Upcoming Shows 

MCBA

Upcoming Shows/Events

Handeling chinchillas while at the show

* DO NOT touch other people's animals.

* Handle by the ears, ear and tail or Tail.

* NEVER EVER bring a sick animal to the show

There are three types of chinchilla in the wild

Lanigera is a larger size with good conformation and a short blunt nose. This animal has a long coat that is dense with wooly fur. Most domestic chinchillas are a cross between the Costina type and the Lanigera type.

Costina is a slimmer, smaller animal. They have narrow pointy noses, large ears and long tails. The fur of this type is short with good sheen and texture. It is darker in color but poor quality.

Brevicauda is a large chunky animal with a blunt nose, short round ears and a short tail. It has long dense wooly fur with poor resilience and poor texture.

                Chinchilla Colors

Whites; are white with markings. The pattern of markings will vary from animal to animal and the color of the patterning will depend on the type of white.

Mosaic; this is a white with grey markings. These chinchillas will have black eyes.

White ebony; this chinchilla is similar to the mosaic but it has the ebony gene.

 Pink white; is white with beige markings. This chinchilla will have red eyes

Conformation and Quality

v  Body should be blocky. If you are looking from above the shoulders should be as wide or about as wide as the hip.

v  Face should have a small nose, not long like a rat but rather a short nose.

v  Head and neck, the neck should be thick with little or no dip in the neck behind the head.

v  Size bigger is better

v  Fur.  You want density or a lot of fur. To check the density you can blow into the fur and see how much skin you can see. The less you see the better. When you stop blowing see how fast the fur bounces back. You should not be able to see where you blew.

v  Finish is the overall appearance. The fur should not look wooly, fur should be flawless

v  Color all colors should have a bluish tint. White should be bright the animals should not look reddish, orange or yellow.

v  Veiling this is how well the color covers the anima

v  Fur Length is very important. If the fur is too long the animal looks shaggy. The overall look should be smooth with no obvious abrupt changes.

v  Texture. Fine textured hair that looks soft and flowing is desired. Course hair will not look smooth. If you blow across the fur fine fur will ripple, course hair will lay down

Traveling with your chinchilla
Use common sense. cars get hot fast, do not leave chinchillas alone in the car as they can easily overheat. When staying in hotels make sure it is okay with the hotel to have animals. Bring supplies to clean up. Do not leave a mess or the hotel may change the policy
When traveling to a show animals should be in a Travel cage. If the show is overnight or if you will be stying somewhere overnight provide feed and water. Do not give water in a moving car, if you feel they need water offer it when you stop for a rest.
Remember to bring grooming supplies. Have numbers, names and birthdates handy. Some shows require perminant ID tags in the lower right ear.

Preparing for the Show

ü  Good animals are bred, fed and groomed to perfection

ü  The best age for show animals is 6months to 14months  depending on color

ü  Often there are animals for sale at the show

ü  If you are showing an animal you purchased you must acknowledge the original breeder.

6 weeks before the show

ü   Select the animals you would like to show

ü  Wash the cages thoroughly to remove stains or dirt, make sure nothing in the cage can pull or damage fur.

ü  Give dust baths daily.

ü  Groom the animal regularly.

ü  Provide feed and hay and keep the cage clean.

The last week before the show.

ü  Monday: Give the chinchillas a dust bath with fresh dust

ü  Tuesday: Groom all and give lighter colored animals dust baths, no more dusting for the darker animals.

ü  Wednesday: Give the lighter animals dust baths

ü  Thursday: No dust baths

ü  Friday:  Groom the chinchilla and trim the tail.

ü  Day of show: Groom each animal and enjoy the show.

Sometimes you may not agree with the judge. Bit e your tongue they may see something you don’t. Even the best breeders can be “barn blind”.

MCBA SHOWS

·         Chinchillas are judged based on fur quality. Each animal is placed in a small show cage and looked at by a judge while the cage is sitting on white paper. Over the paper is a grading light, which is a natural daylight tube MCBA shows use 6ESP65.

·         The entry form, classification and show itself go in the following order, the colors are broken down further to color phases light to dark

o   White

o   Sapphire

o   Violet

o   Beige

o   Naturalle (standard)

o   Black Velvet

o   Ebony

·         Entry forms are filled out by color, first you list whites, followed by sapphires, then violets etc. Tables have numbered spaces from one to however many chinchillas there. Each breeder’s animals are grouped together in consecutive numbers no matter what color they are.

·         You cannot show more than 20 animals in each color.

·         To be an official show there must be at least 50 animals

·         Chinchillas are divided by color, then color phase (light, medium, dark etc.) then class. There are 4 classes

o   Class 1 males under 7 months

o   Class 2 females under 7 months

o   Class 3 males 7 months or older

o   Class 4 females 7 months or older

·         Trophies that are awarded are

o   Grand champion of show

o   Reserve champion of show

o   Champion male of show

o   Champion female of show

o   Reserve champion male of show

o   Reserve champion female of show

There are also trophies for color breeders 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd. to win a color section trophy you must have 5 animals entered in that color group and their must be 10 animals in that color group. You must earn a minimum of 15 pts (average 3^rd place).

·         Ribbons are awarded to each chinchilla. More than one animal can place in each place, for example if 6 standards are first place quality they will all place 1^st. The very best will place 1a 2^nd best will place 1b. If none of the chinchillas are 1^st place quality none will place 1^st.