How many Babies can a Chinchilla have?
Chinchillas can reproduce relatively fast. They become sexually mature about 4 to 5 months after birth. Their sexual cycle takes about 28 days. Once two chinchillas mate, it takes about 110 days for the chinchilla to give birth to the babies. Then one can expect a litter of 1 to 4 chinchilla babies. A healthy female chinchilla can give birth up to 3 times a year.
However, while the above shows how many babies a Chinchilla can have theoretically there are more things to be considered, if you are thinking about breeding Chinchillas.
Chinchilla Breeding Basics
First, you should not push your Chinchillas into becoming breeding machines. This will affect their well-being and life span. Ideally, the female should have at least 5 to 6 months to recover before she becomes pregnant again. In addition a chinchilla should not have more than five litters maximum before it is released from the breed.
Second, Chinchillas may only be mated if both parents are completely healthy and cannot transmit any disease. In addition, you should not mate any siblings, because there is a high risk that a lethal factor gene is passed on to the offspring from both parents. If the Chinchilla babies carry two copies of the lethal factor it results in birth defects or even the Chinchilla babies’ death in the womb. In the same tune Velvet Chinchillas should not be paired with each other because they carry the lethal factor.
To learn more about the genetics of Chinchillas and its effects on Chinchilla breeding I would recommend that you visit the Mutation Chinchilla Breeders Association Website.
Finally, before you even consider breeding Chinchillas you should make sure that you will be able to find a place in loving hands for your baby Chinchillas. By no means should you devote yourself to Chinchilla breeding just because you want to see what Chinchilla babies look like, or because you just find them cute and cuddly.
If you do not want to have offspring then you should only keep same-sex Chinchillas in a cage or have a veterinarian castrate the male Chinchilla.