To all you breeders out there i was wondering if you can advise me on baby weights.

I have just got a baby chin called Shadow who when i got him just under three weeks ago weighed 302grams. I have been weighing him daily as he wasn't separated from his mum until the day i collected him (long story). He is 17 weeks old now and when i weighed him wednesday night weighs 332 grams.

Can someone tell me if this is good weigh gain or bad and what i can do to help him if that is not enough. He eats around 17 grams of pellets a day. We may have the odd day when he only eats 12 grams. I am just going off the packet of pellets for how much to give him and this maybe wrong any advice would be greatful.

Thank you in advance

Lorraine

It is difficult to give an "average" chinchilla weight because it can vary for many reasons. For example, I have kits weaned at 8 weeks who are 340g+ but I have others who are only hitting 340g at 10-12 weeks or more. Some adult chisns are bigger than others too - I have some chins who are barely 500g and some who are nearer 1000g - as long as they do not feel bony or they cannot move because they are so fat then "average" really does depend on the chinchilla in question.

I'd say Shadow is a bit on the small side - if he is not bony and is putting on weight then I would not worry too much.

Considering that the little fella had not been weaned properly from his mother except on the day you brought him home I'd say he was doing ok - because he is gaining weight, albeit slowly. It can be stressful for kits to be weaned which is why good breeders wean at least 2-4 weeks before selling kits on - this ensures the kit is putting on weight and is coping with the changes. The being transported to a new environment can be stressful also - give him time and keep monitoring his progress.

Can I ask what his routine diet consists of please?

Hi Claire,

When i first got Shadow he was making 'crying' noises all the time and doing the warning call when i went in the cage. He seem to stop doing any of that as was happy to sit on my hand, sniff me etc but the last couple of days the crying has started again. Not sure what is up with him, at first i thought it was to do with him missing his mum, this time i don't know. He is eating fine, poos are fine, so i don't know.

I feed him on P@H chinchilla pellets, 17g of this and 3grams of his old food. This has been decreased slowly. He does tend to opt first for the old food but does eat 12/14grams of the new stuff no problem. His poos are a lot blacker in colour than Bags' but always have been. He also has timothy hay everyday and either a shredded wheat or an alfalfa stick from chins 2 shop. That is all i feed him. This is what i was feeding Bags so this maybe wrong i just don't know any different.

Please tell me if i am doing something wrong. Also Shadow does not imo feel bony

Not sure what you mean by crying?
I read in your other post that he has been moved again recently because of a ceiling problem? He is probably just unsettled and earing different noises in a different room.

The diet sounds pretty good - are you restricting him to 20g of food for a specific reason or because it says so on the packet? Healthy chins eat an average of 2 tablespoons of chinchilla pellets (around 40g) and unlimited hay per day - you can split the pellets into 2 "meals" during the day if you wish but I would not restrict his intake.

I'd say the little fella is struggling to settle - he's had a lot of upheaval in a short space of time and he's probably still adjusting.

Hi Claire,

Thanks for you reply. I don't know how else to discribe the noise he is making. I checked out the website with the sounds and it isn't one of those. I say it is like an 'eek'ing sound. Shadow has not been moved since he arrived with me. He has been in the same room continuously. The only time i move him is when i have to clean the cage out as it doesn't have a tray and then he just goes into the carrier for 10 minutes and straight back in again. On the 17th December i have my new John Hopewell cage arriving which Bags my other chin who has been moved because of ceiling disaster can go into this cage and Shadow can go in Bags out cage which has a pull out tray so i won't need to move him again to vlean him. I know that i will need to scrub the cage down and i will change the shelves completely for new ones so there will be no smell of Bags to unsettle him.

With regards to the food, i give him 20grams as the packet says so. I only give Bags 20grams and he goes straight to his bowl as soon as food is put in there so he must be very very hungry my poor boy. Should i increase the intake to 40 grams straight away or slowly? Bags is quite a big boy weighing in at 635grams and he is still increasing each week i weigh him. If i increase to 40gram surely he will get really really big?

Ah, sorry, my mistake - it is Bags who has moved rooms, isn't it?

Personally I do not restrict the pellets I give to my chins (within reason - I would not let Monty have access to the sack or he would stuff his chubby face until he exploded! ) so I give 2 desert spoons full of pellets per chin (approx 40g). As long as a chin is not so fat that they have massive rolls below their armpits then I don't worry too much - I'd rather have a little extra weight than a skinny chin.
I know that some people will restrict pellets but as long as the chin is eating a good handful of hay as well as the pellets then I have no problem - if they are stuffing on pellets but not eating hay then I tend to restrict the pellet intake a bit - unlimited hay is essential for their teeth and gut function. Pellets just add in the nutrients, proteins, vitamins & minerals etc that hay does not provide.

Hi Claire,

Yes it was Bags that was moved not Shadow.

Well i upped the amount of food i was giving to the boys and Bags now doesn't go straight to the bowl when i put new food in although i have only given 30grams to start with as Bags is a pain with his hay as it was i didn't want to over stuff him.

I did the same with Shadow but he still only eat approx 13grams so i decided that i would go and buy the food he was originally on from the breeder and see if that made a difference as i wasn't sure he liked the stuff Bags was on. Needless to say that i mixed 15grams of new and 15grams of old and low and behold he has eaten 24grams for the last three days which must mean he doen't like the new food as he leaves that and not his old.

I need to post the ingredients of the old food though as i am not sure that it is very good food. The reason i think this is because i put 5 grams into Bags bowl to try and get him to change food slowly and he finished that food before he eat his normal and he had to fish it out in order to do it so i am very weary at minute. I will post ingredients tonight to see what people say.

Thanks you for the advice hopefully with Shadow back on his old food he may gain more weight as he still looks really tiny compared to how Bags looked at 5 months (