her tummy, I haven't noticed her laying on her side to much, just more stretching then anything. When the babies are very active she does the bark type of sound.
I was wondering if they may do that during labor and giving birth.

[GrayRodent]

I do know that some chinchillas are more active than others throughout the pregnancy, and some breeders say that for some chinchillas there are very little signs at all and it takes them by surprise. I've never seen a live chinchilla birth before other than some videos of it. In the ones I've seen there is no noise at all. It's really impossible to generalize since each animal is unique.

[kageri]

Mine actually like to give birth in the afternoon.  Completely at odds with usual birthing times for prey animals.     Some will become inactive for awhile but Aika just keeps bouncing around like someone threw a rubber ball around the cage right up until kits pop out.  If you do catch the birth the female will be in an odd, sometimes concerning looking, crouch.  Usually you can see the stress in their expression with dropped ears pulled in tight.  That's usually all you get.  Then she will start helping kits and placentas pass.  Leave the placentas to be eaten.  It's gross but they help trigger more contractions as well as getting milk flowing.  Each kit should stay tucked under her and she should quickly recover and dry them when she's done giving birth.  The birth yesterday afternoon took about 4 hrs from start of weird crouching to dry kits for twins.