Standard Grey - Original chinchilla color


TOV-White Mosaic-Ebony TOV- TOV or "touch of velvet" is very confusing for novices. I prefer to think of it as a pattern, rather than a color. It will make dark leg bands,the back color solid, the sides intermediate in color, and the tummy white in most combinations. In the chin in the picture, the back is not dark because of the white mosaic influence, but you can still see the dark leg bands, which are characteristic of the TOV. It can exist in combination with many other colors- with standards it is a "black velvet", with a beige it is a "brown velvet", etc. This gene cannot exist in the homozygous state, and therefore has the "lethal factor".


White Mosaic White - Also known as the Wilson white, or the white mosaic, or simply mosaic. Darkly marked chins of this mutation are known as "silvers". Highly variable markings, from nearly all grey to all white. You can always tell if a chin is carrying the white gene, as some portion of the tail will be white, from the whole tail, to just the very tip. This gene cannot exist in the homozygous state, and therefore has the "lethal factor".


Black Velvet Black Velvet- Actually this is a TOV standard. Also known as a Gunning Black or simply as a "black". Do not confuse with "ebony".


Heterozygous Beige or simply Beige Beige - Beige chins are also known as Tower beiges. Beiges have the agouti hair stripes similar to standards, only the are beige.


Homozygous Beige Homozygous Beige - In the homozygous beige chin, the color is several shades lighter and very even looking. The eyes of a homozygous beige are a very pale, almost whitish pink color.


Pink White Pink White- Genetically this is a standard, white mosaic and beige chin. They have pink ears, pink to red eyes and all white to a champagne colored coat.


Homozygous Beige Pink WhiteHomozygous Beige Pink White - Same as above except genetically is a beige, beige and white mosaic chin. It will be all white with very light pink eyes.

< Ebony
Ebony - This is an "every hair shiny black" chin, even the tummy! In the heterozygous state with standard, it looks like a standard but with a black back and grey sides and tummy. This color is where the "wrap around" comes in to being which simply means that the tummy is the same color as the rest of the chin.


TOV Beige or Brown Velvet TOV Beige - More commonly known in the pet circles as a "brown velvet". Show folks refer to them simply as TOV's. Genetically this color consists of a standard and a TOV (black velvet) and a beige gene. There are also TOV homozygous beiges, which genetically are a beige, a beige and a TOV gene.


TOV Tan
Pastel / Tan - Genetically these 2 chins are the same. They are a beige chin crossed with an ebony chin. However, the pastel is what you get the first generation with this cross. It looks quite a bit like a regular beige although the beige color may be a bit darker, but the important difference is that the tummy will not be white, but the same color as the back. If you take this chin and breed it to an ebony, and continue to do this, you will end up with a deep chocolate brown or tan color. Nice tans are quite hard to get, as they represent many generations of a breeders work!


Violet Violet - This is a recessive color, so you will only see it when there are 2 violet genes present. Violets are a very even dove grey color. I often tell people that they are the same color as a Russian Blue cat, which is helpful if you have seen one of those! Some people refer to TOV violets as "Ultra-violets" but I consider this to be incorrect, as it is important to know that it is a TOV chin, so you are aware of the lethal factor that exists in all TOV chins. There are also white and violet chins (genetically violet, violet and white mosaic, NO standard). Don't confuse these with white mosaic violet carriers, which do not show the violet and and look just like a white mosaic, but are violet carriers. A white and violet chin shows the violet color mixed in with white. Another very pretty violet color is the solid violet. Genetically this is a violet chin with the "wrap around" or ebony gene. This chin is a very dark violet color all over, even the tummy.


Sapphire
Sapphire - This is a recessive mutation. The best way to describe this color is that it looks like a very light standard, with a distinctly bluish cast. I saw a beautiful sapphire at the Nationals and he was breathtaking. However there are very few really good sapphire chins. There are also many health issues related to this color, so make sure the chin you are consider buying is from healthy stock.


Recessive Beige - Light Eyes
Recessive Beige (Light Eyes)- This is an extremely rare mutation. I know of only two ranchs in the country that have these. They look like the dominant beiges, but they are recessive. The eyes, however, are a very clear red. They remind me of jelly beans! This color has been used in the past with other colors by pelters because they felt it "cleared" the color of the pelt, (took out any muddiness in the color).


Recessive Beige (dark eyes)- These fabulous chins are also extremely rare, I know of only 2 ranches that have these. These chins look similar to a homozygous dominant beige chin, but with 2 important differences. One is that the coat has a distinctly golden color and the other is that the eyes are dark like a white mosaic or standards! They are very handsome chins!

History of Color Mutations
I would like to thank The MCBA (Mutation Chinchilla Breeders of Association) for giving me permission to use this material. Please do not copy in any form without permission.

Many of these mutations are no longer in existence, and it has been argued that genetically some are the same mutation. We will never know for sure.

• Dominant
  • 1955 Wilson White
  • 1960 Tower Beige
  • 1960-61 Gunning Black
  • 1964 Tasco Munn-Alexander (Ebony)
  • 1970 French "Blue" (Charcoal)
  • 1961-62 Busse (Charcoal)

• Recessive
  • 1954 Wellman Beige (dark eyes)
  • 1958 Rzewski Beige. Poland (dark eyes)
  • Beige Recessive (red eye)L. Sullivan & C.J. Reynolds
  • 1960+ Albino R. Dennison
  • 1960-61 Albino L.Blackburn
  • Charcoals(Ebony)
    • Wes Olsen California
    • Betty Broucke California
    • R. Somavia California
    • W. Pohl California
    • T. Ready California
  • Sakrison "Culy Brown Charcoal" 1963
  • 1963 Stone White
  • 1963-65 Larsen Sapphire
  • 1970 Lester Black
  • 1962?? Treadwell Black
  • 1969 Young Lavender-Brown
  • 1967 Sullivan Violet or Lavender 1967

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