How did you get into breeding?

[Nerk]

Hello. I am someone who has been looking into breeding chins. I don't want to do it for money or because I want a cute little kit. I want to breed for the sake of making a good, healthy chin. I've been reading all forums here I can on it. It's something I wouldn't want to do now. I'd want a more stable job and know I have the time and money to care for the kits/mothers if their was an emergency.

But I have a question for all the breeders out there, how did you initially get into breeding? It's something I've always wondered about.

 

[Dreamlite]

I got into breeding at a young age. I was raised on a farm so raising babies was a daily thing. My mother got into breeding chins, and not the good way. She got a pet store chin and a fur chewer that got malo... after 2 yrs she got bored with them and I inherited all of her chins at that point. I didn't a lot of research and rehomed all of her chins and built my own herd. So I didn't plan on it, it got dropped on me, lol. But its something I'm glad I've done.

 

[6Dusters]

I started out with a few pet chins and went on the internet to find out as much as possible about their care. Found the old forum ( Chins and Quills ) and what new information I gathered, I put in a binder. Found out that chinchillas were shown, and there were two national chapters. One being the MCBA and the other Empress. Looked into both and saw they held shows. I wanted to know more about what went on at a show.

About the time I read about the shows on the old forum, I had already bought a breeding pair of mutations and knew I was on the WRONG path. :facepalm: So I sold them off as pets. The breeder I bought them from was nice enough. However now that I look back on that experience, I know this person has no idea about high quality chins.

I purchased my first breeding male ( a standard ) from a small hobby breeder. Went to several shows without that male. Wanted to make sure I understood what that male needed in a female to produce the best kit I could. I then showed him to get comments. And later bought a couple females for him.

When I first attended shows, I would walk around with a piece of paper and pick out animals I thought would do well on the table with pretty good success.

I had two goals in mind before breeding chinchillas, and I met two of them thus far.

I have also shown animals that I did not breed because I wanted to hear judges comments and make sure the animal(s) I bought were what I perceived to be the best match for my animal(s) at home.

I'm thankful to my mentors. And so glad I took the time to attend two seminars regarding the care and breeding of chinchilla's. I feel I have to work even harder pairing up animals because I'll never have huge numbers. Its just a hobby for me.