Every reputable breeder is a member of one of the international chinchilla organizations. Why is this? The organizations set standards for quality breeding and guidelines for ethical practices. Buying a chinchilla can be a long term commitment when purchasing from a reputable source. Disreputable breeders have a higher instance of breeding flighty, nervous animals that are prone to fur chewing, lower body quality animals that develop genetic issues, and animals that exhibit much shorter lifespans. Animals from reputable breeders tend to live upwards of 10yrs, while those from disreputable sources are lucky to survive past 8yrs. As with shopping for any animal, make sure to check your sources. Do the pictures of the animals show a clean, non-stained animal with a good fluffy coat? Are the eyes bright and alert? Are the pictures of cages with animals in them clean? Is the breeder a member of an international organization? Can you verify that information with the organization they claim affiliation with or can you corroborate their claims with other reputable breeders? These are just a few questions you should ask yourself when purchasing a chinchilla. Being a member of one of the organizations does not just set standards for breeding quality animals, but speaks to the breeder's own attempts to continue learning about chinchillas and improving their own care. Each organization provides members with monthly or bimonthly publications that include scientific articles on chinchilla husbandry, genetics, health, and uses in science as well as articles written by long term ranchers on husbandry and useful ranching tips. The networking afforded through these organizations also allows ranchers and breeders to keep open lines of communication to quickly solve any herd health issues based on experience and tried and true methods. Overall, it is incredibly important that the breeder you choose is one that is reputable and not what we term a "backyard breeder" that is just in it for the money or to produce cute babies to sell. You want a companion that will live a full and healthy life and that requires a good source of genetics from reputable breeders.
Mutation Chinchilla Breeders Association
MCBA, Inc. is an international organization of chinchilla breeders with chapters spread throughout the world. Its function is to provide education on the humane care of chinchillas, to share information on chinchilla genetics and the breeding of healthy, quality animals and to help commercially market and promote chinchillas and chinchilla products. A National Board of Directors is in place to move the organization forward, and to see that individual chapters work towards achieving our goals.
Visit: http://www.mutationchinchillas.com/index.html to join or learn more!
Empress Chinchilla Breeder Cooperative Inc.
Empress Chinchilla was established in 1945 as an organization to help educate the new chinchilla ranchers that were springing up by the hundreds, to provide a reputable grading system for the animals and market pelts. In the last 67 years we have come a long way, we have evolved with the needs of the chinchilla producer and we know a lot about chinchilla!
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