Size and Shape
A chinchilla is a small rodent (generally around 12 inches long fully grown) and weigh between 500-700+ grams. Females tend to be bigger though they vary in size quite a bit. They have large eyes and ears with very dense fur and bushy tails.
Common Colour Morphs
The pet chinchilla comes in many different colours (over twenty well known ones) but there are eight base colours that all other morphs come from. These are:
Standard Grey: The original chinchilla colour. All other colours derive from this base. It has a grey coat with a black tipped-tail and white underbelly.
White: As the name suggests, they have a white coat. The shade can vary based on numerous factors (Mosaic white, Wilson White, etc) White chinchillas can have either red or black eyes, depending on what colour mutation they are.
Beige: This counts as two morphs depending on if it is heterozygous or homozygous. Heterozygous beige chinchillas are also called Tower Beige. They have a dark brown coat with a white underbelly and pink ears with ruby eyes. Homozygous beige is very similar but with a lighter brown (Champagne) and red rather than ruby eyes. They both have pink ears and feet.
Violet: Violet coloured chinchillas are light grey containing a purple-hue with no black tipping on the fur. They have a white underbelly, pink ears and feet with black eyes.
Sapphire: Similar to the violet chinchilla apart from being blue-hued instead. They have grey ears and black eyes.
Charcoal: A very dark grey with dark underbelly, ears, feet and eyes.
Ebony: Same as the beige, it has two forms depending on if it is heterozygous or homozygous. Homozygous ebony is completely black with no other colour. Heterozygous is black with a grey underbelly, feet and ears. They both have black eyes. This mutation can darken other colour morphs when bred in.
Two other important terms are 'Wrap' and 'Velvet'.
A Wrap refers to a chinchilla with the ebony gene. This chinchilla will be darker than others with less white.
Velvet, or Touch of Velvet (TOV) means a chinchilla that is darker on the head and back that fades as it goes down to a white underbelly. They generally have black eyes. This is a colour pattern, not morph.
It is important to note that breeding two white chinchillas or a white and TOV together results in a lethal gene.
A Wrap refers to a chinchilla with the ebony gene. This chinchilla will be darker than others with less white.
Velvet, or Touch of Velvet (TOV) means a chinchilla that is darker on the head and back that fades as it goes down to a white underbelly. They generally have black eyes. This is a colour pattern, not morph.
It is important to note that breeding two white chinchillas or a white and TOV together results in a lethal gene.
Chinchilla Gallery
Enjoy these chinchilla pictures!