Chinchilla breed/colouring

[ChocolateKisses]

Hello there

I have been trying to determine the breeding of my little chinchilla, Alfie.

He lives with another male chin called Charlie who I am positive is a Standard Grey breed because of his distinctive grey colour with a pure white belly, however, Alfie is light grey all over with no white on his belly at all.

I came to think he was possibly a charcoal but didn't know if his colouring was too light to be a charcoal or not?

Can anyone shed a light onto this for me as i would be interested to know for hopeful breeding purposes in the future.

Thank you all.

 

[Amethyst]

Without knowing the parents it's almost impossible to know the color mutations in the chin. However, charcoal are rare, so unless you know the parents are charcoal/charcoal (it's a recessive gene) and/or you bought the chin as a charcoal chin with paperwork, you most likely have a light ebony.

I strongly advise against breeding a chin that you have no idea the genetics of. Without knowing the genetic background you could be passing along genetic defects to future chins. There are some genetic issues that skip generations so your chins may just be a carrier and be fine, but pass on the defect to offspring.

Oh and the different chin colors are just that, different colors, or mutations, not different breeds. Domestic chinchillas are all long-tailed chinchillas (though some evidence says short-tail chins are mixed in some lines) originating from chins brought back from the Andes mountains in South America.

 

[Dreamlite]

His color should be listed on his pedigree. Did you get him from a breeder?

 

[Nishtha]

Chinchilla Color

It can be tough to determine breed by your chins color alone sometimes. Here are some helpful resources for you.
http://www.sunsetchinchillas.com/Colors.shtml
http://chinchilla-care.com/chinchilla-breeds-colors/

Hope that helps!:wink2: