Raisin -
She is std gray offspring of Ruby and and unknown male. She was said to be retard by the woman who gave then up in rescue Raisin had previously had one litter, a single birth that died, I was told she could not breed, but was caged with her mother and a gray male, Logi (see below). She did have a rather narrow face, but nothing more then the costina look, but more of a lageria body type.
When I began to investigate retardation in chinchilla's, I found that this was not a common thing at all. One lady told me that retarded chins would have a "hair lip" or other deformities of the mouth, a cleft pallate and most likely many tooth problems.
Raisin had none of the earmarks of retardation, but she was not the most graceful of chins. She was very happy and lived with her mother like a big kid, but a few months later she gave birth to a litter of 3, one was still born but the other two were fine, and a couple of standard grays were raised, having all the normal qualities of baby chins... much more agile then their mom! But they got something from Raisin that was wonderful - this was her loving, gentle nature.
These three always wanted to me on your lap, shoulders, chest and arms. Ruby was a fur farm chin, and she was never what I thought to be a extremely friendly animal, but my vet clinic crew thought she was great compared to many chins they had seen. Raisin stunned them! I do not think I have ever found a chin with that basic nature except for babies that were raised here or in conditions where they are handled quite often. |
