Strange Colors, any suggestions?

[Cheknnudol]

Wow... I just read this whole thread at once and you all got FIRED UP! That was freaking intense. More than anything, what I think this all has come down to is the reason people have gone into breeding.

Most of the breeders on this site have ventured down that road to better the chinchilla species as a whole so that it may eventually be completely free from defects and diseases that cause so many animals pain. This is an awesome and noble cause that will probably take much longer than we'd all like to come to true fruition.

My question to the OP, with no criticism or sarcasm or anything other than curiosity implied or intended, is why did you decide to start breeding? I think we would all really benefit from a precise articulation of what made you decide to pursue this, and what exactly it is that you want to accomplish with your lines. Any advice rendered to you, breeder to breeder, will be more helpful if provided with an understanding of your intentions.

Relax everyone It's a gorgeous Spring outside.

 

[carltonchins]

I didn't even intend to get into breeding. It happened by accident one day. As you all know males and females can be hard to tell apart, so we didn't know any better. Then one day BAM I have baby chins. We kept one, and decided to get it a mate. We got the mate from Valley View, and the adventure began.

I have given away chins, I have sold chins, I have bought chins, I have been given chins. What it comes down to for me (all BS, and the rest of this post aside) is that I want to make sure my babies go to good homes....I'm not in it for the money.

I will gladly take any advise you all have when it comes to breeding, and I promise not to sound like such a defensive douche in the future. I got a little heated....like I said, I'm german. I thank you all for your advice and kind words.....

 

[Cheknnudol]

Well I can understand wanting them to go to good homes. Everybody wants that What I'm wondering is: what made you decide to continue breeding? What are you hoping to accomplish with your breeding adventures? Not necessarily for your kits specifically, but in the big picture.

From your response it sounds like you went into it for the personal experience alone rather than with any intentions of excelling as a provider of quality chins or bettering the quality of chinchillas in general. Is this inaccurate?

 

[carltonchins]

I am not looking to cure cancer, just as I am not looking to make chinchillas that can shoot lasers out their eyes. I just want to spread the love, and make sure anyone that can fall in love with a chinchilla can have one. Is that so wrong?

 

[carltonchins]

Okay everyone. Based upon all the comments, and whatnot, I have decided to attend the MCBA Show in my area next month. We'll see how my chins fare, and based upon that, I will talk more. Until then, thank you all, and good night..

 

[Cheknnudol]

The point that most here are trying to put across I think is that there are plenty of pet-only chins that have been pumped out by huge ranches and other backyard breeders, as well as even more that have been produced from legitimate breeders as a simple side effect of breeding for genetic superiority.

In short: your endeavors are not only providing a 'product' that is already in high supply and relatively low demand, but they are also adding to what most on here perceive to be a serious problem (genetic flaws) and also a serious step backwards from the progress they're making in their directed breeding programs.

Imagine you're one of the three little pigs. Your bros built houses out of straw and sticks, and got blown down by the big bad wolf. You're sitting there telling them "we'd be totally safe if we just built one out of bricks," but they keep running off building more and more houses out of straw and sticks. It's not really helping anything - only perpetuating the entire situation; the houses are built then get blown down, over and over and over again. If they would back off and help you quickly build the brick house, then you would be in a much better overall predicament.

I won't judge, but I think that in all the heat nobody has really been communicating with anyone else as much as venting their opinions on things. We all need to start listening to one another instead of just waiting our turn to speak, to steal a notion from Fight Club.

ETA: Props for deciding to attend the show! I haven't had the privilege of being able to attend one, but I hope you get a lot out of it. I hear they're nifty. Perhaps you can network with some of our members while you're there; it'd be really neat if you teamed up

 

[Sheri]

Something that I would like to suggest as not only a newer breeder but as someone who is always looking for chins to improve my line, I noted this before and I will say it again. On your sight you use PRIV in place of ranch brands. I don't know about anyone else but that would lead me to beleive that thos animals have no ranch brand.

I asked what PRIV meant because I couldn't find it on the Brand list from Empress and I knew it was not an MCBA Brand. (Ok Everyone LOL now it was a DUHHHHHHHH moment for me) You said it meant PRIVATE.

The one thing I have noticed is when a breeder (the ones I have met anyway) sell an animal for breeding-herd improvement or such they don't want you to change or hide that ranch brand. The only chins I have ever seen sold without ranch brands or pedigrees, coming from breeders, were pe quality only, non breeding animals.

Those ranch brands are what I use to tell me who's bloodlines my animals come from. If I want to contact the origional breeder at that point with questions I can. When one of my chins leaves my place, even if they are leaving without their pedigrees, that ranch brand is available to the new owner. I also try to contact the origional breeder to let them know that animal has been pulled from breeding and why.

I realize you may have done this for other reasons but it kind of concerns me. I have never seen it before.

 

[Anne-Lise]

I used to think exactly like you carltonchin.... I thought gosh, my chins don't have malo and are so far healthy, why couldn't I breed them? I know their fur is not the greatest and they are not very big, but they healthy!

......Doing that would mean destroying slowly all the work people have taken years to do. Destroying all the good lineages people worked so hard to create.

And healthy chins? You can't say yours are. It's not because they jump everywhere and eat fine that they do not carry any diseases. I got 2 pet store chins here, both are fine. WOuld I breed them? NO! Maybe they do carry malo, maybe the babies they once had are fine, but who can tell if there is malo somewhere? Or heart murmur?

 

[tunes]

Carltonchins - Since I'm assuming you plan to stay on forum, this thread is pretty much beating a dead horse. I am going to say this though, making a comment about killing your chins has filled my pm box and my email with concerned members comments. I can't even say "I hope you let off some steam" because making a comment like that is just wrong and it makes people very, very concerned.

Know this - EVERY chin is deserving of a loving home. Wedgy, bad furred, maloccluded, fur chewing, herd improvement, show quality. Any comment stated above has absolutely nothing to do with the chins you have being less worthy of that. It has to do with people putting a lot of money, a lot of time, and tons of dedication into making sure that any animal they sell meets the highest standards they can achieve so those animals live a long and healthy life.

I'm very happy you have decided to attend the next MCBA show in your area. There will be some great people there that you can network with, ask questions of, get advice from. Introduce yourself, make some face to face contacts. You'll be able to pick up some great quality chins from those people and really see the difference in quality that we're trying to point out to you. Maybe if it comes in the form of a show, you won't take such offense to someone pointing it out to you. It won't feel as though it's a personal attack.

Stick around. Read up on the forums. Check out the MCBA Nationals and ECBC Nationals picture threads. I'll bet you are in for a surprise.