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[ymistry]

I had a male and female chinchilla, very sadly the male just passed away. For the first time the female is alone and I am worried about her. Prior to this unexpected death we were asked by a friend to adopt her 7 year old un-neutered male. She has developed a severe allergy and until she can find him a new home the poor guy is living in the basement of her house and is completely isolated except for daily feeding and cage cleaning. Needless to say, she is anxious to get him into a new home and give him a better life again. 

I was hesitant to take the un-neutered male because my female has already given birth twice. We thought we had two males and ended up neutering the dad when we figured out which one was the dad! I do not want to be a breeder but now that my little girl is all alone I am leaning towards adopting my friends chin. He would give mine company and his own quality of life would be so much better.

He is 7 years old so I assume that is too old to have him safely neutered? She is over 10 years old. Can chins reproduce throughout their entire lifespan? If I eventually put them in the same cage is it likely that they will mate?

Thanks so much for your help.

[dianah]

the ideal age to neuter them is up to 3 years old. they can get pregnant rather old, i think someone had mentioned they had an 18 year old giving birth.

i think it's risky. i wouldn't want to put a 7 year old boy through the surgery unless it was absolutely necessary (ie if you had a bonded pair).

[ymistry]

Thanks for your response. Is it safe for an older chin to give birth? I feel like it would be nice to give both chins a companion so I would like to still bring them together, however I don't want to do it at the risk of my female's health. Also if you put a male/female pair together in the same cage are you assured to get kits? Not sure if they need any chemistry between them to reproduce. ;-)

[dianah]

if you put an un-neutered male in with a female, as long as they are fertile, you do have a breeding situation. unfortunately.

i have read somewhere that having a male neutered (this is assuming it's a young male) is less risky than pregnancy and birth, i would imagine the risk increases as the chin gets older (same as with people?).

i'm not quite sure what to suggest. in your situation, i would want to give the boy a home too. however, you did neuter the other boy because you didn't want to have any more kits. also, you need to remember that if you do have a breeding pair, you will have to separate them in order to prevent breedback and you will have to keep doing that so they will not really be together all the time (and sometimes you may not be able to reintroduce after separation!). given that companionship is your main concern, breeding situation would not be ideal.

and, she may not want another mate.

[ymistry]

Thank you for this info, it is very helpful.

We just realized that the cage is large enough that we could probably split it by running some chicken wire down the middle. It seems that this would provide them both with some level of companionship without the risk of breeding. The cage would not be very wide any more but would still be quite tall and they would still have lots of levels to jump around on. I would think a smaller space but would a good trade for a companion, assuming she wants one?

This is of course, assuming they indicate they want a mate. I know the introduction process can take about a month. You mentioned that she may not want a cagemate. Is there a way to tell if it's just the slow process of introducing two chins or if they have no desire for a mate?

Thank you again for all your help!

[dianah]

i think a side by side cage would work better but obviously that depends on how much space you have available. also, apparently, there have been instances of chins getting impregnated through cages so you need 2 inch space between the cages. there's also possibility of them fighting through the cage if they are too close and they're not keen on each other.
and yes, a 'friend' in the same room is often better than no friend at all

i had intros taking longer than a month that looked like it would never happen and then they suddenly decided that actually, they rather like each other. i don't think there is a way to tell if they simply don't want a mate because it often looks like they really don't to start with!

[ymistry]

impregnated through the cages?! Wow. I assume these are rare occurrences?
Unfortunately we don't have enough room to keep side by side cages long term.

[dianah]

i would imagine so! though their willies are somewhat disproportionately long so i can kind of see how it could happen. that's some motivation though! 

[ymistry]

LOL 

[Debbie.nl.ca]

DON'T use chicken wire, it's way to big, they can get their heads stuck and chock. I know, sold one to a lady that I told not to use chicken wire and she did. She called me told me and asked me to take the chin back. I took both but the one did die that night. I never even had a chance to get to the vet.
And there is a big chance they will not get along. Adults get so set in their ways, adding another could be difficult.
If you want a cage mate go get a baby female, she'll think it's hers.

[Squirrel_Butt]

You might be better off just getting a separate cage for the male. Even in the best hands, there are risks with surgery.

[dianah]

there are always risks but you weigh this against the improvement in the quality of life. it certainly is not the right choice for every chinchilla but it certainly is for some.

[ymistry]

Well after some delays we finally adopted our friend's chin over labor day weekend. We've kept him in a separate, neighboring, cage and have only been letting one chinchilla out at a time. Our original chin, Peanut, finally started eating her pellets again once her new buddy arrived on the scene. She's very curious about him and jumps all over his cage when she is let out. She's definitely perked up since we got him.

Charcoal, the new adoption. has never lived with another chin and doesn't really pay any attention to Peanut. He doesn't really seem to notice her unless she comes right up to his cage and is nose to nose with him.  However, I have my doubts his disinterest will continue once we finally get them into the same cage. We did find a vet that would neuter an older chin, we're just still waivering on the decision.

[dianah]

that is fantastic! i'm so glad the girl has perked up! i wouldn't worry too much about him not paying attention. chinchi and fluffy were like that - when they were in separate cages but they worked it out in the end

if you decide to go ahead with the neutering, i would suggest you talk to your vet about post op medication. my chinchi developed a massive infection after neutering and after fighting to get him better for two months he had to have a puss capsule removed - he had a reaction to anaesthetic and we lost him. after this, my vets changed the treatment protocol and are now administering a full course of antibiotics rather than just a post op injection. chinchi had two sons, spock and ffynn and at first, i was absolutely unwilling to have them neutered because i was so scared but then i decided that it was selfish  - ffynn especially was miserable on his own. both had some sort of trouble - ffynn was moving way too much after the surgery, even in a single level cage, and developed a seroma (it's common in dogs and it's harmless but can develop into an infection) and spock had a minor infection. i do believe that if they were not on antibiotics & antiinflammatories already, we'd have been in major trouble here.
perhaps your vet already does this but it may be worth asking what his/her thoughts are!

whatever you decide, there's improvement in peanut already and they are in separate cages! so even if you decide not to go ahead with the neutering, having him around has helped

[ymistry]

Yikes! We've only neutered one but had no issues whatsoever. I guess we were lucky! Thanks for the tip, I will definitely ask for more info about medication.