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Tower Beige (Heterozygous Beige)
The Tower Beige is the most common type of Beige that is found in the pet circles and throughout many different breeding programs across the country. It is also probably one of the most popular (or most abundant) colors next to the Standard greys. Most people simply refer to them as Hetero Beiges. These chins have the agouti hair stripes, and they are Beige in color with pink ears and dark, ruby colored eyes. A good Beige is very hard to find, and as with any chinchilla, it is best to breed them back to light, clear Standards every other generation at least. Doing this will help improve the color dramatically. Alot of the Beiges around today have a copper color to them which is refered to as oxidation and is not desirable. You want the chin to have a nice lavendar hue to the fur, and breeding to these light, clear, well veiled Standards will help acheive this.
Tower Beige (Homozygous Beige)
The Homo Beiges are not as readily available as the Hetero Beiges, and usually are not of the greatest quality when they are. This is simply because not very many people actually breed for them specifically and the ones who do are usually breeding for the phenotype rather than breeding to improve this particular mutation.
These are nice looking animals with a very even, creamy light beige colored coat and no agouti hair stripes. They have very bright, clear red/pink eyes.
Unless you are breeding for a certain beige cross and only want to get beige offspring, these are not as sought after as the other mutations when it comes to breeding. The definition of Homozygous is there are two genes for one color present in the animal, and therefore, they will throw one of these genes every time they are bred. For example, if a Homo Beige were bred to a Standard, you would get 100% Hetero Beige offspring. In order to get Homo Beige offspring, you would have to breed to another Chin that has at least one Beige gene. You could also get Homo Beiges by breeding Hetero Beige (or a cross) to another Hetero Beige (or a cross).
Brown Velvet (TOV Beige)
Brown Velvet is another name for TOV Beige and is the name that is most commonly used. These chins have one Standard gene, one Beige gene, and then one TOV gene. They can also be Homo for beige in which case they would have two beige genes and one TOV gene.
The Hetero Brown Velvets are typically darker than the Homos and brown velvets in general seem to not have as good of veiling as the Blacks. It takes great care and very selective breeding to produce a Brown Velvet of nice size and quality that also has good veiling and the desirable lavendar hue. Most seem to have too much oxidation (coppery color to the fur) which is common in the Beiges.
Since these animals are TOV, it is important to remember that there is a lethal factor, which means if bred to another TOV there will be 25% less offspring. You can read more about this on the TOV page.
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| Brown Velvet- pic courtesy of Tumbleweed Chins. |
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| This shows the veiling really well. Picture courtesy of Crooked Acres Chinchillas. |
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| This shows the mask well. Picture courtesy of Crooked Acres Chinchillas. |
Pink White (Beige Mosaic)
Pink Whites are another very popular color, but are not as readily available as alot of the other colors. Genetically, they consist of a Beige gene, a Standard gene, and a White gene. They can also be TOV and/or Homo for Beige and in this case they would have 2 Beige genes, and a White gene (and a TOV gene).
In the Hetero (for Beige) state, the eyes are just like for a Hetero Beige- dark, ruby-like colored or sometimes brownish. Most are primarily white with beige tipping over the face and at the base of the tail. Some are heavily marked and have Beige tipping or markings blended in with the White. The TOV gene often causes a definite mask and veil to form where the TOV gene influences the Beige tipping. They may also have paw stripes. For more info about how the TOV gene influences the Whites, please see the page for Whites or TOV's.
When Homo for Beige, they are usually icy white all over unless they also carry the TOV gene, which might very well make them have heavy beige tipping/markings. The eyes of the Homo Beige Pink White are the same as those of a Homo Beige- bright, clear red/pink.
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| TOV Homo Beige Pink White |
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| This is my Pink White (VC) girl when she was still very young. |
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| This is the PW/vc girl again when she was younger. |
Tans
Genetically a Tan is a Beige with the Ebony or "wrap around gene". An Ebony is every hair shiny black all the way around, including the belly, and this gene is accumulative which means the more Ebony that is bred into the animal, the darker it will get (usually). This goes for Tans as well- the more Ebony you breed into your Beige or Tan, the darker the line gets.
There are different terms that are used depending on how dark the Tan is. A 'Pastel' is a first generation, or light tan. These can then be further divided into 'light Pastels', 'medium Pastels' and 'Dark Pastels'. The reason the Pastels are grouped this way is because, as mentioned above, the Pastel is a first generation tan, meaning this is the first time Ebony has been crossed to Beige. The darkness of the first generation tan (Pastel) depends on how well the Ebony gene was thrown- sometimes you immediately get a very dark chin who shows alot of Ebony. But they are still considered first generation.
After the first generation, most people term them either Tans or Chocolates depending on how dark the animal is. Usually it takes at least 3-4 generations (if not more) to get a true Chocolate. A Tan will be a rich brown color all over, even the belly. A Chocolate will be a very deep, dark brown all over.
Please note that Pastels, Tans, and Chocolates are all genetically the same thing- just some have more Ebony in them than others which causes the phenotype to vary. These chins can be Homo for both Ebony and/or Beige.
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| This is a light Tan female- picture courtesy of Crooked Acres Chinchillas. |
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| Nougat's TOV? Homo Beige Tan VC boy |
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| Nougat's TOV? Homo Beige Tan VC boy |
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| Here is our new Tan VC kit pictured with his TOV Tan White mom. This kit will be much darker later. |
Tan Whites
When you ad the White gene to that of the Tan (Beige + Ebony), you can produce Tan Whites. These usually look very similar to the Pink Whites, except they occasionally have darker, more pronounced markings. When there is alot of Ebony in the animal, they can sometimes be very heavily marked and look like a Tan or Chocolate, but with white markings or white hairs blended with the Tan, and a White tipped tail. These can be homo for beige as well.
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| "Nougat" TOV Tan White |
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| This is "Nougat" (TOV Tan White) shown with her new Tan VC kit. |
Sullivan Recessive Beiges
Recessive Beiges are very rare. I currently only know of one or maybe two breeders who have any and they are trying to improve on these mutations through selective breeding and the use of many top quality Standards and Black Velvets.
Sullivan RB's have bright red eyes and generally have poor veiling, but NO oxidation. They can easily be mistaken for Hetero Beiges to the untrained eye.
Wellman Recessive Beiges (Goldbaars)
The Wellmans are another type of Recessive Beige, and are probably the rarest of the two. These chins have black eyes, and are difficult to describe phenotypically. I have heard they can look almost white with a golden tint in some lighting and then under different lighting can look like a very golden, but light Homo beige (except for the eyes). I have yet to see one in person.
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