Courtney...I really hope you will continue to do as we've recommended and take a step back. If you don't want your threads misunderstood I'd recommend making the questions you ask more general. For instance...instead of starting the thread with your chins weights and asking if those are good for breeding ask what a good weight is for (enter age here) chinchilla. Then, later in the thread you can give your chin's weights. Everything I've read from you comes across as extremely eager to breed to the point of just tossing things together. Get yourself to a show before considering breeding or expanding. You REALLY need to take a step back and think harder on this and establish better goals.
I started out the wrong way with just wanting all the cool colors and wanting to breed for the cool colors...I've never regretted anything more, but the moment someone told me I was doing it wrong I thought about it and made the necessary changes. And please, don't get defensive and tell me the amount of animals you and your boyfriend have or that you aren't breeding RIGHT(not rite) now. I get the feeling that you think we mean to wait a couple weeks or until you've gone to one show and then to just jump right in. Is your goal to be breeding by the end of the year? I would make sure you are stable and will not have to sell off all your chinchillas soon. You seem young which makes me want to ask the following questions.
1. Are you going to college? If so...where will you go with the chinchillas? Who will care for them while you're in classes? Can you bring babies that need handfed to school with you?
2. If no college, will you be able to get a job that can support yourself and the chins? Will you be able to get a job that will let you bring kits? Who will care for the chins when you are at work?
3. Do you live with your parents? Are they ok with the idea of more chins? Do they support the idea of you breeding them knowing that you won't make a profit?
4. If you don't live with your parents, do you rent? If you a rent a place...they will not let you have 10 chins let alone 20.
5. Chins also do not breed well when moved multiple times...they need consistency to feel safe enough to breed. Can you say that you will be stable enough to move very little over the next 10, 20, or however many years?
I don't think at such a young age you could be completely stable and ready to breed a larger amount of chinchillas. I am still young myself, but I am almost done with college and my boyfriend is about to buy us a house where we can make a separate building/room for the chinchillas. We've planned this for 3 years and I've had my chins for a long time. I have sacrificed a lot of great learning opportunities to avoid moving my chinchillas and stressing them and delayed my degree progress for the same chins. It takes a lot of dedication, sacrifice, and stability to handle more than 10 chins and breed them. PLEASE, take a step back and think VERY hard on what you are about to get yourself into and take the time to think on the questions I've posed.
