What is a dwarf chinchilla??

Just saw a post mentioning about dwarf chinchilla, that chin looks normal to me. What does dwarf chinchilla mean? :hmm:

Dwarves are different. They have distinct features. I personally don't think they should be bred for, but they do pop up occasionally.

This is from my experience with them, I've had several here. They tend to have certain traits primarily large hind feet and an odd gait, like a hobble. They tend to have very curly tails, a wide broad forehead, and either really small or really large ears. Although they don't look a lot tinier, they often weigh significantly less, but tend to have a big blocky build too them.

Smidgen a dwarf I used to have:







Becka, another dwarf, you can really see the facial features on her.

The two I had were tiny and very different from a normal chinchillas. Their bones seemd more compact and smushed together. Big heads, broad rib cage, wide hips and short stubby tails. I bought one many years ago from a breeder in CA when they brought 'extras' to a colorado show to sell. We bought her because she was cute and just wanted her and a few years later stumbled upon another female dwarf from a breeder here in CO. I put them together and they got along fantastic but I don't think I ever took pictures of the both of them together. Sadly both have passed away since then. I don't think they should be bred for either but like Riven said they just some times pop up.
I had Tink a white mosaic dwarf and Butttercup a hetero beige. Tink lived I believe 8 years (I never got a DOB with her since she was only for a pet but they said she was 2 years old when we bought her) and buttercup maybe was 3 years. I'm not sure how long others have lived for but from most of what I have seen they don't live that long as normal chinnies.


http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=16228&d=1343801415

Becka was the oldest one I had and she was about 8 years old when she went to her new home. I would imagine they have a shorter life span due to being more compact. Smidgen weighed about 360-380 grams at any given time.

I have had a couple born here. The male went to a pet home. One female has been here for 5 years now. I will not sell her I don't want someone to stupidly breed her. The last female is a kit that i am going to sell with a no breeding contract. Because if you breed.a dwarf female it is likely they will die.

When they pop up I usually split up the parents. I have no desire to intentionally breed desecration here. But they do look different.

Is my chin Jeffy a dwarf? I think I have not seen enough dwarf chinchillas, even I have searched and read all of the posts about dwarf chinchilla, I am still not sure about my chins. Jeffy is 4 years old, adopted him 7 months ago, he does look alot different from my another chin Chester.

Can anybody tell me if my chins are normal chis or not?

I have attached Jeffy's pics below, the last 2 pics are Chester's, just for comparison.

One more pic, Chester on the left, Jeffy on the right . Jeffy looks like he got chewed from the waist down lol....

Some unscrupulous backyard breeders will also intentionally breed small chins together and call them dwarves. They are not genetic dwarves, just small chins with usually poor conformation.

To me he looks just like a normal chinnie just smaller,

Heres more of Tink next to a can of pop to try and help show size. I forgot about photobucket thanks Riven lol so I'll just upload them like this.

heres a few more

That is one CUTE dwarf, alot that are passed off as dwarfs just look like poor quality chins but this example really shows the features.

Here's a dwarf that was born here a long time ago:

I hope to someday be able to have a couple little dwarfies to spoil rotten!

I think they are just adorable!

I didn't realise there was such a thing as a dwarf chin! They're soo cute with their big eyes :3

I took a video of a dwarf I had here compared to a couple of normal chins. The dwarf is the whitest of the three and you can see she moves differently due to stubby legs. The other two are two and four months old.

Omg those are some adorable chins! It is sad they don't seem to live as long though..

We recently weaned a kit that I think might be a dwarf. When he was born he just walked different, almost like his back legs didnt work right. His face (mostly his forehead) looks very odd. Now that he has gotten older (weaned now) he looks just like the one posted from Kansas City Chinchillas. He walks very strange, we just always thought maybe it was an accident from birth, but just yesterday I told Kyle that I wondered if maybe he was a dwarf. I will try and get pictures later.