Mutations

The standard is the natural colour of the chinchilla. All other colours are mutations from this original. The quality of a good standard surpasses any mutation out there. An essential base to any worthwhile breeding program, the beauty of these animals cannot be mistaken. A standard should have a pure white crisp belly, flawless confirmation, strong veiling and a beautiful blue hue. They are usually classed as light, medium, dark and extra dark at the chinchilla shows. 

Also known as TOV or 'blacks', the black velvet is probably the strongest mutation out there. Many of

these animals are starting to rival the standards.

A strong black velvet should have full veiling, extending from the face mask to the base of the tail and down the sides towards the belly. A crisp white belly and a good strong blue hue. The black velvets also seem to excel in size and confirmation

The ebony chinchilla is one of the most popular mutations. Ranging from a light grey to a solid black, they are truly a stunning mutation. The ebony is an accumulated gene, with each generation showing more and more black. Thought to originally be hetero and homo, it is now being looked at from a different perspective. The ebony chinchilla should have an even coloured coat all the way around, including the belly. Strong veiling and a blue hue are essential. Many ebonies are plagued by the 'dreaded red tint'. It is best to attend a show and look at ebonies under the lights. At home it can be difficult to discern an ebonies true colour, especially for a novice. Ebonies are also notorious for being slow growing. While many chinchillas mature at 8-14 months, an ebony can take 2 full years to reach their potential. 

The mosaic, when used on it's own, signifies a white crossed with a standard gene. The chinchilla will have dark ears and eyes and will have grey tipping or patches throughout the fur. A 'reverse' mosaic is a mosaic with more colour showing then white. Mosaics can be blotchy, patterned, have solid patches, or have a 'silver' appearance to their fur.

A Brown Velvet is a beige with the TOV gene and will have a white belly and dark fur, like a black velvet.  They will also have the trademark red eyes that the beige gene is known for.

A recessive beige that is being kept alive by a few dedicated breeders. They are very similar in appearance to the hetero beige. They have bright red eyes. They are also said to have shorter, not too dense fur, poor veiling but no oxidation. The mutation originally occurred on Lloyd Sullivan's ranch in 1960.

A Hertero Beige will have dark red eyes and will most always have freckled ears.  Freckles can increase over the span of the chinchillas life.  They can be light, medium or dark and should have a white belly.  

A Home Beige is lighter in colour and their fur is the same on the belly. They will have BRIGHT red eyes and usually will not have any freckles on their ears.

Tans and pastels are one in the same. Pastel is simply used to describe a light tan (similar in colour to a homo beige) The difference between beiges and tans is that tans have the ebony gene. This means that they do not have the white belly that the beige would. Tans are also often influenced by the red tint that affects the beiges and the ebonies. Tans will range from the very light pastels to the very dark chocolates. Tans also exist in the homozygous state for the beige gene. Tans can also be found with the TOV gene.

The charcoal is a true recessive, similar to that of violet and sapphire. Existing in either the hetero or homozygous state, the charcoal differs from ebony. A chinchilla carrying charcoal will have a white belly, where most any chinchilla affected by ebony will have a 'dirty' belly. The ebony gene also only needs to be present in one parent to appear in the offspring. For charcoal to show, both parents need to be carriers in order to produce a charcoal offspring. The charcoal has a more matte appearance to the coat, where as an ebony is generally quite glossy. The charcoal recessive is mostly found in Europe, more specifically the UK. Very few charcoals exist here in North America.

There is a lot of debate about this mutation.  Some believe there are no true chocolates and are a dark tan.  While others are admant that chocolate is a mutation. Either way it is a chinchilla with ebony and tan in its lines.  A very pretty chinchilla that is not found very often.

This is a very rare recessive gene. There are very few in the world today and not many breeders working with them. A very beautiful chinchilla with a true 'golden' appearance. At first glance they may appear similar to a homo beige or a PW, but they are quite different in true appearance. The Goldbar has the golden colour spread thickly over the tips of the back, tapering off down the sides. The under-fur and belly are white. The eyes are a dark red. The Goldbar is not related to the Wellman or Sullivan beige, nor to the Wilson white. The first Goldbar was born 5/11/95 from two standards purchased from Ellis Adcock at June Baar's herd in California.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A RECESSIVE WHITE, THEY ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT MUTATIONS WHICH HAS BEEN PROVEN (in 2012)

Origin of the Lowe Recessive White:
The first Lowe recessive white was born in 2002 at Robert Lowe's ranch in Enderby, BC., Canada. She was produced out of two pure standards. One of them was bred by Robert Lowe and the other was bred by Jack Humphreys of Blue Vale Chinchillas, in Armstrong, BC. It is a recessive mutation. Kits are born a champagne color that usually lightens a bit and then darkens again with maturity. They have dark pink eyes. It is not to be mistaken with the goldbar. Alderbrook Chinchillas bought out Robert Lowe's herd of recessive whites in 2008 and are now working hard on producing more of this quality mutation. The Lowe recessive whites that have been shown to date at chinchilla shows have all placed 1st or higher on the show table

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A GOLDBAR, THEY ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT MUTATIONS WHICH HAS BEEN PROVEN! (in 2012)

The violet chinchilla is a beautiful soft colour with a lovely blue hue. Slowly being improved with quality breeding, size, fur strength and confirmation are now being returned to this mutation.

If you are looking for a violet, don't buy the first one you see. Research the breeder and know the genetics behind the animal. The violet is a recessive gene that can only be produced by breeding to carrying parents together. Violets can be hard to discern from standards in pictures. Very similar when separated, but when shown together, a very obvious difference is noted.
Violets have no black tipping on the fur which allows them to have that very soft 'velvet' look. Standards can almost appear 'harsh' in colour when set next to a quality violet. The violet should also have the bright white belly. Violet can be crossed with ebony to produce a violet wrap, also known as solid violet. As in ebony, the white tummy is replaced with the body colour. 

The Blue Diamond is a relatively new mutation to North America.  It is a cross of a violet and a sapphire.  It has a very blue look to it.  As this mutation is worked with there should be improvements in size and fur quality.  A very unique and pretty chinchilla. 

This is a white chinchilla that carries the white and beige gene. The PW can be hetero or homozygous for the beige gene. The PW also has red eyes and can have freckles on their pink ears. The fur usually has beige tipping or patches. If you hear PW mosaic, you know they are referring to patches of beige throughout the fur.

An ebony mosaic is similar to a mosaic, but instead of showing the standard gene, shows the ebony gene. Sometimes difficult to discern from the mosaic, usually the best way to tell is by the pedigree.

This is a chinchilla showing both white and tan markings. They are comprised of the ebony, beige and white gene.

As you can probably guess, this is a cross between a recessive (violet or sapphire) and a white. Genetically this is probably one of the weakest mutations out there. 

The Wilson White is the dominant white chinchilla gene. All white chinchillas are mutations of the Wilson White. A Wilson White, or more correctly called ‘predominantly white’ is a chinchilla with a solid white body. There should be no colour tipping on the fur. Some tipping on the head and tail base is forgivable. These chinchillas also have dark eyes and ears.