can even punish them for pestering by biting hard. The female is examined, and if necessary, the puppies are transferred to artificial feeding or transplanted into a cage with another female who has a lot of milk.

With artificial feeding, sanitary and hygienic rules should be observed: first of all, it is necessary to assign a separate drinker and pipette to a certain litter and boil them before each use.

Feeding a puppy with a pipette

Feeding for the first 7 days is carried out with a plastic pipette quite often, with an interval of 2.5–3 hours. The required amount of the mixture in one feeding is at first half a pipette, then, due to the growing needs of babies, it can reach several full pipettes. It is recommended to gradually teach the puppies to eat from the bowl intended for this, while increasing the time gap between the nearest feedings.

Puppies need to be weighed regularly, as persistent weight gain is an indicator of normal nutrition. On average, the weight of 2-week-old chinchillas should be 80 g, and monthly individuals weigh about 120 g.

If puppies are already accustomed to artificial feeding, then no food restrictions should be made, since biological needs will not allow animals to eat more than their body needs.

Lactating females require increased attention. It is necessary to regularly monitor the condition of the mammary glands, since puppies can injure them when feeding. If damage is found, it is recommended to lubricate the inflamed nipples with camphor alcohol or oil.

In the event that the mother has too much milk, the excess must be expressed from the third pair of nipples. After that, the nipples are smeared with petroleum jelly or compresses are made on them.

The care and rearing of young animals does not require much effort from the breeder, if there are no problems with milk and the female perfectly fulfills her duties in relation to the offspring. The only thing that needs to be done constantly is an examination of the puppies, which allows you to fix deviations from the norm of their physical condition and behavior and take timely measures to prevention of negative consequences. Particularly careful examination should be carried out in the first 6–8 weeks from the moment of birth, observing primarily the general condition and level of development of chinchillas.

A healthy puppy without any deviations is quite mobile. He is very dexterous and mischievous, he loves to play with his peers, using various objects for playing, for example, circles cut from the bark of any tree, which can be placed in a cage so that the puppies grind their teeth on them.

Already a few days after birth, chinchillas should be allowed to move freely around the cage, for which the nest box is returned to its original position so that the inlet is on the side.

Grown up puppies can be fed the same foods as adults, but more carefully selected for the presence of vitamins and nutrients necessary for growth and development, and positively affecting digestion.

Puppies react warily to the appearance of a stranger, hide in the farthest corners or seek salvation from their mother, sometimes make alarming sounds. Therefore, it is not recommended to disturb chinchillas without special need with some external irritants, one of which is the appearance in the room where the cage is located, a person they do not know.

A week after birth, along with milk, a small amount of crackers or granules can be introduced into their diet, after 2 weeks - hay. You can stop breastfeeding at 5 weeks of age.

Concentrated feed (cereals) is crushed before use.

If puppies develop diarrhea when switching to solid food, milk should be excluded from the diet and a concentrated infusion of chamomile should be given instead. In addition, you can use any therapeutic children's syrup (4 drops for each puppy in the morning and evening).

Particular care must be taken with regard to green fodder: they should be accustomed to them gradually, first mixing with hay. Legumes, such as clover, are the worst absorbed by babies, so it is better to introduce them into the diet of already adult chinchillas.

The lactation period for chinchillas lasts 45–60 days, so it is recommended to wean puppies from their mother between the 50th and 60th day from the moment of birth, when they are already physically developed and independent. After jigging you need to continue to feed the young with warm boiled milk. It is possible to take puppies from their mother even at the age of one month, since boiled milk does not have a negative effect on their body. Such early jigging has a positive effect on the female and contributes to the subsequent production of stronger and healthier offspring from her. This is also reflected in the breeding properties of chinchillas - such as the speed of growth and development of puppies.

The growth rate of chinchillas is quite high: in the first month of life, they increase in size by 3 times compared to newborn babies. Nine-month-old individuals are already considered adults.

