Question:
I haven't had chins long enough to have to retire any, and know 4 years isn't too old for them to have kits or anything...But how old should a female be at having her LAST litter? Do males ever need to be retired? Should they be retired? How do you "retire" a female? Just take her away from her lifelong partner if you have your chins in pairs? And for people that have runs...Do you just pair females and put them in a seperate cage?
Thanks,
Corina
*ANY Comments on this subject are welcome! *


Answer:
I retired my petstore female at 9 years, because of 2 reasons
-She was my first breeder female, and I never realized how bad breeding petstore chins could be until I started going on forums, so I didn't want to take the chance of having problems with kits. The male is neutered, and still lives happily with his mate, and another female.
-She was 9 years old, and had tripletts, and I thought that it was a great litter, nice and healthy, and figured it would be the perfict litter to have as her last. I still have a male from that litter as a pet

We are getting a run, and when the females and/or male retire, they will be placed in a bigger cage and be kept as a pet, and possibly, if they allow it, be placed with another female for a compainion.


Answer:
Well do you neuter the males so they don't mate again and have another litter? Because just because you don't want them to breed anymore, doesn't mean they won't. lol. I heard of someone having a male be a father at 18 years of age! and I know of anyother lady who I gave a female chin to for a companion (she didn't think he would produce) and they did. Her chin was about 16/17! Some things are amazing!! lol.


Answer:
When a female stops producing, that's when they retire. All females are different, so theres no specific age limit. They'll stop on their own. A female can even abort a fetus if she senses the kit is wrong or if she feels she can't raise it (either because of herself or her environment).
The above was taken from the OCA website from our latest meeting at our local ranch.
http://www.ontariochinchillas.ca/meetingnotes.php
Impo, I would breed until I felt the animal no longer wished to produce, or had a kit that made breeding her/him no longer necessary for my breeding goals.


Answer:
From the above quote...does that mean she would be able to stay with the male for her life because she would not prodouce when shes too old? And everything would be o.k.?


Answer:
Good breeders will retire their females once they stop producing the quality of kits that the breeder desires.

Speaking from human experience, the older a female gets, the more likely she is to have abnormalities during cell division. This can lead to Down's Syndrome and other genetic problems. The reason that the female is more at risk for this is because her eggs are "born" with her. In females, eggs are not produced, they are stored in the ovaries and released each month. Men, on the other hand, are constantly producing new sperm.

This may be something to think about with chinnies.


Answer:
Thanks Candice. I have yet to see that with my chins...My oldest female is only 4 or 5 I believe. I can't remember right now. Have to look and find it. lol. Or just check out my site...:-/


Answer:
Personally, I'm going to decide by a case by case basis. I retired one pair when they were about 2 1/2 years old. I was not happy with the kits they were producing, and took them out of breeding. I was going to find a male for the female as she is anice animal, but put her with a standard non-breeder instead. The male is alone utnil his new friend gets here in April.

Once my chins aren't giving me the quality I want in my herd, they'll be taken out of breeding or split up... When would I retire a female? Depends... If she starts to have problems with delivering, she'll be retired right then... if she starts to not pick up after a litter, and isn't how she was before breeding, I'll retire her... I don't think I'd personally keep a female in breeding past 7 years...but thats me, and I haven't gotten to that point either.


Answer:
Originally Posted by chinluver
From the above quote...does that mean she would be able to stay with the male for her life because she would not prodouce when shes too old? And everything would be o.k.?
I was not at the meeting, so I didn't hear it first hand, but I would personally seperate them as the male may still keep trying to mate and that would be quite stressful on the female. Plus, even if she aborts, having to do it over and over again would not be good for her.


Answer:
Wouldn't the number of litters a female has had be an important factor in deciding when it retire her? Would a female that has had 2 or 3 litters per year be ready to retire a lot sooner than a female that has had only one litter a year? Again, that would make it a case by case basis.

Kristine