Fading White Chinchillas

Fading whites used to be isolated to gray chinchillas but it popped up in a violet line on the East coast. It has also snuck into my Blue Diamond lines. I am starting to see my violets, sapphires and blue diamonds fade around the nose, ears and tail. Some people believe that it is a recessive gene. I am starting to feel that it is an incomplete dominant that is influenced by other things. For example, a female that I linebred to her sire should have had extreme fading or at least faded by the time her sire and dam did. Instead, she didn't start to fade until 3.5 years of age and the fading is minimal. Some of her full siblings have never faded and others as young as a year have already started. My conclusion is that it can be passed on by one parent if certain criteria are met, it is questionably accumulative but not sure what factors cause it to appear earlier or later or not at all. The only colors I have yet to see fade are ebony and velvet.



2018 - Fading White Blue Diamond chinchillas.