Really curly/coiled up tail

[chinchillin2005]

Does anyone have a chinchilla with a really curly tail? I seen lots of curly tailed chins but not as curled up as mine. Since the day I got him when he was 2 months old, he was always this way.

Yes, it does affect the back of his fur because the tail literally goes into his fur. It has never ever been straight or even close. He runs around just fine, I was wondering if this was a genetic thing, and if chinchilla tails being straight is better somehow for the chinchilla like for running, etc. I was wondering what the purpose of straight tails are for. Yes the quality is bad, these are all from my phone.

 

[Stackie]

One of my chins has the exact same thing going on with his tail. Doesn't affect him in any way.

 

[chinchillin2005]

Ok, thanks. Was just wondering if this kind of tail was rare. It just makes him all that the more special :*)

It would be great if you all posted pictures of your curly tailed chins! I'm just wondering how others look like, as in curled up completely not just straight and curled on the end. Thanks!!

 

[Riven]

A "corkscrew" or what I like to call a pig tail is genetic. It's only undesirable for breeding because of how it affects the fur, like you have noticed. Otherwise it really doesn't have any effect on them.

Some people like them!

 

[Snickers]

I like the cork screw tails. Like Riven said they are undesirable for breeding and showing. The 1st time I saw a tail like that was at a show I forgot if it placed or not.

 

[Chin_Pig]

i have one with that, not that tight but i named her Curli because of it

 

[chinchillin2005]

Aw I want to see other pictures of cork screw tails!!

 

[starleomach]

I have a couple like that in the barn

 

[chechinchillas]

I have a couple like that and was told by a judge that it's not good for showing because of how it affects the fur on the rump, but I doubt it would affect anything else like their health. I haven't noticed chinchillas with a corkscrew tail producing babies with corkscrew tails.

 

[tunes]

I haven't noticed chinchillas with a corkscrew tail producing babies with corkscrew tails.

I have. I've also seen chins with straight tails produce corkscrew tails.

 

[saphire]

I have that produced the corkscrew tail. I like the cuteness :0), but do not show them.

 

[ReesesTurtles]

Maybe it is a recessive trait. Two chinchillas who each carry one gene for the corkscrew tail have normal tails themselves but have 1/4 chance of offspring that show a corkscrew tail. The offspring that show the corkscrew tail would carry both mutations for the tail and if paired with a chinchilla that does not carry the mutation, would have offspring with regular tails but who carry one copy of the mutation. If pairing a corkscrew tail chin with a carrier, there would be 50% offspring with corkscrew tails while a corkscrew/corkscrew pairing would yield all offspring with corkscrew tails.

Of course this is only if it is a classic recessive trait (think Mendelian-Punnit square type genetics). If it is something more complex (epigenetic, RNAi, multigene expression patterns), then trait hereditary becomes much more difficult to predict.

Regardless, it is cute, but then all chinnie tails are cute