Bella’s kit is a male (checked earlier today) and he seems to be doing pretty well. He is getting to grips with the whole suckling thing and Bella appears to be finally settling down to motherhood. He’s a cutey – very quiet and shy. He’s also very small, weighing 44g yesterday but surprisingly (kits usually lose weight in the first 24 hours or so before the mother’s milk comes in) he had gained 1g today.

Here is the little chap:

"Shorty"

I popped into the chin room this morning to check on “Shorty” (I do hope that name does not stick – like “Thug“) and from the corner of my eye I noticed that Leila had gone into labour. She’s not due until Monday and I was on my way out to Roman & Jane’s Chinchilla Rescue to help out – I made a quick phonecall to Jane to tell her that Leila had changed my plans for me and I would be late. I then started hopping from foot to foot and banged on Talie’s door so she could watch the kits being born.

Leila is another Manor character. She is feisty and can be a real stroppy madam when she wants to be but I love her dearly and she has the ability to always make me smile. One of her favourite hobbies is taking off my glasses. I got her about 4 years ago from a breeder who literally gave her to me because she had a couple of tiny (5 pence piece sized) fur chew marks on her hip and so was of no use to the breeder at all.

I brought her home to The Manor and settled her into a cage which was just about at eye level and spent weeks slowly and carefully interacting with her. This is when I discovered she liked my glasses. It took all of a couple of days for Leila to settle into The Manor and she stopped fur chewing instantly; it was clearly stress/boredom related. With some toys and gentle attention Leila turned into a beautiful chinchilla – both in character and in body.The only time she has ever shown any sign of fur chewing again was when I moved her to a cage she did not like – it was too high for her and she could not “chat” to me quite so readily. She took one small nibble of her fur in exactly the same place as when she originally arrived. Moving her back to an eye level cage stopped the habit again – so now she stays in the same cage level and is perfectly happy.

Leila’s last litter produced two cracking standards (Griselda and Genville) who both won group awards – Griselda won a 3rd (dark standard female group) at the National in April 2006 which I was very chuffed with since these were the first standard chinchillas I had bred. Grenville now lives the life O’Reilly with a friend of mine, shares a cage with a chin that Debbie bred called Moley (big, squishy, cuddly lump of a chin!), and still managed to win 1st, Reserve Best Adult Standard Male and Reserve Best Standard at a show last September (Southern Region) – that’s not bad going for a 3 year old.

Both Grenville and Griselda have inherited Leila’s character – George, their father (and the father of the latest litter) is quiet, a bit aloof but absolutely amazing as a breeding male – he is suave and very gentle with his girlies and never misses a trick. Currently he’s looking a bit porky because he’s got 3 females and he pops up in each cage when you go round with the treats – if you’re not paying attention he’s snaffled 3 treats before you’ve noticed!

Currently it is difficult to tell which of the two chins is pregnant – as this photo demonstrates

George (on the shelf) and Leila a few days ago

Thankfully Leila’s labour was pretty uneventful – she had triplets this time: 2 females and a male. She was pretty tired by the end of it and when she finally expelled the placentas I did not let her eat them. I removed them, gave her a raisin instead, and left her to settle with the kits.

Talie took some excellent photos – will upload them tomorrow. Right now I’m off to watch the kits settle with their mother.

Well, Tonka is now just over 5 weeks old.

Thought you might like an update on his mischievous self.

“Mum won’t share her shredded wheat with me!”

“But I got my own anyway”

“Cheeky faced? Me? As if!”

“See? Butter would not melt………. ”

“Hello?”

Some chins have no manners “From A to B via any route possible – Including over Mum!”

Poor Bear – she will be glad when 7 weeks is up because I can see me needing to wean the little monster by then

Just thought I’d update this thread ……………….. Tonka went back to see Jade (my vet) yesterday and we’re all really pleased with his progress.
He weighed a whopping 78g yesterday and his front paw looks excellent – it is almost completely healed and he is not going to need any surgery unless there is bone infection present (which does not seem to be the case at the moment).
He was very popular at the vets and Jade and the veterinary nurse had good long cuddles with him – Tonka, of course, thoroughly enjoyed the attention – at one point he was clambering over Jade peeping softly to her all the while – I  think Jade could have stayed there with him all evening

So here he is ………………

and here is his amazing paw