Post by darthchinchi on Jul 14, 2017 11:23:49 GMT
Some of these translations might be a bit wonky.
I have been collecting myths for some time. Some of them are myths while others are things my friend or I have heard mentioned once or twice.
Nearly 40 myths or fun misunderstandings in 4 categories
Genetics & miscellaneous
The white chinchillas are the wildest ones
No. I think this may have to do with someone having multiple mutations at one point and the white ones had wild personalities. Or maybe it's some weird genetic idea. I don't know.
Beige chinchillas are rare
Not really no. The beige mutation is one of the most common mutations and often mixed with other mutations. We do have two recessive beige mutations though: Wellman beige and Sullivan beige. They can be confused with the normal beige but in order to get hold of these you really need to know a breeder. And we have a Goldbar mutation that some think of as recessive beige and some as recessive white. It's not an uncommon mutation anymore.
Albinism is a flaw in the genes, white is a mutation.
This is how someone tried to explain why albinism has a tendency to cause healtissues. Every thing out there is a mutation. Every time we see a variation in a gene it's due to mutation. This is just the wrong way to explain how the genetics work.
Dwarf chinchillas is a result of poor breeding.
Beginning to see a pattern in the understanding of genetics are we? The dwarf gene is a recessive gene. It has nothing to do with poor breeding. They are just as healthy as any normal size chinchilla. Only problem with the dawrf is the breeding aspect as the female is to small to carry a litter. The only way to breed them is a carrier female with a carrier or dwarf male, where the latter would be the best option to always know if the kids carry the gene or not. Carrier + Dwarf = 50% carrier and 50% dwarf. Carrier + Carrier = 25% dwarf, 50% carrier and 25% normal. It is not possible to tell the difference between a normal an a carrier just by looking at it.
White chinchillas with grey spots are called Pandas.
A friend of mine heard this. I believe it was when the "panda hamster" as in (black/white). This is on the list to illustrate why many names to describe the same mutation is an issue, and how some try and give it a more interesting name to get a higher price.
Chinchillas can carry the Velvet gene.
Velvet is a dominant, so this is simply not true. But how come some breeders experience velvet randomly popping up in their herds then? Well, velvet is a pattern in the fur. Dark back, light sides and white belly. If mixed in with very dark animals with the ebony gene (coloured belly), the ebony can hide the gene. If it's mixed with white mutations the gene can be hidden as well. That's why it seemingly pops up out of nowhere from time to time.
Chinchillas are hypoallergenic
I strongly dislike this term when used about furry animals. Chinchillas do not have an undercoat. Some may not react to them even though they react to other furries but they can cause severe allergies. I've know people who had to rehome because of allegies.
If a chinchilla gets wet, the fur will mold
Just no... you will not get a moldy chinchilla if it for some reason gets wet. It can get fungus though, that's not mold.
Chinchillas drown if they fall into water
This one used to be very common. I believed it to be true too. The idea is that the dence fur sucks in water causing the animal to sink to the bottom. This is not true. They can actually swim but really shouldn't be given the chance. We all know the issue of runtime and an open toilet, don't we. Don't worry, it won't kill your chinchilla, just make it look like a rat from hell.
Anatomy & handling
Chinchillas can't fart
This is not true. I do have to ask someone to elaborate on this to give a better answer as this myth is still common, and I need some real evidence to back my claim
Chinchillas do not have a stomach
I know what you are thinking... It sounds like I've added a joke. But no, people actually believe this to be true. They do have a rather small stomache and because of this they can't really hold on to their feaces as we can. When you own a chinchilla you will see poo all over their cage and everywhere when they are out running. For some reason this small stomache was warped into no being there at all. As with any other vertebrate they do have a stomach.
It is dangerous to hold a chinchilla around it's ribcage.
Not really no. You shouldn't squeeze it hard when carrying but you shouldn't squeeze any animal.
Chinchillas do not have a ribcage
This one is mainly due to faulty translation. The term floating ribcage referes to the part of the ribcage not attatched to the sternum. Somehow floating ribcage got translated into no ribcage. Some pages describe the chinchilla as having a floating ribcage with no sternum. This is not trus as they do have a sternum. (Believe me... I've seen it in a skeleton of a chinchilla, and it wasn't some sort of freak of nature chinchilla)
Chinchillas do not have a spine
I... I don't know what to do with this. Again I think it has to do with wrong translations and the notion their bones should be brittle. No... It's just not true. They are vertebrates = they have spines.
