Whether you plan to breed your chins, show them, or just have them as 'another member of your family' (sorry, I do not think of my little ones as 'pets' and will not refer to them as such) ... it is very important to know your chins background ... for several reasons!
First let’s talk about what the chin's family history will tell you...
(1) You will know the chin's color. Not all chins may be what they appear to be, especially as a young kit. What 'appears' to be a beige kit may really be a brown velvet, a pastel, or even a tan. As they grow up you will have a better 'idea' but you will never know for sure unless you know the colors of the parents.
(2) Age. Not all places (such as pet stores) can give you your chin's exact age. If you do not know its age, you may accidentally put it into breeding earlier than you should.
(3) Sex ... male or female. Laugh if you like, but I have had many letters from chin owners that believed (because they were told at the time of purchase) that they had purchased 'two chins of the same sex', only to find a surprise one day. A litter of kits nestled in with the new parents. Sometimes parents much too young to be parents. Yes, this does happen ... to many times ... if the person that sells you the chin is not knowledgeable enough, they will often tell you what they 'think' to hide their ignorance, but say it as if it is a 'fact'. Beware!
(4) Any possible health problems that you may need to watch out for. If there is a family history of a genetic health problem or even a possibility of one, a good breeder will tell you. If your chin develops a health problem that could be passed down genetically please notify the breeder you purchased your chin from. A good breeder will want to take the parents out of breeding so that future generations will not be born with the same problem. Chins find their way into your heart quickly. An illness weeks, months, or even years later could cause you great pain emotionally and put a big strain on your pocketbook. Know your chin's health history!
(5) You will also know the colors of the parents and possibly the grandparents. This is extremely important if you would like for your breeding pair of chins to have the best chance of producing a particular color of kits. Also, this will tell you if there has have too many generations of mutants bred in your chin's history to breed it to another mutant. If this is the case, or if it is in question, it is time to introduce a standard gray to help insure a stronger, healthier line of chins. Your standards are the backbone of your breeding chins.
(6) You 'may' even be able to tell if your pair will 'tend to produce' mostly males or females. Usually they will produce close to an equal number of each but if you pair two chins together whose parents and grand parents have produced all or mostly one sex of kits (such as males), there is a better chance, if both lines tend to produce the same sex kits (such as males), that this pair will probably produce a high percentage of male kits. (There will be an example of this within this article.)
(7) If you can get the breeding history of your chins' parents and grandparents you may have a better idea of what your pair 'may' produce as far as number of kits and health of kits. If the parents and grand parents have produced strong healthy kits (usually weighing 50+ grams), and have produced multiple numbers of kits in each litter, you can assume this pair will probably do the same ... if properly cared for.
I'm not going to get into the actual genetics at this time, mainly due to the fact the family of chins I am using in this article, as an example, contains ebonies which are often called the 'wild-card' in the genetic pool of the different colors of mutant chinchillas.
In the photo of the chin families, you will see 3 rows of chins ... the one on the left is the grand parents of the kits in the third row to the right. The center row is the parents to the kits on the right. Eventually Kody, a male pastel, and Klani, the tan kit shown below the triplets, will be paired and hopefully produce kits of their own.
Star & Midnight
On the top left you will see Star, a dark hetero ebony, and below her, Midnight, a homo ebony. With this color combination, Star (hetero ebony) and Midnight (homo ebony), they will produce only ebony kits. Both are the parents of Raven, homo ebony, the first chin in the second column of chins and the grandparents of the triplets in the third column.
Star and Midnight are both considered average size for ebonies (ebonies are usually one of the smaller mutants of the chinchillas) but they have managed to produce kits all weighing 700 to 800 grams when grown. The ebony mutant is also among the rarest of the mutant chinchillas. This (2 regular sized chins producing all 'large' chins) is not the norm, but greatly appreciated by me. Call it beginners luck or dumb luck ... if I had known then what I know now, I would have never paired them together, due to their size ... but ... it just goes to show that there are no 100% fool-proof rules to follow. The combinations you make when pairing your chins may produce less than, equal to or even higher quality chins than you started with. Sometimes you have to experiment placing different partners together if you’re not getting the quality of kits you’d like.
They have produced 5 litters of kits yielding a total of 9 kits ... a set of triplets, two pair of twins, and two single kits ... all but one (Raven) of the kits were males. (8 males and 1 female) They have produced 6 homo ebony kits and 3 hetero ebony kits.
From this history you could assume most of Raven's kits will be males, a healthy size, and of good health. If she is paired with a chin of similar background it will strengthen the chances of this. (If she had been paired with another dark hetero ebony most of their kits would probably be homo ebonies.) She was paired with a handsome male hetero beige, Joey, and they have proven to produce some beautiful hetero ebonies and tans. Other colors are possible with this pairing due to the family background of both parents.
Elaine & Cotton
The 3rd chin in the left column is Eileen, a standard gray, and her mate, Cotton, the 4th chin in the left column, a pink white. They are the parents of Joey, a hetero beige, and the grandparents of the triplets on the right. Eileen and Cotton have produced 5 litters with a total of 8 kits. Tthe first six were males and the last two kits were females. Again, we can assume we will have a tendency towards male kits.
Raven & Joey
The combination of Raven, a homo ebony, and Joey, a hetero beige, (and considering the colors of the grandparents) have the possibility (in each litter they produce) of yielding about 20 different variations of mutant colors from a pink white/beige cross to a dark hetero ebony. In this litter they produced 1 light hetero ebony, 1 medium hetero ebony, and one pastel or light tan kit. Two males and one female. Raven and Joey have another litter on the way ...Wonder what color kits will they have this time!?! Keep an eye on the Fuzzy Chins website at www.geocities.com/amandaschins over the next two months to see what happens! Anyone like to make guesses on the number of kits and colors in the next litter?
Mocha & Punkin
Mocha, chin #5 in the left column, is a brown velvet chin and was mated to Punkin, a dark tan and the #6 chin in the left column. Both are considered to be medium to large chinchillas within their mutation colors respectively. They produced one litter of 4, all males, 2 dark tan kits, a medium tan, and a pastel. All kits grew to be above average in weight and quality, despite the fact that they were quads and had low birth weights. Lucky, the 3rd chin in column 2, is one of the two dark tans born to Mocha and Punkin. With this background we would think he would produce nice sized litters and mostly tans if paired with another tan or hetero ebony.
Lulu & Louie
Lulu, chin #7, a hetero ebony, and Louie, chin #8 in the left column, a homo ebony, are the parents of Lady, a hetero ebony chin shown as chin #4 in the second column. Lulu & Louie have produced 6 litters with a total of 9 kits ... 3 sets of twins and 3 sets of singles, all but one of the 9 kits were females ... here the scale balances in the favor of the females.
Lucky & Lady
With this history on Lady and the history on Lucky, we would tend to assume they will produce about the same number of males and females, and could vary from 1 kit per litter to 4+ kits per litter. So far they have produced 3 litters, each with only one single kit, two of the kits were males, one was a female, all were tans. This is on the low side of the numbers scale, but all kits have been healthy and that is what matters most!
Kody & Klani
Kody and Klani were born the same day, but to different parents and under the supervision of two different breeders. From the day they were born, Amanda and I have planned to pair them up and put them in breeding about springtime next year (around their 1st birthday). By knowing their family histories and breeding trends of their parents, I am hoping they will produce average to large litters with healthy kits weighing 50+ grams at birth and consisting of mostly tans and hetero ebonies. The number of males to females is up in the air.
Find out all you can about your chin ... if you do not, you may be in for some devastating surprises in the future.
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