How to Tell Your Chinchillas Apart

  

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Which Chin goes where?

It may seem strange, and you would think that as a chinchilla owner your chins would surely look different, at least to you right? Well not exactly...with 9 chinchillas it can get a little tough trying to figure out who goes where at the end of playtime. Sure it's easy enough  with my males, they are all color mutations and who couldn't tell the difference between Haze my beige chinchilla and boo my white one.The problem comes about when I have my females playing and dusting together. My females are mostly all related (sisters or mother daughter) and all but one of them is a standard (Boo’s daughter Ghost is mosaic). I know my oldest Belle, but her twins have been hard to tell apart since day 1! I thought as they matured there would be noticeable personality differences and physical differences like coloration, size, ears, something that would easily distinguish the two, but no dice. Elbow and Jellybean are practically identical! Jelly bean has slightly darker fur and her ears are just a bit bigger, but their temperament is very similar and it is pretty easy to mix them up.

Why is this a problem? Aside from the fact that calling them the wrong name all the time just seems strange ( I have two identical twin friends that are also easy to mix up, and it is a little awkward when you start talking about a fun time you have had in the past to one of them and they say sorry not me that was my sister ). The twins are also paired up with different males and live in different cages. It is important to make sure you know which chinchilla is in which cage. Putting the wrong female in with the wrong male could cause fighting, but it could also be very confusing when the female chinchilla in the cage with the white male turns up with a beige kit. Pretty much a breeding nightmare, suddenly it’s like the Jerry Springer show in chinchilla land with a who’s baby is it drama? Then you have to wonder and that’s no good because you don’t want to pair the chin with the wrong mate and risk inline breeding.

So what to do to prevent this problem? Well the big leagues use ear tagging. Ear tags are a way of positively identifying a chinchilla and who bred it, what year it was born, and its order in the herd.  According to chinchillas.com, every breeder registered with either Empress or MCBA has a ranch brand only they can use and it’s only $5 to register your own unique ranch brand. 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.

The good news is chinchilla does 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.

So what about hobby breeders with no intention of going to a show, at least not right away? Lipstick. I know it sounds crazy , but hey it works! I bought a bright red lip stick and use it to mark my female’s ears with symbols before letting them loose in the play room together.  This could also be done more accurately with a lip liner or eyeliner pencil. It’s far more basic, and less painful, than the ear tagging, and it is not permanent, but it is an easy way to be sure that the right chin is going back to the right cage. I use lines. I line cage number one 2 lines cage number 2 and  3 lines cage number three. Fortunately I do not have so many chinchillas that putting lines on their ears is a daunting chore. At that point I think it is best to get a brand. But I know that make up is safe, I use it on my face, and it doesn’t bother them and comes off easily enough.  So enjoy playing makeup artist with your chins ear.