You can confirm the sexes of the chinchillas by checking by their anus. Hold up their belly and look for a bare patch of skin between the anus and the urethral opening. This is an indication the chinchilla is male. You can check if the chinchilla is female by looking for a small slit opening on the anus and no bare patch of skin between the anus and the urethral opening. The distance between the urethral opening and the anus will also be much larger on males than females.
The chinchillas should be over 650g and have clear, dense fur. You may decide to go for a bigger chinchilla that is 800-1000g. But keep in mind larger chinchillas tend to not produce as well as smaller chinchillas. You should also inspect the size of the female chinchilla’s pelvis. Her pelvis should be at least the width of a dime and have a length of a dime and a half for her to be a good breeding female. It should be big enough to fit the flat of your thumb in. You can check this by holding the female by the base of her tail and placing your thumb on her bottom, towards her uterus.
The chinchillas should also not carry the lethal gene as this will cause the mother and the baby fetuses stress during pregnancy. This means you should always breed the same breeds of chinchillas with each other. Mating chinchillas of different breeds could lead to weak offspring with poor health.
You may want to wait until the female chinchilla is fully mature, or at least 12 months old. A more mature female chinchilla can make the breeding process much smoother, as younger female chinchillas tend to fight off the male chinchilla rather aggressively.
You should also have a larger cage available so you can place the two chinchillas together in the larger cage once they are comfortable around each other and ready to mate. The cage should be big enough for the two chinchillas to move around and mate. You may include bolt holes or cubby holes in the larger cage. This will give the male a space to hide of the female does attack him before mating.
Make sure the mesh is small all the way around the cage so the kits cannot climb out of the cage or slide through the holes.
Most chinchillas breed well in rooms that are kept at a cooler temperature, between 52 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Try to keep your chinchillas in a room below 75 degrees Fahrenheit at all times. You may place a fan in the room to circulate the air and play a radio on low in the room. The radio can help to block any outside noise or noise in your home.
Start by placing each chinchilla in their own cage. Then, place the cages next to each other and notice how they react. The chinchillas may be curious and smell or stare at each other. You can then let them out to play together and see how they react. If they still seem curious and not hostile to each other, place one chinchilla in the smaller cage. Then, put the caged chinchilla in the larger cage with the other chinchilla. Open the door of the smaller cage and make sure there is not hostility between them. If one chinchilla becomes aggressive, punish him or her by placing it back in the smaller cage. Once both chinchillas are no longer hostile to each other, you can allow both chinchillas to live together in the bigger cage. After some time together in the same cage, they may then be ready to mate.
Be prepared for the female to show some resistance to the male at first. She may vocalize her distress by standing on her hind legs and spraying the male with urine. She may also whine or make loud noises. Some females may also try to attack the male before mating. This is why it is important that the cage be large enough for the male to hide or retreat when he is being attacked. The male may retreat to cubby holes or bolt holes in the cage in the event of an attack.
Do not be alarmed if there is clumps of fur in the cage due to the male pulling at the female, as this is natural. You should only separate the chins if you see the female turn and attack the male by biting or scratching him. During the mating process, a copulation plug develops. It will be excreted from the female once the breeding is done. This plug appears as a waxy substance surrounded by a cornified layer of the vaginal wall and is about 1” long. You can check for this plug once the mating is over to confirm the chins have bred.
If you notice hair around the male’s sheath, use petroleum jelly to gently lubricate it. Then, tease open the hair ring and carefully cut it off with small scissors. A hair ring that is not removed quickly can lead to serious injury to the male’s penis and possibly be fatal for the male if it is not addressed.
The female’s six teats may also become larger and more pink by day 65. Her nipples may get longer and redder by day 85 of her pregnancy. You may also notice the kits moving inside of the female in the last few weeks of her pregnancy.
The main causes of infertility in chinchillas are genetic factors, nutritional deficiencies, nonviable sperm, a hormone imbalance, or metritis, an inflammatory issue in the female’s uterus. The vet should do a full examination of the chinchillas and x-ray their abdominal area. The vet may then suggest treatment for the chinchillas so they have a higher likelihood of mating and conception.
