Greenwood Chinchillas -
Richline Chinchillas
Having acquired the Chingus Chinchilla herd, it became obvious that there was a need to find unrelated breeding lines to introduce to increase the quality of the stock that I already had and to work in creating good mutation lines by crossing carriers from two differing lines together to create the best strength of fur with size, quality and colour.
I spoke to a few different breeders whose views I respected and the name Richline Chinchillas came up from a few of them. Richline, run by Pauline and Richard Marks, had done well in the past at shows and had some very good quality animals, but had not shown for a couple of years so most people were unaware of them.
It appeared that they were selling up a lot of stock as they were moving to smaller premises and many of their good quality standards were available for a lower price than they would normally be obtained.
I got in touch and went to visit, funds were low at that time and I expected to come away with one, possibly two females for my money.
Pauline recommended that I took down the male I intended t pair the females to so that they could look at him and find the best matches to go with him. I chose to take Charlie with me as at that time he was unpaired.
I arrived there to find that they had a selection of animals prepared on the kitchen table for e to look at, and they had a good look at Charlie. One of the animals on the table really shone out to me and I decided straight away I wanted her but id not say so - and the Marks did suggest that she would be a good match for Charlie, which meant Marigold was the first selected animal.
We chatted for quite a while about showing, grooming (with demonstrations), breeding and improving lines. And they spoke to me about what I had already and what my intentions were - and asked me how many empty cages I had at home. At that time there were four prepared - so they said right - we know how much cash you got - and how about we give you 4 animals for your money, so long as you take one of our males and pair it to them so they can have a choice of a kit back from them in the future.
Obviously I jumped at the offer so happily left with one male, now called Heath, and three females: Marigold, Laurel and Rowan. Heath and Marigold are from the same sire so cannot be paired together - which left her free to be paired to Charlie initially, but this idea was changed to keep the Richline and Chingus bloodlines totally separate - so she was paired up to Fred, a male originally from Fred Duggins..