the new family!!!

Michelle - I know exactly what you mean! I can't rush through and feed everyone and just be done with it. I probably could get them all fed in 45 minutes and be done with it, but most of the time I walk in and end up having a four hour long conversation with the chins as I feed them. Chins come out, chins get kisses, I run to get something special for a chin that did something cute, it just goes on and on and on.

There have been times where I go to check on the chins and walk out five hours later just amazed at how the time flew by!

What I do is definitely something that not everyone can do. It's time consuming to say the least and so much physical labor. Just taking a cage out for a good bleach scrub down takes over an hour start to finish - that's ONE cage out of God knows how many I have here. You have got to love what you do when you breed, rescue or just take care of a large number of chins.

Just to clarify. I don't have a lot of chins in breeding right now. The majority of the "breeders" are OLD chins that I can't bear to separate from their mates. They're slow in producing kits at this point, although the kits are high quality and beautiful. With the amount of rescues that have come in it is impossible to keep up with any type of decent breeding program designed to maximize the number of kits! We're talking me finding homes for maybe four rescues for every kit born here. Many, many, many of my 250 chins or so are rescues. (I don't know the number because that would require counting just the rescues...it has to be 100?)

There's always more rescues coming in. I don't know if I will completely stop breeding, but some days it looks like I may eventually just have rescues here. I don't blame breeders, they produce maybe 5% of the rescues coming in - it's all the petstores that create the problem. Way back when I started there were so few chins that needed to be taken in, but now with the petstores selling them to whomever has the cash it's gotten pretty bad. Don't blame breeders for overpopulation, without them there would be a much more desperate situation as far as unwanted chins go.

Essentia said:

Seeing this post, I also wonder about how much you know about genetics and colors. There is no way an ebony can be confused as a standard no matter how light she is. Ebonies do not have white bellies, standards do.

Coming from a rescue standpoint, I would hate to see you get in over your head. Like Sumiko said, the last thing we want are more chinchillas with malo or other genetic issues. We hate having to have these chins put down due to bad breeding, but it happens, every day.

I think as a whole you should do more research. Attend some shows, seminars, and find a breeding mentor you can learn from. This is the first step to becoming a respected breeder. Just owning 19 chins, and breeding 19 chins, is a very different type of responsibility.

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I agree. Every chinchilla is cute and fuzzy but if you are planning to join the ranks of a serious breeder, and I mean serious about your responsibilities as a breeder (not just serious in size), you need to be doing a lot more research and have a mentor who is knowledgeable and attends shows. If you are going to be a breeder I think it's almost madatory that you attend shows...that is where you see what real quality is and when you are a breeder it's how you check your offspring. I can't wait to attend the next show with my first crop of kits from some of my pairs to see their quality under the lights.

A few litters here and there really add to the population so why not add quality animals to the population. I am not a big breeder but I do this because I want to produce great animals and that is possible in a small herd. I just think you seem like you have jumped in and invested in these animals without much guidance or knowledge. How did you come to choose the color combinations you did? Have you thought about what you will do with the kits you do have but don't sell for a year? Can you keep them all? Are you planning to have your chins evaluated for quality before you put them into breeding by a trained eye? Did you get all of these new breeders from the same breeder? Have you checked their pedigrees to make sure they are not related? Not trying to talk down to you, but sometimes pedigrees can be confusing...and just because the chins you bought have pedigrees and came from a breeder does not mean they will be of breeding quality when they mature...pedigrees do not quarantee quality. These are just some of several questions you should be asking yourself so that you go into this prepared...

If you really want to breed great, I'm not trying to say don't do it, nor is anyone on here that has replied...what we are trying to say is don't do it if you want to do it only because you like playing with kits, and don't do it uninformed and without a serious mentor. Do it because you can't wait to see the next 1a kit out of your animals. Do it because you love improving the species. Do it because you love the genetics and science behind it. Do it because you love learning about these animals everyday. Because when something goes wrong and you lose one of your beloved animals or a baby dies or something else happens (and it will) that's all you have left in the end.

Yup, do it right or just don't do it at all. (I've said that to people on the phone and had them slam down the phone on me!!)

The breeder that I went to just recently is just starting out really. But, she did a TON of research before she ever started. She went to Jags, Becky W., etc... to learn about the different types of chinchillas. I thought that I wanted to breed myself since there aren't many people in Indiana, but then I went and talked to her... I didn't understand ANYTHING she was talking about. About producing 1A kits, and if they place lower than first of whatever, she does not breed those. She was VERY knowledgable, but I decided that I didn't want to get into it. If I didn't know what she meant, then why should I breed something I do not know enough about? I just wanted to play with the kits... But then with all the horror stories on here and everyone talking about show quality... I just feel like me being a pet owner is good for me. I do not want to undo what all the breeders have been trying to do by being a "backyard breeder"... I just will go to her house and play with her kits instead of trying to have some on my own. There is so much information that you need to have before you start breeding. I just don't have the time for it in my life right now. I am glad that I chose to NOT be a breeder. I will probably NEVER be a breeder. And that is alright with me. I love being able to read these forums and hear what all the breeders/ranchers do. It's just not for everyone.

I don't know much about breeding although I read as much as I can about it because it interests me. I don't even own a chin yet although when I do I will not be breeding.

There are so many people who breed just because kits are cute. They care nothing about genetic backgrounds and the possible dangers of breeding. About a month ago I saw an ad on craigslist from this girl who was looking for an owner of a male chinchilla. Her plan was to bring her female chin over to a male's owner's house and simply put the female in the male's cage for an hour or so she could get pregnant. I was reading the ad thinking "you have got to be kidding me". I sent her a long email about how she needs to know the genetic backgrounds of both chinchillas before she should even think about breeding them. I also told her that she simply could not just put one chinchilla in another chins cage without the potential of one or both chins being killed.

I guarantee you all that she read the email and then deleted it and continued on her search for a male chin. I neither expected, nor received a reply from her.

AZChins said:

There have been times where I go to check on the chins and walk out five hours later just amazed at how the time flew by!

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I agree with that! Although, I only have 2 chinchillas, but they can have me wrapped around their little paws for a good couple of hours.



I really hope the OP decides to take into consideration the advice given by experienced breeders. No one is being mean or rude, everyone is just concerned. You have some cute chins there! Everyone is just looking out for the well being of the animals.

My husband wants to breed so bad, but I've told him that we could only breed if we had excellent stock (two unrelated, pedigreed chins from a reputable breeder). Quite frankly, we don't have the money or the energy to invest in breeding.

I would love to breed Carmen because of her personality or Trousers because of her coloring, but it's just not safe. We have had someone offer us their chin as a stud for Trousers if he could have a baby from her. We said no. Babies seem so fun, and I'm sure it would be adorable and awesome to watch them grow up, but I know I couldn't deal with losing one.

** Your new chins are adorable!! I think they will be happy with you. Just be careful, and if you need help, please ask someone who has bred before. I would hate for you to lose one of your chins because of breeding.

JennyBug said:

We have had someone offer us their chin as a stud for Trousers if he could have a baby from her.

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Ugh why do people keep thinking this is a good idea? :hair: I mean I know why, they don't know it's not a good idea, but uggghh...

Glad you said no...and for anyone who doesn't know why this is a bad idea, they might never breed (chins don't just go in do their business and presto, babies - it can take months or years for pairs to produce) and they could kill each other as a result...Not to mention genetic ramifications if there are unknown backgrounds and kits do result...