The Importance of ShowingThe goal of any chinchilla breeding program should be to produce quality offspring. Until experience is gained, you must show your offspring to understand what your program has going for it, and what it is lacking. At shows, sanctioned judges grade (judge) your chinchillas against chinchillas from other breeders and ranchers based on fur qualities, shape qualities and size qualities. The two main organizations in the United States that sponsor chinchilla specific shows are the Mutation Chinchilla Breeders Association (MCBA) and Empress Chinchilla Breeders Cooperative (ECBC). Shows are a good way to meet up with old time ranchers and many others who are experts on chinchillas. When you go to a show, be aware that the people sponsoring the show have put a lot of time and money into making that show work. So, it is always nice to help in any way possible (and hey, that gives you hands on learning too!) At shows chinchillas are placed in cages, and their cage cards are on the outside. The cage card contains information such as age, date of birth, color, and sex. To raise money to pay for events like this, there are sometimes raffles. Chinchillas or items are donated and then raffled off.
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These are pictures of chinchilla grooming tools. These are used to get a chinchilla's coat ready. Click on individual pictures for better descriptions