Triplets Update

The triplets are doing quite well. Putting on weight and starting to ping about their cage. Gris is doing a great job with them and is coping with the me swapping them around several times a day - not bad for a first time mum.

Thug has been at work with me all week - he has successfully made the transition from taking formula from a pipette to drinking it out of a mouse bottle. I took the bottle with me on Tuesday and by lunch time (second feed using the bottle) he’d managed to grasp the concept of using his lower jaw to “bite” the ball bearing to release the milk. It’s amazing really how quickly these little kits adapt to changes in their environment and in their “food delivery” systems - survival and adaptability are two of the chinchillas most basic instincts but they are incredibly well developed, even from birth. It’s truly fascinating to watch and provides a real learning opportunity.

The two other kits (as yet nameless) are doing very well too. Like their brother, they have adapted well to the schedule of rotation and are also drinking formula from a mouse bottle when they are not in with their mother. The bottle is hung from the cage at a height they can easily reach and the formula is warmed a couple of times and then completely changed with a sterilised bottle and freshly made formula. This prevents any bacterial build up in the bottle and protects the kits from gastro-intestinal upset which can be fatal in young chinchillas.

I need to take some more pictures of both sets of kits this weekend (the triplets and the twins) so I might do it when I clean out the chins later. It is interesting watching how kits change in body shape over time; going from the gangly, big-headed first born to the “mini-chin” body shape at a few weeks old. It is also interesting to see the colouring change in some of the mutation chinchilla kits are they develop too - the velvets are fascinating as their veiling and face “mask” develops.

I’ve written an article about The Charcoal Mutation and its Derivatives on Chinchillas Unlimited because there seems to be a lot of confusion around the difference between a charcoal and an ebony - pure recessive charcoals are rare and the mutation is often (frustratingly!) confused with ebony.