Volume 1, Number 5
Chinchillas.com Newsletter
Auction
Update
Market Prices and Color
Brevicaudata-type chins
Chinchilla Hay
Ear Tags
Auction
Update
This week on the auction, we finally have another
good show quality ebony female, after many weeks without one. Good quality
ebony females have become possibly the most in-demand chinchilla in the
market today. We are also increasing our efforts to promote high quality
pure standards by offering them regularly on the auction. Pure standards
are the most important asset to a herd with the goal of producing top
mutation chinchillas. Behind all great mutation breeders is a successful
pure standard line. We are offering two very good quality pure (no mutations
in the background) standards this week with a $1 minimum bid starting
price. For the aspiring wrap-around violet producers, we also have a good
violet ebony carrier male (homo violet / hetero ebony). Additionally,
we are offering for the first time a top show quality ebony/white/beige
hybrid female.
The $25 discount offered starting in June to winning
bidders who were the first to bid on that auction was very well received.
We have decided to continue this offer through the month of September.
If you are the only bidder on an auction, you will receive $25 off of
the starting bid. Please note that the $25 discount does not apply to
auctions listed in the promotions/discounts category.
Clients often ask where the chinchillas that we offer
from outside herds are located. All of the outside (non-Ritterspach-bred)
chinchillas on Chinchillas.com are shipped to Ohio and given time to adjust
and to be graded before they are offered for sale on the site. Any chinchillas
purchased on the site can be shipped simultaneously with any other chinchillas
on the site, regardless of who bred them. If you want to know who bred
a chinchilla you are interested in buying, just ask. At any given time,
approximately 60% or more of the chinchillas offered on the site are Ritterspach-bred.
Several weeks ago, we added the pairs/colonies
category. Buyers can select a pair knowing that the pair has been professionally
selected for color genetic and trait compatibility, giving the new breeder
the best chance of acquiring a quality producing pair. It also provides
a unique opportunity for buyers to purchase chinchillas from top show
herds located in different parts of the country, without having to travel
to different places and pay two shipping charges.
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Market Prices
and Color
I often hear the question "how much is this color?"
Color has less to do with the price overall than the quality does. The
chinchillas on the site are all assessed for quality by at least one sanctioned
judge before being priced. Keep in mind that the closer a chinchilla is
to 8+ months of age, the more accurate the assessment will be. The younger
the chinchilla is, the harder it is to accurately assess what it will
develop into, even by its own breeder. Chinchillas are priced according
to quality foremost, and then secondly color and demand are taken
into account. A standard can be worth $75 or $500, based on size, fur
texture and length, color hue, veiling, conformation, show winnings, breeder,
and pedigree. The specific mutation color is neither as important nor
as hard to achieve by the breeder as quality, but the combination of the
two is what makes a specific chinchilla highly valuable. It should
be noted that a top show quality standard, mutation or hybrid will sell
for 2 to 4 times what its "not for show" quality counterpart
is valued at.
Brevicaudata-type
chins
There is always a lot of interest in breeding and
marketing the brevicaudata-type chinchilla. Though there are no pure brevicaudatas
available in the US, breeders often produce a lanigera cross that resembles
a brevicaudata chinchilla. Pure brevicaudatas are both endangered and
protected in their native habitat, and are no longer available without
a special permit. The pure brevi is a somewhat off-color or "yellow"
chinchilla, with a docile temperament, blocky body, and short tail and
ears. They also tend to have a wavy-type fur.
There are some important things to remember when attempting
to breed a "brevi-type" chinchilla. It is not uncommon for females
to have a difficult time giving birth to kits with an extremely brevi-type
head, especially if the dam is of small to medium build, not of brevi-type
herself, or has a narrow birth canal. The "beluga headed" kits
are difficult for the females to litter. They can become stuck, especially
if breech. Breeders need to be careful to select the right females to
produce brevi-type offspring. It is probably wise to breed a brevi type
female to a costina or lanigera type male, and brevi type males should
be bred to extra large females. Although there is no absolute proof that
brevi type chins carry with them some genetic lethality in certain homozygous
gene sets, there seems to be a high mortality rate among kits 2 weeks
or younger that result from heavy brevi-type line breeding.
Chinchilla
Hay
Chinchillas should have an unlimited supply of clean,
mold-free grass hay. Chinchillas should not be fed substantial amounts
of legume hays. Legume hays include alfalfa, red clover and vetch, which
are all are too high in protein for chinchillas. Alfalfa should be fed,
if at all, in small, very limited quantities. Good chinchilla grass hays
are brome, bermuda grass, timothy, orchard grass, oat, etc
. These
grass hays supply a better roughage to protein ratio for the chinchilla.
Make sure the hay has not been sprayed with herbicides, pesticides, or
fungal innoculant. Even "drift" from a neighboring field that
is being sprayed can be enough to harm a chinchilla.
Ear Tags
Clients often ask how to read ear tags, and why they
are used. Every breeder registered with either Empress or MCBA has a ranch
brand that only he can use. It is only $5 to register your own unique
ranch brand. Ear tags are a way of positively identifying a chinchilla,
who bred it, what year it was born, and its order in the herd. One
side of the tag is stamped with the ranch brand. For example, UHC is the
unique ranch brand for Underhill Chinchillas. The other side might say
L103. Each year, all breeders use the same year-letter to designate that
year. L, for example, was the letter used universally for 2001. 103 means
that the chinchilla was the 103rd chinchilla tagged in the herd that year.
So, a chinchilla with a tag reading UHC on one side, and L103 on the other
would be the 103rd chinchilla tagged, born in (L) 2001, and bred by Underhill
Chinchillas. You can find out what letter to use each year by looking
in the Empress or MCBA magazine. Small breeders may only tag 25 chinchillas
a year, and large breeders may tag a thousand or more. Chinchilla do not
have to be tagged if they are not bound for the show table, but they MUST
BE TAGGED to show at a sanctioned show. This tag helps to assure buyers
that they are getting what they are paying for when they purchase a proven
show chinchilla. They can cross reference the tag with the show results
in the Empress or MCBA magazine. It also helps to identify a chinchilla
that has escaped from its cage. Claiming shows and field days are exempt
from this requirement, so a chinchilla may or may not be tagged if it
is shown at such a non sanctioned show. All chinchillas are tagged in
the lower right ear.
There is one other type of ear tag. There is an Empress
chinchilla registry tag, and all registered chinchillas are ear tagged
ECBC. The number on the reverse side of the ECBC tag will
correspond with the number on the registration papers. A chinchilla has
to win a first place or better at a sanctioned Empress registry show to
be eligible for registration. If a chinchilla is registered, it will have
two ear tags. It will have its breeder tag in the lower right ear,
and its ECBC tag in the lower left ear.
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