Chinchillas can shed their tails as a defensive mechanism.
This is from the degloving of degu tails... Chinchillas do not deglove and chinchillas CAN NOT shed their tails. They can loose them and it is very painful to them. Like loosing a limb. And no, they do not grow back either.
Chinchillas are blind/can hardly see anything in daylight
I think this one is about the cage shouldn't be placed in direct sunlight. This has nothing to do with their sight, it has to do with heat.
A chinchilla should never be lifted by the tail
Both right and wrong. If you hold on to the root of the tail (do you call it the root?), there is no issue with the method. If you just hold on to some random part of the tail, it can cause all sorts of problems
It is okay to lift a chinchilla by it's ears.
No. Really not okay with any animal
Health & food
Chinchillas are born diabetic
That would be a handy way to eraticate an entire species, wouldn't it
Chinchillas can't digest nuts
Yes they can. If you make nuts a main part of their diet they will get sick due to the high content of fat.
Chinchillas can't have dried banana
In small ammounts it's a fine treat. It won't swell up in their stomach and kill them.
Chinchillas can die from eating Vitakraft Kräckers
Yes, if you only feed them on cräckers. They are ment as snacks, not a part of the diet.
Chinchillas need extra calcium and/or vitamin C.
Guineapigs need extra vitamin C. They are related to guineapigs but they are chinchillas. They do not need extra vitamin C. Studies in rabbits being fed a guineapig diet with high ammounts of vitamin C actually show the rabbits getting kidney trouble even though they just pee it out. This is due to the kidneys working overtime all the time when too much vitamin C is added to the diet. Too much calcium is harder for the body to get rid of and can cause even bigger problems. They get what they need in their pellet food. Don't add extra because your pet store says so - their main goal is to make money.
Chinchillas should only be fed on a dried diet
Not sure I want to get in to this here. Most of you know my oppinion and the sciens behind why this is not true.
Chinchillas can't have anything but pellets and hay
Okay, so if you only feed your chinchilla on pellet and hay diet they do not have the microorganisms needed to digest anything else. Introducing new items slowley cultivates microorganisms.
Too many pellets destroy the the teeth.
A vet said this. You can give all the pellets you want with out it having a negative effect on the teeth. They just need other types of gnawing material too like hay and branches.
Enviroment and behaviour
Chinchillas are pack animals and should be kept in pairs or groups.
No evidence to back this. They do just as well on their own. Some breeders tend to select on the more sociable animals. This is not the same as chinchillas being pack animals. They should be thought of more as a social rabbit or cat. They can be kept together as well but need to be able to have their own space. If the dynamic changes in a group of chinchillas you can end up with nobody liking each other.
Males can't be kept together
There is a risk males will fight when they mature. This is a risk with females as well. If kept in a room with other chinchillas, male pairs can starte fighting when a female goes into heat. In other words male pairs can cause problems but are just as easy/hard to keep as female pairs.
It is not possible to introduce grown chinchillas
Of cours it is. It's just not an easy task for the most part.
Chinchillas can be kept with other animals like degus.
Nope... nope, nope nope. No mixing of species in the same cage. They do not understand each other, they have different dietary needs, they have different sleep cycles, they differ in social needs. They will stress each other out. Might be possible to keep some species together if the right enclosure is provided, but a cage will not make do.
Chinchillas do not tolearte daylight
We saw this previously but just with the blind problem. Again not true and again I think it has to do with the cage not being placed in direct sunlight.
The chinchilla cage should be placed in a quiet room.
Chinchilla hearing: 90-22800 Hz
Human hearing: 20-20000 Hz
If you think the sound leval plesant chinchillas won't mind it either. They sleep just fine when placed in a livingroom. Most people are out working when they sleep anyway so this really sin't an issue.
Chinchillas can be placed in outside enclosures in the summertime
No. Humidity is way too high. There is a real risk they will suffer from heatstroke. Their fur ends up looking really bad if they live outside due to the humidity.
Chinchillas are excellent climbers
They climb the mesh in the cages yes. But they are not squirrels. The cage shouldn't consist of branches for them to jump between. They are made for a desert like rocky biotop. They are extremly good jumpers. It is not uncommon for them to misjudge a jump toughn and they can break their necks if they misjudge an fall.
The height is more important than the width in a chinchilla cage
This is one of those truths that nobody can back. Most of us can fit a cage into our homes if it is high. It's a bit more of an issue if it is wide. Somehow this got to a point where people think high and loads of branches is best. This is just not true.
