Greenwood Chinchillas -
American Imported
Chinchillas
Any breeder of animals, on any type, has to always think about their gene pool and the different lines with which they are working. with chinchillas this has become especially problematic as most of the UK population within a few generations can be traced back to the same Canadian imports or limited other lines which were originally introduced to this country by such people as Helen Maules and Fred Duggins.
Buying top animals from any of the bigger NCS breeders in this country has become problematic in that most of the top lines are all related to Fred Duggins animals - i bought 4 different animals off different breeders only to find that they all within 2 generations have one specific male in there lines.
Personally i choose not to line breed - so I have been desperate to increase the gene pool and make better use of new lines for the animals that we have -especially the sapphire lines who almost entirely were related to the Etherdale herd worked so well by Richard Crutchley..
Due to changes in the law and the opening up on import restrictions within Europe, it has become possible now to import from Europe animals without the need for quarantine. Anything coming from outside the EU must still be held for 6 months at a registered quarantining centre (for more information see the DEFRA web site).
I was lucky enough to be in discussions with another UK breeder, Brian Pollard of Ebony Dragon Chinchillas, at this time who was planning on arranging some imports from Europe off American animals that had been resident in France for a number of years as a breeding herd. with his careful planning and investigation into the legislation this was all arranged and went ahead probelm free.
Leaving me the proud owner of three American born chinchillas:
Rampian (Standard Male Ribbon winner)
Bran (Pink White Male)
Rue (BV Female)
All were excellent quality and settled into the herd well. Both males have gone on to produce numerous kits, sadly Rue proved to be barren and has not produced so is kept as a pet with older retired females.
Following the success of this import, I went on to import two more lots of animals, from a variety of American and European lines - including Beige, White, Standard and Sapphire.
All are now in breeding and producing offspring that are not genetically related to the close inbred pool that we were working with before- so hopefully shall do well on the show bench in the near future.