Hand rearing kits

[nattynoo]

Hi guys,

my little girl Inka had 3 kits yesterday, all look and seem ok.
this morning running and exploring the cage.

i weighed the kits last night
baby 1- 35g
baby2- 33g
baby 3- 29g

this morning the small one has lost 2grams,

i know theres 3 so they are going to be a bit smaller. but do you think i should help out. and hand feed?

i have some Oxbow critical care food, or should i make up chinchilla formula. if so which is the best formla,
as i have seen loads
eg
50% Full Fat Cows Milk, 50% water

25% Evaporated Milk, pinch of Glucose and Water

50% Goats Milk, 50% Water

Kitekat/Wiskas kitten milk


Regards
Natalie x

[moletteuk]

I'm sorry we don't have many people around with chinchilla experience, I don't myself, but didn't want to leave you with no reply at all. I would think that kitten milk is the best choice, I know that it is the best choice for hand rearing hamsters anyway, second choice would be goats milk, definitley not cow's milk. Good luck with this.

[dyzired]

I don't have experience with chinchillas but I hand reared my degu boy from 2 days old.. And I used goats milk..(it was a powder) and I used even parts powder to water. And that worked wonders!

[nattynoo]

thanks guys,
ive never had to hand rare, she seemed fine, i think it was just me being over worried as she was small.

shes put on weight, mum cares for all 3 so well, and is always watching them.
even one of the babies is so protective of her.

all 3 are climbing and exploring now. xx

[moletteuk]

Great

[darthchinchi]

I was just browsing and found this. I know it's old, but thought this info might be of help in the future if others stumple upon this thread.

First of all anything around 30g and below is in the lower range of newborn chinchillas. It is worth it keeping an eye on the smaller ones.

Weight wise the usual pattern is as follows:
Day 0: Birthweight.
Day 1: Loosing a gram or two
Day 2: Same weight as the day before or gaining a gram or two
Day 3: Gaining weight.

Day 0: Birthweight
Day 1: Same weight as the day before
Day 2: Gaining a gram or two
Day 3: Gaining weight

Day 0: Birthweight
Day 1: Gaining a gram or two
Day 2: Gaining weight

All of the above is normal.
With only one kit it is normal for it to start gaining from day one but not uncommon if it looses or is steady in wright either.
With more than one kit it is likely to see a mix between scenarios.
If they keep on loosing weight it is a good idea to try with milk or if it isn't interested a check at the vets to see what's going on.

[deguconvert]

Darthchinchi . . . can I just ask what you mean by "With only one kit it is normal for it to start gaining from day one but not uncommon if it loses or is steady 'eighteen'." I am thinking that eighteen isn't the word that you intended?

[darthchinchi]

Nope. It was either lol. I do spellchecker. Had a lot of issues with my autocorrect after I added an English dictionary. It has a tendency to auto correct words I spell out correctly, to weird words. Will edit!

[deguconvert]

Got a new phone before I left for our family vacation, and the words it puts in for correctly spelled words!?!?! I type "you" it puts in . . . "tippy"!! WHAT??? That's just the "tippy" of the iceberg, but since I type "you" rather frequently it seems, I see it a lot. Then it threw in a new curve and is now alternating "tippy" with "yippy", LOL!! I've had some rather puzzled replies as you can imagine.

[ntg]

That's very useful info to have! Thanks Darth!

Is there a specific type of milk that you recommend for hand rearing or one that you feel you have more success with?

[darthchinchi]

I personally use KMR kitten milk.
Can't remember the other recommandations as this is the one I prefer.