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[LC-SM]

Was just thinking..when I setup my breeding unit, and I have a load kits born, once they are weaned i'm going to seperate the male and female kits and put them into one cage per gender.  So I was wondering...how do I know which kit is which without having them tattooed? Of course there will be kits that I can identify right away with the distinct colour of markings etc..but like if I have a load of standards..how do I know?

[chinclub]

When you say a load, how many do you mean?    How many chinchillas do you have in your breeding program?  Are you planing to keep your chinchillas or sell them?  According to your info you only have 2 chinchillas which means you might get 2-3 chinchillas per year.

[ABC Chinchillas]

I write on their ears in Marker when I have two same color same sex...but I agree what do you mean by loads?  I have 56 females in breeding 100 animals here and there has only been a handful of times I have had to mark babies they space out fairly well

[LC-SM]

Sorry guys should of made myself more clear...i'm soon going to be starting up a breeding unit..I plan to start out with only 3 breeding pairs, so I guess it's not exactly a "load" of kits, but say all three of them give birth around the same time...MAXIMUM that's 9 kits that will be put together when weaned, I will have two cages...one for the male kits and one for the female kits..so the cages will have kits from different litters...every breeder in the UK have a code assigned to each kit that's born..for example mine will be LC/10/F/01 (Breeder code/year/gender/kit number)  so how do I know which kit is which if they're all together and if they look the same.

Will the marker come off? Cause yes I plan to sell the kits..so don't want someone walking away with a chin with ink on it's ear.

[chinclub]

The best thing to do would be to have 4 weaning cages so you can separate better. Marker will wear off.  I marked a few last month when I needed to transport them in a carrier together.  The marker was barely visible 2 days later so unless you are good about checking the marks daily you might still get them confused.

[LC-SM]

Right..well I was planning on having 3 cages for the breeding pairs to live in all the time and 8 smaller cages..3 for the nursing mums and her babies until they are weaned then 5 left for the weaned kits so think that will work out ok.

Quick question..I see most of you in america have vast amounts of chins in your breeding program...the most I have seen in the UK is only about 15 pairs, what do you breed in? (ie a shed outside, or a room in your house) those of you who have hundreds of chins..is breeding your full time job? 

[chinclub]

I have just over 500 chinchillas and breeding has become a full time job.  It takes me about 4 hours a day just to feed, water, and check for babies.  Then I still have to pull pans every day, wean, and sort which adds a few more hours.  I have mine in a building my husband built just for my chinchillas.  You can read all about the set up here:
http://www.huggablepets.com/huggablepets/tour.shtml




The picture below was taken when I just had 100 chinchillas, now I have 4 rows going all the way from the back wall to the front with just a 36 inch space to get around them.  I can't seem to get good pictures of the new setup since its so full of cages.

[ABC Chinchillas]

I breed in colonies so 1 male in the cage with 4-5 females, They have a room in the house. I have photos of my cages and set up on my website http://www.abcchinchillas.com

[LC-SM]

Thanks for the info guys. @chinclub - 500 chins wow...i would love to have that many chins but man what a load of work! can i ask...do you have that many because you breed for fur?

[chinclub]

Yes,  I have always loved chinchillas.  I started with 20 over 12 years ago and grew to just over 100.  Recently my mentor needed to retire and I took over his herd which brought me to over 500.  I didn't set out to be this big, it just sort of happened.  But I love it!

[Debbie.nl.ca]

I just use markers 

But I'm only a teeny tiny hobby breeder.
I have different colors so it's usually the grey I need to mark.

I love it too.