Chewing

[jamanalo]

So yesterday I visited a rancher. She showed me what was her "best male". He was an amazing standard. His line was for pelting, so you can imagine the quality. The only thing with this male, was he chewed. He had been chewing since he was a baby she said. Now the male is around 5, and still chewing. The chewing is not bad, more like spot chewing. Now, she bred this male numerous times. I was always told not a good idea to breed chewers. Has it been shown to be hereditary that chewing can be passed down? The male is gorgeous, and none of his 20+ offspring has ever chewed she says. I saw many of his kin and offspring yesterday, kits and adults; none chewed. Do you think this is correct? or is chewing something that cant be passed down genetically?

 

[RDZCRanch]

Chinchillas don't inherit chewing, but they will inherit the personality genes that lead to chewing. Another large worry with breeding a chewer is if that chinchilla chews its mates or offspring and teaches the chewing behavior to the offspring.

I've been told by several ranchers that if an animal starts chewing AFTER being placed in breeding that it is not removed. If the chinchilla chews its offspring or mate, it gets removed. Since this animal was chewing from when he was a kit, I would not have put him in breeding. Though, since his line is for pelting, I doubt they keep many of his offspring around longer than a couple of years to see if any stressers will have them developing fur chewing.

 

[ticklechin]

I know there was a study done that showed that chinchillas who chewed had metabolic changes to the skin similar to cushings disease, it was not a big study if I remember.

 

[Riven]

The male is five years old and only have 20 some offspring? Doesn't sound like a good producer to me.

I have a girl here who is out of awesome lines, I got her from someone who got her from the breeder ( who I personally know ) somewhere in adolescence she started chewing just a little bit, about eraser sized spots in a couple places. I put her into breeding and next thing I know her entire hip is gone, so I remove her... and she sat... and I talked to the breeder and we were discussing lines and told him about it, he said breed her anyway, so I put her in with a male ( her hips had all grown out ) and she hasn't chewed again. I don't know if it was a stress issue or what. She just had a litter actually. Sometimes I have females kind of chew on the kits when they're real little, probably over grooming, she's never done this, or chewed on herself again or her mate.

 

[ticklechin]

I was always under the impression that the fur industry discouraged breeding chewing chins, is that not the case anymore? I admit I am not in the fur/breeding loop but I thought is was something like malo, you don't breed it.

 

[RDZCRanch]

That's what I was told when I started as well, Dawn. I've been through a few rancher's herds and asked why they have chewers in there if it's a big no no. The general consensus I have gotten is that as long as they don't chew their kits, themselves or mates excessively, they stay in breeding. Also, if it chews excessively before being put into breeding, it doesn't go into breeding unless it's an overly exceptional animal and they want to see if it'll chew its offspring before taking it out of the herd.

Since fur chewing isn't a deadly thing, it's not a HUGE problem in an animal that is for the breeding lines.

 

[ticklechin]

Makes sense to me since chewing seems so random.

 

[jamanalo]

Makes sense to me since chewing seems so random.

What do you mean by "random"?

 

[ticklechin]

Random meaning that chins chew and stop for whatever reason and it can take years for them to even start chewing or they can just stop and not chew again. Both have happened to me.