Female chinchillas are ready to breed at around 6 months of age, and are fully matured at around 8 months. The males are capable of producing offspring at the age of 10 weeks, and this is why baby male chinchillas must be seperated from their mother at 10 weeks because she could become pregnant again. Gestation is about 111 days. A clue to a successful mating can be detected by finding a heat plug in the cage. It is made by the male chinchilla and it insures that his sperm stays in her for awhile, so to speak. It is about half an in long and is white to clear. It is hard to find one, but that is just one way to tell. The average litter size is 2 although they can have anywhere from 1 to 5 kits, as they are called. Two or three litters per year are normal. The kits are born ready to roll. They generally have their eyes open and can run and bounce the minute they are born, after they have a good meal of course. For more information on breeding or any topic concerning chinchillas check out www.chins-n-quills.com. It is a great site to find out all kinds of information. Or you can email me.