It is necessary to strictly monitor the process of growing up puppies, correlating growth and weight indicators, and in case of significant deviations from the norm, determine their causes, paying attention to the nutrition and behavior of chinchillas. It is recommended that the less strong and developed of them be weaned from their mothers a little later, and after separation, provide adequate nutrition and place in separate cages, while healthy young animals are kept under normal conditions: males and females are placed several individuals in each cage, separating them by gender.

Types of color chinchillas
At home, chinchillas are mainly bred, which have the following colors: standard gray, black velvet, white, beige, homobeige, ebony, purple, sapphire. When these colors are crossed, more than 200 different combinations of hybrids appear, some of them have a complex genetic structure and are bred in several stages.

Standard gray is a wild natural color that carries two recessive genes - aa. Crossing parents of a similar color gives a similar offspring. Among the standard gray chinchillas, light standard, medium standard and dark standard are distinguished, since the color of the fur can vary from light gray to dark gray with a bluish tint on the back and sides and from white to bluish white on the abdomen. On the curves of the body, a play of tones can be observed, since the lower part of the hair is black or bluish, the middle is white, and the upper is black.

Black velvet. The color was first bred in 1960 in the USA.

Distinctive features of this color are black diagonal stripes on the front legs, black color of the back and head, white belly.

Black velvet

chinchillas this color cannot be crossed with each other, as they have a “lethal gene”, which negatively affects the qualities of the offspring.

Crossing with other colors gives the following main types of hybrids: white velvet (with Wilson's white); brown velvet (with heterobeige); purple velvet (with purple in two stages); сапфировый бархат (с сапфировым в два этапа) и others

Wilson white, mosaic (or white velvet), silver. This color, first obtained in 1955 in the USA, is dominant, contains a "lethal gene". The appearance of heterozygous individuals is different, the color of the fur is from snow-white to dark silver.

White chinchillas are carriers of a recessive "lethal gene" that appears as a result of crossing two white parents. Therefore, animals that are carriers of this gene are not crossed with each other.

Recessiveness is a form of relationship between two genes, in which one of them has a less strong effect on the corresponding traits of an individual than the other.

In relation to the standard gray, the white gene is dominant, and as a result of crossing, both white and standard animals are born.

The color white velvet can be obtained by crossing black velvet and white wilson. As a result, the individual receives white, black velvet and standard genes. White velvet, which has the effect of double dominance, is characterized by white fur, a dark “mask” on the head, dark gray diagonal stripes on the front legs.

Crossing white velvet with animals of the following colors should be avoided: white velvet, black velvet, brown velvet, purple velvet, sapphire velvet, as well as white, white-pink, white ebony. This is due to the fact that white velvet carries two "lethal genes" characteristic of white Wilson and black velvet.

The beige color was first obtained in 1955. Animals in which the beige color is dominant are characterized by pink to dark red eyes and pink ears, sometimes with black dots. Fur color varies from light to dark beige.

Dominance is a form of relationship between paired genes, in which one of them has a stronger influence on the corresponding traits of an individual than the other.

Beige chinchillas are homozygous, so they perfectly interbreed with others. IN the result is wonderful hybrids.

Beige homozygous. Animals of this color do not have a "lethal gene", they can be homozygous. Beige homozygous chinchillas are distinguished by light cream fur with a pinkish sheen, pink ears, light pink pupils with a light blue or white circle around the pupil.

Beige color

IN результате скрещивания гомобежевого зверька со стандартным рождаются гетеробежевые щенки. When hetero-beige are crossed with each other - hetero- and homo-beige individuals, the most successful pairs for which are white-pink, brown velvet, white velvet, velvet heteroebony, velvet homoebony.

Heterozygous beige. Сочетание двух гетерозиготных бежевых шиншилл дает 25 % гомозиготных бежевых,50 % гетерозиготных бежевых, 25 % серых animals.

Crossing a heterozygous beige and standard gray produces an equal number of heterozygous beige and standard chinchillas.

Brown velvet is a cross between black velvet and beige. Hybrids of this species