Why breed?

[leaughxp]

Why do you breed? I have seen many posts of people asking for info on breeding chins and then getting the tons of responses that say the only reason a person should breed is to "improve the species." What is ment by "improving the species?" I guess if you are a rancher you breed for a bigger, better pelt. A hobby breeder would breed for healthy, sociable chins. But it seems to me that there is no such thing as "improving a species" since the process of evolution is nondirectional; there is no ideal end result. Selectively breeding chins or any animal for that matter doesn't seem to me to be "improving" anything; you're just breeding for the traits that you desire in an animal. Can someone explain to me why all the people who breed chins that are not considered show quality or have good fur or conformation get put down for breding? I understand to a point if the chins are sick or not well cared for then they shouldn't be bred, but by saying that certain "undersiable" chins should not be bred is like saying that people who do not meet the standards of beauty as defined by society should not be allowed to have kids. I don't think anyone would really say that's true, so why is this so with animals? And there can be many different opinions on what traits are "desired" so why is this considered "wrong?"

I'm a bio major, not a breeder, and have never bred anything in my life, not even a fruit fly :laugh: , so I'm not trying to say it's right or wrong just curious why there is such strong feelings that only "good quality" (certain conformation, etc.) animals should be breed.

[Ldy_Icedragon]

I know what you mean and I agree on many points. I don't breed chins myself but I don't see why everyone should breed only big brevi type of chins and leave out the others if their healthy and have good temperments and have desirable qualities. I don't really see how taking away genetic diversity improves the species, in my opinion it damages it. I think most people only breed blocky chins because that's what judges like to see at a show, a nice big blocky chinchilla with a pretty pelt. Also if breeders breed other chins with say long body styles then they will constantly have other breeders saying that their chins are undesirable so many breeders have probably just gone with everyone else's opinions to prevent having "undesirable" chins.

~Danielle

[FurryFriends]

I think it might have to do with personal preferrance also. I don't care for chins who are pointy and have weak fur. Please, no one take offense to this, but to me, the extremley pointy chins with that long body and nose look a little like rats with fur. I like shorter nosed blocky chinchillas with dense fur. Color, clarity, ect. are also needed for a show animal, but even if I was just looking for a nice pet, I would look for a friendly brevi type animal. That is just my personal preferrance though. There are tons of people out there that love their pet chinchilla no matter what it looks like. My first chin was a petco rescue, Emmie. We love her and she will be with us for the rest of her life.

[IndyChinChick]

I think possibly the "breeding for desirable traits" is another admirable reason for breeding. It's just that people generally shouldn't be breeding for money, because they love chinnie babies, etc. Breeding to improve the species or acheive more desirable animals are both better reasons (even if one and the same) than breeding for the other reasons. People just need a definition for a good reason to breed and improving the species is just the one that fits that description.

[tigerbabygrr]

We are looking to breed because we love the temperments of our chins and it would be wonderful to have offspring with that same temperment. Also others may view it as a "the more the merrier" kind of thing. We have a wonderful pet store standard chinchilla who is quite big and has a wonderful coat. We are still interested in breeding her. She is quite healthy and looks wonderful. Her weight is around 750 grams.... in my opinion, people who are not breeders may want to start breeding as a hobby, or because they want more fuzzbutts lol.

[x_maddy]

I don`t understand why all breeders must breed in order to "improve the species". Large breeders, this is understood, as producing as many healthy, quality chins as possible as great. But for a hobby breeder with adored pet chins that they want to breed, waht is the big deal with an offspring that they might keep or sell as a pet ?

I say unless you are planning to breed quality chinchillas as amazing breeding animals, it shouldn`t be a goal to breed to "improve the species", but rather to breed for tempermates, and spend time with each kit to produce sweet chinchillas that others may even decide to breed for the tempermate and also keep as awsome pets. Isn`t that what everyone wants ? A sweet pet chin ?

[mumpay]

I agree with breeding to improve the species 100%. If you take a weaker chin with great temperments, and your kits are even weaker with great temperments, and then their offspring are even weaker than the parents... eventually you'll be spending money at the vets to file down mallcoluding teeth, fix liver diseases, get medicine for bad immune systems, etc but still have great temperment chins... how long will those great temperments last with a chin who gets sick every few months, or has a miscarriage at every birth attempt, or has to be force fed on a regular basis.

great fur and large blocky shape isnt ONLY a beauty contest. Its about an animal that can clearly grow healthy fur since its digestive track makes the most out of the nutrients. its large size ensures the chance of having healthier, multiple kits without any trouble. An animal in great physical condition is less prone to stress, and during its pregnancy, its kits are less likely to have deformities (even on the genetic "invisible" level). To breed for temperment alone, or even as an overiding factor, isn't too wise, imo... besides, there should be plenty of animals at the big ranches that have great "beauty" qualities and good temperments. My 4 chins come from 3 different ranches, and all 4 are sweet, calm, and sociable.

[Horseygirl]

I agree with mumpay. The desireable traits that most breeders breed for are those best suited to the animal's survival. There are different strains of chinchilla, but most have been bred into the Brevi type and so trying to breed back to the other strains without adding more wild types would be difficult and would most likely require inbreeding. Inbreeding in general is bad and leads to genetically inferior animals. Eventually if people insist on breeding weak to weak, darwin will take over and the animals will die.
Now it is possible to breed for a specific type and that type does not have to be exactly what is popular. Though do keep in mind that is what has been bred for for a long time and so going against it will cause problems.
With genetics bigger (to a point) is usually healthier, though a well built animal is always preferrable. And coat is usually a very good indication of how well things are working on the inside. It is not possible to have a great coat on a sick/weak animal.


P.S. I am a biochemist with a strong background in genetics and years of breeding horses.

[leaughxp]

I don`t understand why all breeders must breed in order to "improve the species". Large breeders, this is understood, as producing as many healthy, quality chins as possible as great. But for a hobby breeder with adored pet chins that they want to breed, waht is the big deal with an offspring that they might keep or sell as a pet ? You're still not "improving the species, but you're getting closser to what I'm trying to say. If you are a rancher then of course you are selectively breeding for chins that would produce large good quality pelts. As a hobby breeder, you may be selecting for traits that appeal to you such as size, color, clarity, density, etc.

[leaughxp]

I agree you should breed for health and not breed unhealthy chins or those with genetic conditions.

its large size ensures the chance of having healthier, multiple kits without any trouble.
I would tend to think that breeding size into a herd would also increase birth weight/size, therfore not necessarily increasing the chance of easier births. In my animal science class we learned birthweight was a heritable trait in cows so I was curious if you knewif this was true for chins as well?