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[All Things Chin]

Hi everyone.  I live in central Pennsylvania.  I purchased my first Chin about 1 1/2 to 2 months ago and my second 2 weeks ago.  They were both pet store chins, as I never heard of chin breaders until I found your site and realized that chins come in all colors.  Smokey my older chin, is a male and I think standard gray.  He's very lovable right from the start and loves to jump all over me when I lay on the floor.  Ashes is my younger male, again a standard gray [I think].  Still working with him and getting him used to me as he is sometimes skittish.  He will crawl/jump on/over me when he is out.

Anyway.  I'm looking to get a few more chins and was hoping to find a breeder near me to work with.  I'm looking for a tan male and a dark black ebony male (no more than 3 or 4 months old [or older, I may not be able to get them before the end of summer like I want]).

Also could anyone explain to me the what a TOV breed actually is.

Thanks,
Jim

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

TOV is touch of violet (I think)

[All Things Chin]

Yes, it is called Touch of Velvet.  I am familiar with the term, however I was hoping to be able to have someone explain the difference between say a TOV Ebony and a regular Ebony, etc.

[GrayRodent]

Welcome to the chinchilla board. I've had a second hand chinchilla from an owner who bought him from a pet store. I had him about 6 months before I had to euthanize him because of malocclusion. I got a new chinchilla from a breeder (3 months old) and had to drive about 150 miles round trip but it was worth it. He became extremely tame compared to the other and continues to mellow out as he ages. Their behavior patterns are very similar to that of large parrots. Socializing them consistently and carefully usually results in improvement.

TOV would be the touch of velvet mutation. It is a gene that darkens the patterns you see generated by the dark tips of the fur while leaving the white parts unaffected although the patterns can look very dark. Ebony chinchillas can have varying degrees of darkness and the white parts are affected. The fur on their underside is darkened. The darkest ebonies are usually pretty small since they get the mutation genes from both sides where a TOV is always bred to a standard. (See replies below. Also this contradicts my own article here!) That is because kits that inherit TOV from both sides cannot develop due to a genetic lethality factor. TOV is a mutation that has been around for a while but even at that the quality of mutation colors in terms of size, fur length, and density is not as good as a standard with standard genes from both sides. Although you cannot breed TOV to TOV you can breed TOV to ebony to get a combination of these effects but now you breeding mutation to mutation twice so you can expect it to be small. (Also see replies below. This is not always the case)

Breeders who are reputable will usually specialize in two or three colors because it is hard to get large and densely furred chinchillas with mutation colors and a desirable color pattern. Many chinchillas that end up in a pet store come from failed attempts at getting mutation colors and sometimes you can see evidence of different genes by looking. Going in the fall may be safer since it is cooler.

[All Things Chin]

Thank you GrayRodent for the clarification.  BTW, I finally got around to putting up a pic of my two boys.

[chinclub]

TOV Isn't always bred to standard.  Black Vevlet (which is TOV) is often bred to a nice Beige to produce Brown Velvet (which is TOV)  You can breed these mutations together if you are using great lines and still produce large show quality babies.    The rule for breeding mutations to each other is to pick two great quality mutations to breed together and then those babies need to be bred back to standard to keep the quality.  If you are working with great lines to start with you can mix mutations without decreasing size or quality.



Great pictures or your chins.  They are so cute.