Rivendell ChinchillasPlease do not take chinchilla breeding lightly. These wonderful little creatures depend on us to love and care for them. There are many, many chins that need rescued or are mis-bred, we don't need more!
Finding the right mate for your chin
Finding the right mate can be one of the hardest parts of breeding chins, right
after finding good homes.
First of all it's important to find two good high quality chinchillas.
Confirmation is important, they should be large and "square" with thick necks. All standards
for chinchillas are based on pelting. If you have a "wedge" shaped chinchilla
you would get a wedge shaped pelt.
Size DOES matter when it comes to chinchillas! Large chins are important, but if you get them TOO big they tend be slow breeders and maybe even having troubles birthing. Remember not to breed a large male to a small female unless you don't mind having vet bills and problems! Although they do have mini and dwarf chinchillas they should not be breed due to complications the females may have because of their extremely small size. Any animal that is continually breed to be smaller and smaller will tend to have health problems, especially a critter that is small to begin with. All of their organs must be squeezed into a littler body. Plus you may have throw back genes. Let's say you have to mini chins. Especially if you don't know their backgrounds (this is why pedigrees from reliable breeders are important!), you may not know the male's mother was a normal sized chin and breed him to the mini female. All is fine until she tries to birth and that gene carried by the male (from his mother) shows up in a normal sized baby trying to be pushed out of a mini female. This may require an emergency surgery at the vet and/or loss of the female and any kits she may have! This is a choice you have to make, but to me the risk is not worth the pain it may produce.
Fur quality is an extremely important trait as well. You want a thick, dense fur that stands
up. If you are looking straight at the hairs they should look straight and
strong, not wavy or like they may fall over if they are blown on lightly. They
should be resilient.
Health is the number one thing you should look at when deciding when to breed. If you have a chin with any health problem please don't breed them! Even if it's not hereditary it may cause complications with breeding or birthing and you may lose the mother as well as any kits. Two big no-no's of breeding are breeding anything with malocclusion or that is a fur biter. If you've ever had to go through the pain that can be caused by either of these you will not question this.
Temperament is important to most breeders as well, especially if they plan on
selling chins as pets! Even as a breeder you don't want to be barked at, sprayed
at, or chewed on by your chins, not to mention their attitude towards other
chins as well.
Like any other critter not all chins get along! You need to find chins that get
along, because if all the do is fight it won't get anything useful done except
rack up your vet bills, and you'll end up with very unhappy chins!
BREEDING SET-UPS
Colony breeding can have it's downfalls. You must find a group of
chinchillas that get along exceptionally well. I've found that if you get your
"colony" of females while they are young and let them grow up together it helps
solve a lot of problems. I also like to keep the male you want to use in the
cage next to them so they can socialize through the wires. Colony breeding
requires a lot of attention, because if a disagreement occurs you need to be
ready to step in. Colony breeding is not just a way to "save cage space" either.
It is important to have cages for all chins in case something would happen that
they would all need to be separated. Females may get upset and fight, if you
have a "bad" chin in the group they can cause problems, or if you have
chin that turns into a fur biter
you can wake up the next morning with mohawk chins! This is why it's important
to know your chins temperament and know their history. Some females will kill
kits that aren't theirs, so will some males. And finally it can cause you to use a super nice male less than
you would with run breeding.
Colony breeding can also be used to help "stimulate" a female who doesn't seem
to want to produce. Most of my females in a colony will give birth within a
month of each other, which seems to suggest that one chins hormones might help
another chin follow suit. I often remove the male from the cage before birthing
to prevent a breed back, but if I don't remove him he often helps care for the kits
too! If you want to colony breed and utilize one male more, you can let him have
two colonies of females and rotate him between them in one or two month
intervals. Just remember that you have to re-introduce him every time though.
Colony breeding can be done with two females or more. Many people will trio breed (2 females per male).
Run breeding is the most commonly used breeding method for breeding. It is set up so that the
one male has access to a number of females in individual cages via a "tunnel"
and a jump hole. The females are fitted with round collars so they can not jump
out through the hole, but the male can move in and out of the cages. This allows
one male to breed many females and the breeder not having to worry about females
fighting. This method also allows males to get away from aggressive females.
Remember even though a chin seems very easy going hormones and a male chasing
her can easily change that attitude! Check out the why not to breed link for
photos.
Runs are the most common way for breeding chins. These chins still have the company of the male and he will often visit the females to snuggle and comfort them. If the breeder does not want a female breed back they can close off the hole and the male can still see his female and kit from above. It prevents having to re-introduce animals, it allows for females to be easily shut off to have a break from breeding or to care for their kits. Below is a picture of a family in a run breeding program. You can see the gate for the jump hole on the right (it is the silver plate looking thing).
These gorgeous chins belong to Cathy Kane of Kansas City Chinchillas!