Buying good quality chinchillas as breeding stock is not as simple as buying a pet.  There are many pitfalls and problems that can be avoided - I am listing some of the ones that I came across here so that other people do not get caught out in the same ways.

All of those things shown below occurred to me when I first started with buying in and breeding show quality animals it meant that I did waste some time and money before realising they were not suitable animals and managed to resell or rehome in favour of better quality animals.

Breeding from an animal simply because it is available or seems cheap is not often the best policy - using the wrong animal can decrease the quality of your stock rather than increase it.  VERY careful thought should be put into the purchase of each animal - if it does not match the quality you already have then save your money and breed your own!.

Look at your best animals before going to see any new purchases and get a good idea of the quality you already have

Just because the parents are show winners does not mean that the kits will be - though it is of course more likely!

Try not to buy animals until after they have won a show award themselves rather than buying them in the hope that they will win one. Some breeders will sell you "top quality breeding stock" animals that may never amount to winning an award on a show bench, be careful of this when you are not sure of a good chinchillas qualities and able to pick them out yourself.

Instead buy animals that have already been shown and placed, and ask to see the printed pedigree BEFORE you buy - don't wait for it to be handed over after you have paid for the animal.

Some breeders do not give full pedigree history - personally I would say avoid these until you are more sure of a good chinchillas for yourself.   I bought a few in this situation as i was eager to get started - but as I become more aware of breeding and pedigrees it proved to be a bad move and most were eventually resold as not being good enough to use for breeding as top quality stock

If the pedigree is not full on both parents side for at least three generations then it will make it more difficult for you to sell the kits in the future as a beginner.

Most breeders will provide a printed pedigree - if they don't,  I would say don't buy the animal!

It may be necessary to tell them that you would like to collect the pedigree at the same time as the chinchillas -  many breeders will not have it pre-printed but say they will send it to you afterwards, but I have found to my detriment that some of them once they have taken your money are then very slow to provide the paperwork.

Thankfully there are some breeders that will just give you the pedigree there and then without being asked

Don't disregard older animals that could be for sale.   Males can breed for their entire lives, and females can safely breed up to the age of ten plus.

Many of the show breeders retire of their breeding animals at 6 or 7years of age for females - this can be good for yourself to get one or two litters from before you retire them yourself, this will give you some good quality kits to raise as your own foundation stock.

Often these animals can be top show winners but still bought for only £30-50, a remarkable saving on an animal of the same quality that is still young and unproven

When buying in mutations ask what the parents were (or look on the pedigree) and avoid buying ANY animals that were bred from mutation to mutation pairings. These will often be weaker furred and smaller than animals bred from Mutation to carrier pairings.

In the case of really weak mutations such as sapphires or charcoals, where possible buy in offspring from carrier to carrier pairings