Greenwood Chinchillas
The Spread of
Malocclusion
The following is a piece I wrote in response to someone that intended to use Rescue chin females for breeding - and it was only as i worked out the numbers that it became obvious how easily so many animals can be effected with genetic problems in such a short space of time! (the reply was to someone intending to use two sister rescues to breed from)
Read Malocclusion for more information
Breeding from animals whose history is uncertain could lead you to a lot of further problems in the future for both the animals you own and the kits that you produce- dental problems can take years to show up - so if the sisters are still only young and you have one litter off each a year (assuming they are bred from 9 months of age so first litter will be when 1 year old) - then in a period of 5 years you could theoretically produce 10 kits (conservative one kit per litter here per adult)
If those 10 kits all then are also used for breeding that could produce another 4 years worth of kits per animal in our 5 year span (shall assume 1 kit per year again - but if they are male and in a poly system could be a lot more than that) which would be another 40 animals.
If those kits are then used for breeding - that's 40 animals for 3 years at 1 kit a year = 120 kits
Those then are used for breeding = 120 x 1 kit a year for 2 years = 240
Those are then used for breeding = 240 x 1 kit for 1 year = 240
SO in 5 years we have 650 animals - if each animal had one kit in one litter a year - a conservative estimate. Obviously this assumes they all survive.
So theoretically 650 animals could DIE from and incurable problem - imagine the pain, financial cost and suffering - of both the animals and their owners.
Now if one of the original females parents at 5 years old then should show signs of malocclusion here are potentially 650 other animals all also that could have dental disease in there genetic make up - is it any wonder that dental disease in chins seems to be becoming more and more common in the questions that are being asked??
No one can ever totally avoid 100% an animal that could have malocclusion - but in using animals from known breeders with proven records you are significantly reducing the chances of there being any problem at all
So my point? Don't use pet shop or rescue chins for breeding - they may be fine now - but will they still be so in 5 years time? And if not how much suffering could the impatience have caused.
For more information on dental disease in chinchillas see this excellent web site: