Pricing of chinchillas

[Michael80]

I've always wondered, what constitutes the pricing of a chinchilla (or any animal for that matter)
I undestand that say, the humane society has bills to pay and all, but for anyone who is a HOBBY breeder (of any animal) how do you gauge the cost per animal you sell?
All things considering barring quality, size, and temperment...with the food, pine shavings, water, and treats my chins get...a 5 month old chin has used maybe $35 in materials. Regardless of color. Violets, in my experience, have not been any harder to breed now that the gene is established than a standard. So why should it run $150 MORE?

Is there a universal pricing sheet I wasnt aware of? Is this how we, as breeders, choose to protect our chins from "bad" homes? Is there a rule book on this?

~~Michael~

[CHINCHILDREN]

all other things being equal it is just plain old supply and demand.

also, feed beding etc. are not the only thing you factor in. if your herd is composed of top animals they were expensive and their genes more 'valuable,' electricity, vet bills, costs associated with going to and participating in shows, etc.
i have a 2 day old standard kit now. two months ago i spent around $600 on her mom in vet bills. did not know at the time if she was pregnant. does that make her a $600 chin? no, but my chins come from the best lines and so, the kits are not 'cheap' and it is easier for me to spend the money on vets when needed than for someone selling their standard kits for $60.
and yes, it is also a way to try and sell to people who will take better care of the animals. sadly, human nature is such that most of us will take better care of something that cost us.

[Mystic_Koolaid]

I think that quality, size and temperament have the most to do with the price... at least in my experience. You dont neccessarily see a violet with horrible conformation or horrible fur density or whatever bad qualities selling for the same price as what a violet with a lot of good qualities sells for. The same goes for any color, except maybe the really rare colors that you are lucky to have that mutation color, without even taking into consideration any of its good or bad qualities. If that makes any sense. I didnt know how to correctly word what I was trying to say.

[Mystic_Koolaid]

all other things being equal it is just plain old supply and demand.

also, feed beding etc. are not the only thing you factor in. if your herd is composed of top animals they were expensive and their genes more 'valuable,' electricity, vet bills, costs associated with going to and participating in shows, etc.
and yes, it is also a way to try and sell to people who will take better care of the animals. sadly, human nature is such that most of us will take better care of something that cost us.


I've noticed that a lot of times you can buy a male of a certain color variation somwhat or much cheaper than a female of the same color. I think that goes right along with supply and demand... as you can put a number of females in with one male, in a breeding run, so everyone buys a couple males (one per run) and then however many females that they can fit into the breeding run.

[CHINCHILDREN]

mystic_koolaid, you got it!

oh, and before ya'll jump all over me - i did not say i would not have taken them to the vet if they were not 'valuable'. those here who know me know how many hundreds and hundreds of dollars we have spent on the kids hammies, guinea pigs etc vet bills. just two week ends ago there was a midnight trip to the emergency vet with a dying hammie so that she could be put to sleep. couldn't just watch her suffer and wait for nature to take its course.

[CTChin]

Violets, in my experience, have not been any harder to breed now that the gene is established than a standard. So why should it run $150 MORE?



~~Michael~

Sure it's not difficult to throw two chins together and make violets but it IS difficult to make a show winning violet.
This brings up a good point. Just because it IS a violet doesn't mean it should cost a load of money. Pet quality violets should be reasonably priced IMO :)

[crazy4chins]

If you think a violet is no harder to bred then a standard . take one to a show and see how it does. You maybe able to produce violets .by pairing two violets but you won't improve their quality. to improve violets you need to mate violets to a top quality violet carrier . or better yet two top quality violet carriers. and that takes a extra generation. mate two standards and you get 100% standard. and can improve the quality with that mating.
for violets you mate a top quality violet to a top quality standard. then take the best vc from them and mate it to another quality vc or a violet.
then you still only get 25% violets from a two vc parents.
and 50% violets from a violet ,vc mating.
so two generations and you still only get 25% to 50% violet.

[Arf2184]

I'm so far in the hole with what I've spent on the chins that I don't think I'll ever break even. I don't consider the cost of the chin's parents or their care when pricing.

I look at the average price in this area for a particular color chin and use that as a base price. Then I look at the quality of the chin I'm selling, and add or subtract based on my opinion of the chin's quality (or what I think the quality will be when fully grown). It's not an exact science, but it's worked for me so far.

[tikitorch]

I've been wondering this too- I've seen people price young kits chinchillas at $550+ and wondered if they actually get it... it's odd because the pricing of some hobby breeders seems so "all over the place"...

I know quality is most important - sometimes I wonder if people just shoot out the highest price in hopes that someone will buy the chin :laugh:

[Megan.]

I wouldn't price a kit at $550+ , nor would I price an adult that much atleast with the animals I breed(Blacks, Standards, Whites(Ebony and Regular), and Ebonies.. They are not rare by any means, thus I won't price them THAT high....


With a kit, you have no clue what you are going to get, I can see pricing proven show adults a bit higher.


What I am doing is showing all kits born out of the first litters of the new animals I have gotten, and after I get an idea of how they are producing, will price kits accordingly to what their siblings did, and how they look at the time of sale.