Giget & Kits

Giget & Her Kits

Day 1

While you wait for the chin-clip to load ... I will
give you a little background about this long awaited day ...

   We weren't sure about the delivery date and she was getting so big, I began to
really worry about her. In her past liters she had only delivered one kit in each
litter. Now, she was getting unusually big. Giget was even sleeping standing-up
... balancing herself with her front paws on the wall of the cage, all this past
week. Each day I would go down to check on her several times a day and so
would Bill, my husband.   "No kits yet." we would say to the other one, when we
came back up-stairs. I began to wonder if she was going to explode.

Finally, this morning she started delivering about 8 a.m. First one, then a second
one and a third one. Triplets!!! Yea!!! But none of them had their eyes open ...
this means trouble. Chinchillas are normally born with their eyes open and
running and playing within half an hour.   These were quieter than normal and
seemed just to want the warmth of their momma. Of course, she had delivered
them rather rapidly and had little time to completely clean each one.   It would
be normal for both momma and kits to be tired.

Then, a few minutes later, I saw what looked like an afterbirth partially covered
by her ... she had already taken care of the first three ... I had watched her. Was
this another kit? Yes, still in it's sack, and momma to tired to take care of it. She
had quads, but only 3 would live. It was dead, so I removed it and went back to
console her.

After a while, I decided to let her just rest. But, when I walked past just a few
minutes later ... There lay another kit! A pink white/violet carrier. Still in it's
sack, momma still exhausted. I removed the kit, then felt a little wiggle in my
hand ... it was still alive! Quickly, I removed the sac, and dried it with a paper
towel, stimulating it while rubbing it dry. It gasp for air, but seemed to have a
little trouble, so I helped remove the fluid still in it's lungs and continued to rub
it. Within a few seconds, I heard little squeaks and decided it was time to return
it to momma. Her little eyes, like the others, were closed ... not open like they
should be normally. Momma promptly tucked the newest one under her. You
could see how exhausted she was just by looking at her eyes.

One by one over the next hour their eyes opened and they began to run and play
... and fight over mom's milk! After all, it seems like the four surviving kits are
doing very good. I am still apprehensive because there are so many for her to
have to feed and care for by herself.

Three of the four seem to be scrappers, the fourth one takes advantage of the
others fighting to get to the milk. ;)   Only 3 are seen in this film, the 4th one is
on the back side of Giget. The last one born, the little white one that I had to
help, is the bully of the bunch ... bound and determined it will survive! Momma
finally decided the only way to stop the fighting was to put the three on one side
and the white one on the other side to nurse by herself.

Their daddy, John-John, is a violet. He came from Lee Musclewhite's Circle M
Ranch in North Carolina. His daddy's name is Seth.

The momma, Giget, is a Pink White (tech. a white/beige). She came from Jim
Ritterspach's R&R Ranch in Ohio. All kits are violet carriers.

Check back for up-dates that will be added to this page.