I have been collecting myths for some time. Some of them are myths while others are things my friend or I have heard mentioned once or twice.
Nearly 40 myths or fun misunderstandings in 4 categories
Genetics & miscellaneous
The white chinchillas are the wildest ones
No. I think this may have to do with someone having multiple mutations at one point and the white ones had wild personalities. Or maybe it's some weird genetic idea. I don't know.
Beige chinchillas are rare
Not really no. The beige mutation is one of the most common mutations and often mixed with other mutations. We do have two recessive beige mutations though: Wellman beige and Sullivan beige. They can be confused with the normal beige but in order to get hold of these you really need to know a breeder. And we have a Goldbar mutation that some think of as recessive beige and some as recessive white. It's not an uncommon mutation anymore.
Albinism is a flaw in the genes, white is a mutation.
This is how someone tried to explain why albinism has a tendency to cause healtissues. Every thing out there is a mutation. Every time we see a variation in a gene it's due to mutation. This is just the wrong way to explain how the genetics work.
Dwarf chinchillas is a result of poor breeding.
Beginning to see a pattern in the understanding of genetics are we? The dwarf gene is a recessive gene. It has nothing to do with poor breeding. They are just as healthy as any normal size chinchilla. Only problem with the dawrf is the breeding aspect as the female is to small to carry a litter. The only way to breed them is a carrier female with a carrier or dwarf male, where the latter would be the best option to always know if the kids carry the gene or not. Carrier + Dwarf = 50% carrier and 50% dwarf. Carrier + Carrier = 25% dwarf, 50% carrier and 25% normal. It is not possible to tell the difference between a normal an a carrier just by looking at it.
White chinchillas with grey spots are called Pandas.
A friend of mine heard this. I believe it was when the "panda hamster" as in (black/white). This is on the list to illustrate why many names to describe the same mutation is an issue, and how some try and give it a more interesting name to get a higher price.
Chinchillas can carry the Velvet gene.
Velvet is a dominant, so this is simply not true. But how come some breeders experience velvet randomly popping up in their herds then? Well, velvet is a pattern in the fur. Dark back, light sides and white belly. If mixed in with very dark animals with the ebony gene (coloured belly), the ebony can hide the gene. If it's mixed with white mutations the gene can be hidden as well. That's why it seemingly pops up out of nowhere from time to time.
Chinchillas are hypoallergenic
I strongly dislike this term when used about furry animals. Chinchillas do not have an undercoat. Some may not react to them even though they react to other furries but they can cause severe allergies. I've know people who had to rehome because of allegies.
If a chinchilla gets wet, the fur will mold
Just no... you will not get a moldy chinchilla if it for some reason gets wet. It can get fungus though, that's not mold.
Chinchillas drown if they fall into water
This one used to be very common. I believed it to be true too. The idea is that the dence fur sucks in water causing the animal to sink to the bottom. This is not true. They can actually swim but really shouldn't be given the chance. We all know the issue of runtime and an open toilet, don't we. Don't worry, it won't kill your chinchilla, just make it look like a rat from hell.
Anatomy & handling
Chinchillas can't fart
This is not true. I do have to ask someone to elaborate on this to give a better answer as this myth is still common, and I need some real evidence to back my claim
Chinchillas do not have a stomach
I know what you are thinking... It sounds like I've added a joke. But no, people actually believe this to be true. They do have a rather small stomache and because of this they can't really hold on to their feaces as we can. When you own a chinchilla you will see poo all over their cage and everywhere when they are out running. For some reason this small stomache was warped into no being there at all. As with any other vertebrate they do have a stomach.
It is dangerous to hold a chinchilla around it's ribcage.
Not really no. You shouldn't squeeze it hard when carrying but you shouldn't squeeze any animal.
Chinchillas do not have a ribcage
This one is mainly due to faulty translation. The term floating ribcage referes to the part of the ribcage not attatched to the sternum. Somehow floating ribcage got translated into no ribcage. Some pages describe the chinchilla as having a floating ribcage with no sternum. This is not trus as they do have a sternum. (Believe me... I've seen it in a skeleton of a chinchilla, and it wasn't some sort of freak of nature chinchilla)
Chinchillas do not have a spine
I... I don't know what to do with this. Again I think it has to do with wrong translations and the notion their bones should be brittle. No... It's just not true. They are vertebrates = they have spines.
Chinchillas can shed their tails as a defensive mechanism.
