Hand Rearing
Fostering : If you have another female with babies the same age you might want to try fostering. To do this rub one of the other babies against the rejected kit to cover it's smell with one the female will recognise as her own. Place the baby in the nest box with the other babies and watch them very carefully to make sure the female does not kill the baby, and that it feeds. If this doesn't work then you will have to take the part of mum. I have collected together a number of methods used by other breeders for dealing with this situation.
Please remember that a substitute for mum will also have to be found, a small cuddly toy will do. Place the baby in a small cage over a heating mat or a hot water bottle. Make sure that there is an area not covered by this heat source so the baby can cool down when it needs to. Place an old towel in the bottom of the cage above this heat source.
Substitute Milk . Sherley's make a milk substitute called Lactol for puppies, kittens and other small animals that can also be used for baby chinchillas. Make it up as per the instructions for kittens, or use 5ml of powder to 30ml of boiled water (let the water cool before mixing it). Add a few drops of abidec multivitamins. You may have to add glucose to the mix to make it more acceptable to the babies. If you make up more than this amount to save time later on, remember that you can keep it in fridge (it will keep up to 48 hours). Check the babies dropping to make sure that it doesn't end up with an upset stomach.
Chinchillas For Pets Not Pelts Club (CFPNPC) market their own chinchilla milk replacement formula that is specifically designed for baby chinchillas. It can be found in their Health Section at http://www.chinchilla.co.uk/home.htm
Alternatively try evaporated milk in the following formula :
1 part evaporated milk
1 part water (boiled then allowed to cool)
1 pinch of glucose powder (again added to make the milk sweeter and increase the chance of the baby chin taking it)
1 drop abidec multivitamins
When you do not have evaporated milk to hand, cow's milk can be used, but the recipe becomes
2 parts cow's milk
1 part water (boiled then allowed to cool)
1 pinch of glucose powder (again to sweeten the formula)
Hand Feeding. Make up enough formula to feed at one time,
ensure every piece of equipment used is clean and sterile (use
The best method I have found to hand feed is to gently hold them on their back in your hand and using the pipette/syringe place a drop on their lips and allow them to lick it off. Take care not to give too much at once as they may inhale some of the milk and choke, in the worst case scenario, to death. Should the baby end up blowing milk from it's nostrils them it has inhaled some of the milk into it's lungs. This should be cleared away with a cloth. Top and tail the babies with a damp cloth to simulate mum. This will stimulate bowel and bladder movements.
Frequency of Feeds. The following table will give an idea of the frequency of the feeds depending on age of the baby.
1-7 days.......every 2 hours.
1-2 weeks......every 2 hours.
2-3 weeks......every 4 hours (offer solids).
3-4 weeks......3 times a day (plus solids).
4-5 weeks......3 times a day (plus solids).
5-6 weeks......twice daily (plus solids).
When feeding solids always ensure that the babies do not over feed. This will lead to upset stomachs and diarrhea.