Chinchillas.org






                                  

Chinchilla Community Forums

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: What color are my chinchillas?  (Read 1154 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

TayPants

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Appreciation points: 0
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 5
  • # of Chins: 2
  • Status: pet owner
  • member
    • View Profile
What color are my chinchillas?
« on: July 09, 2013, 02:53:11 PM »

I just got both of my chinchillas last weekend and unfortunately the girl that I got them from didn't really know a lot about them. I was just wondering if they were a mutation color because she didn't know what color they were. Both are almost black on their backs and the color gets lighter down their sides. Their bellies are the same color as their sides.
Logged

GrayRodent

  • Chinchilla Club and CBO Forum Administrator
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Appreciation points: 153
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Posts: 2761
  • # of Chins: 2
  • Status: pet owner
    • View Profile
    • Chris Hamilton
Re: What color are my chinchillas?
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2013, 06:36:48 PM »

Without a pedigree you won't know what all might be there. The fact that belly is dark typically means the ebony gene is present at least from one parent and possibly both, so yes, it carries a mutation gene.
Logged
I'm a programmer not a chinchilla breeder. I learn by asking questions just like you.

chinclub

  • Site Owner
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Appreciation points: 66
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 1888
  • Status: Breeder
    • View Profile
    • Lowcountry Chinchillas
Re: What color are my chinchillas?
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2013, 06:33:36 AM »

Chinchillas are much easier than other animals to figure genes on.  Most colors they either have them of they don't and you can tell by looking at them.  The only colors that can be carried and not seen are Violet, Sapphire, and Ebony.   Every other color is dominate so it will show on the coat, ears, or eyes if the chinchilla carries the gene.

Your chinchillas are ebony.   People used to call them homo ebony for solid black and hetero ebony for darker grey.  We now know that ebony is a wildcard gene that doesn't follow that rule. After 15 years of breeding I have learned it seems to have no rules!  It can come from only one parent and show solid black, it can come from both parents and be dark grey, it can hide in a white bellied baby and she can go on to produce a dark bellied baby.  Its a crazy gene.

 
Logged
 

 Lowcountry Chinchillas
 
 Walterboro, South Carolina
Pages: [1]   Go Up