This is from the degloving of degu tails... Chinchillas do not deglove and chinchillas CAN NOT shed their tails. They can loose them and it is very painful to them. Like loosing a limb. And no, they do not grow back either.
Chinchillas are blind/can hardly see anything in daylight
I think this one is about the cage shouldn't be placed in direct sunlight. This has nothing to do with their sight, it has to do with heat.
A chinchilla should never be lifted by the tail
Both right and wrong. If you hold on to the root of the tail (do you call it the root?), there is no issue with the method. If you just hold on to some random part of the tail, it can cause all sorts of problems
It is okay to lift a chinchilla by it's ears.
No. Really not okay with any animal
Health & food
Chinchillas are born diabetic
That would be a handy way to eraticate an entire species, wouldn't it
Chinchillas can't digest nuts
Yes they can. If you make nuts a main part of their diet they will get sick due to the high content of fat.
Chinchillas can't have dried banana
In small ammounts it's a fine treat. It won't swell up in their stomach and kill them.
Chinchillas can die from eating Vitakraft Kräckers
Yes, if you only feed them on cräckers. They are ment as snacks, not a part of the diet.
Chinchillas need extra calcium and/or vitamin C.
Guineapigs need extra vitamin C. They are related to guineapigs but they are chinchillas. They do not need extra vitamin C. Studies in rabbits being fed a guineapig diet with high ammounts of vitamin C actually show the rabbits getting kidney trouble even though they just pee it out. This is due to the kidneys working overtime all the time when too much vitamin C is added to the diet. Too much calcium is harder for the body to get rid of and can cause even bigger problems. They get what they need in their pellet food. Don't add extra because your pet store says so - their main goal is to make money.
Chinchillas should only be fed on a dried diet
Not sure I want to get in to this here. Most of you know my oppinion and the sciens behind why this is not true.
Chinchillas can't have anything but pellets and hay
Okay, so if you only feed your chinchilla on pellet and hay diet they do not have the microorganisms needed to digest anything else. Introducing new items slowley cultivates microorganisms.
Too many pellets destroy the the teeth.
A vet said this. You can give all the pellets you want with out it having a negative effect on the teeth. They just need other types of gnawing material too like hay and branches.
Enviroment and behaviour
Chinchillas are pack animals and should be kept in pairs or groups.
No evidence to back this. They do just as well on their own. Some breeders tend to select on the more sociable animals. This is not the same as chinchillas being pack animals. They should be thought of more as a social rabbit or cat. They can be kept together as well but need to be able to have their own space. If the dynamic changes in a group of chinchillas you can end up with nobody liking each other.
Males can't be kept together
There is a risk males will fight when they mature. This is a risk with females as well. If kept in a room with other chinchillas, male pairs can starte fighting when a female goes into heat. In other words male pairs can cause problems but are just as easy/hard to keep as female pairs.
It is not possible to introduce grown chinchillas
Of cours it is. It's just not an easy task for the most part.
Chinchillas can be kept with other animals like degus.
Nope... nope, nope nope. No mixing of species in the same cage. They do not understand each other, they have different dietary needs, they have different sleep cycles, they differ in social needs. They will stress each other out. Might be possible to keep some species together if the right enclosure is provided, but a cage will not make do.
Chinchillas do not tolearte daylight
We saw this previously but just with the blind problem. Again not true and again I think it has to do with the cage not being placed in direct sunlight.
The chinchilla cage should be placed in a quiet room.
Chinchilla hearing: 90-22800 Hz
Human hearing: 20-20000 Hz
If you think the sound leval plesant chinchillas won't mind it either. They sleep just fine when placed in a livingroom. Most people are out working when they sleep anyway so this really sin't an issue.
Chinchillas can be placed in outside enclosures in the summertime
No. Humidity is way too high. There is a real risk they will suffer from heatstroke. Their fur ends up looking really bad if they live outside due to the humidity.
Chinchillas are excellent climbers
They climb the mesh in the cages yes. But they are not squirrels. The cage shouldn't consist of branches for them to jump between. They are made for a desert like rocky biotop. They are extremly good jumpers. It is not uncommon for them to misjudge a jump toughn and they can break their necks if they misjudge an fall.
The height is more important than the width in a chinchilla cage
This is one of those truths that nobody can back. Most of us can fit a cage into our homes if it is high. It's a bit more of an issue if it is wide. Somehow this got to a point where people think high and loads of branches is best. This is just not true.
)