CONTACT US

emails BFFchinchillas@gmail.com

Call or text :

Illinois: 815-922-2474

Washington: 714-745-0484

Best Friends Forever Chinchillas

located in Crystal Lake, IL and Snohomish, WA

for Illinois, text us at 815-922-2474 

for Washington, text us at 714-745-0484

2. DO NOT BUY BABIES FOR BREEDING! Never purchase a chinchilla kit for breeding. Breeding quality cannot be accurately assessed until 6-12 months of age in chinchillas and it is best to wait and purchase a mature animal. Also, purchasing of mature animals will mean that you can put them into breeding after a shorter duration which will speed up your breeding program.

3. START SIMPLE! Don't go crazy trying to purchase every color chinchilla under the rainbow. Pick one or two colors you really love and feel passionate about and make sure to always have room for standards. Standards are the foundation of any good, quality herd and are needed for keeping lines healthy and thriving. Too many mutations bred together over too many generations will result in congenital heart weakness as well as many other ailments that cause the babies to fail to thrive and they will die before 18 months of age. It's important to keep in mind that working with a recessive mutation requires 3-4 times the amount of space for breeding than working with a dominant mutation.

4. LOOK UNDER BRIGHT LIGHTS OR NATURAL LIGHTS! Look at the chinchilla's fur under natural or very bright lights (preferrably white lights, not yellow). The chinchilla's coat should have eye appeal and be shiny. Dull coats are an indication of poor nutrition or a muddy bar, which is an undesirable trait for breeding for quality. The coat should also not reflect any red or yellow colors when you look under bright lights.

5. ASSESS MORE THAN COLOR AND PERSONALITY! The animals you should choose for your breeding program should be well rounded, robust, high quality animals. Picking an animal based on personality or the color of the coat is much more of a "pet" thing and should not be considered when purchasing quality breeding animals. Overall, the animal should be good sized (700-800g for females and 600-700g for males) with wide shoulders that are the same or close to the same width as the hips. The fur should be thick enough that your fingers do not easily crush it, and it should be strong enough to bounce back after displacement from touching. The coat should be shiny, not dull, and it should shine with a blue hue, not red or yellow. Depending on the color, there are other factors to consider which will be listed further down on this page. 

What makes a quality chinchilla?

Breeding Qualities and How to Select Them

In order to understand quality selection, you need to understand what makes a quality chinchilla. Picking a quality chinchilla for breeding is not as simple as ensuring they have the right parts, a nice disposition, and appear healthy and bright eyed. Many factors are taken into consideration for choosing a quality chinchilla. Breeding for a quality chinchilla is breeding according to guidelines set forth by the national and international organizations for chinchilla breeding, much like the American Kennel Club does for dogs or ARBA does for rabbit breeders. These guidelines are commonly referred to as the "breeding standards" of chinchilla and you will hear them mentioned by reputable breeders. These standards have been in use for nearly 100 years in the breeding of domesticated chinchilla and have given us a healthier, more robust, and beautiful looking animal. Some may call these standards "outdated," but they have changed and evolved over the years to support breeding of healthy animals.

Before purchasing an animal for breeding, I strongly recommend any passionate, potential breeder attend a chinchilla show to see different levels of quality for easy comparison. These shows are typically free to attend, though travel is necessary to attend these events. Many breeders travel upwards of 18hrs in each direction to attend some of the most prestigious shows. If this is not feasible or not something you are ready to start with, below are some guidelines for picking quality breeding stock.

1. KNOW YOUR SOURCE! Who is the breeder you are purchasing from? Do they attend chinchilla shows with their animals and place well on the table consistently? Top breeders will have trophy shelves displaying their many awards and ribbons through the years. Is the breeder you are purchasing from a member of a national or international chinchilla breeding organization with a registered ranch brand? You can always contact either organization to verify a breeder's membership and activity level. Each organization is a registered non-profit and as such their records are publicly available.

Here I am going to cover the major qualities of chinchillas with brief descriptions of good and bad and selecting complimentary traits. For a fully detailed guide with pictures and levels of quality, please purchase our "quality selection guide" from our line of available texts. 

Fur Density
Fur Strength
Conformation
Clarity
Color
Size


Fur Density

Fur density refers, essentially, to the number of hairs per follicle an individual chinchilla has. Chinchillas can have anywhere from 60 to 100+ hairs per follicle. For a higher quality chinchilla, you want higher range density of 80+ hairs per follicle. You can check the density of a chinchilla's fur by taking your thumb and pointer finger at the base of the tail. Have your thumb facing one hind leg and your pointer facing the other hind leg. Close your fingers together on the fur and this will give you a feel for the density of the animal. The more plushy fur caught between your fingers, the better the density is. Check multiple chinchillas and you will quickly note differences in density.

Fur Strength

Fur strength is the resilience of the fur and how capable it is of holding an upright position. A straight, strong fur shaft will hold its shape the best and bounce back from disturbance. The best and easiest way to test fur strength on an animal is to take a chopstick or small stick and press against the side of the animal. Don't press down to the skin, just cause an indent in the fur. The faster the fur returns to an undisturbed state, the better the fur strength. If the fur holds the indent of the object and has to be manually manipulated to return to it's normal shape, the chinchilla has weak fur.

Conformation

Conformation refers to the overall shape of the chinchilla. We measure conformation in chinchillas by checking the width of the shoulders to the width of the hips. When viewed from the top in a relaxed standing position, a chinchilla's shoulder width should closely match the width of the hips. Some chinchillas will taper in at the shoulders and this is called pie shape or wedge shape and is undesirable in a breeding animal. 

Clarity

Clarity refers to how clear the color of the animal shows through. Animals with good clarity are often referred to as "bright" animals. A bright, clear animal is going to lack any muddy or dulling coat colors. A chinchilla's coat should be shiny and attractive to the eye. A coat the appears dull or brownish is lacking in clarity.

Color

Color for a chinchilla's coat applies to ALL mutations and standard colored chinchillas. Color is going to refer to the colors reflected back from the coat when viewed under natural daylight or bright lighting. Natural sunlight or bright lighting will provide a good color spectrum to reflect back any potential flaws in color in the chinchilla's coat. For a good color coat, you should see blue hues reflected back. Undesirable colors to see reflected back are reds, oranges, greens, and yellows.