History of the Tower Beige
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EDP013
- Young Beige Female
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The Tower Beige was made famous by a breeder named Nick Tower, although the first Beige was actually bred by Ned Jensen from Oregon, in 1955. This first animal, being thought infertile, was sold to Nick Tower who managed to start a line of Beige chinchillas derived from this animal.
The Tower Beige is a browny-beige coloured chinchilla with white belly fur. The fur retains it's agouti pattern, having a beige underfur, white bar and brownish tipping. The Beige Chinchilla has pinkish ears and eyes, white belly fur, and any chinchilla with the Beige gene will inherit the ear and eye colour of the Beige.
Genetics of the Tower Beige
The Genetics of the Tower Beige are of a Dominant mutation. When paired to a Standard, a Heterozygous Beige will produce 50% Standard and 50% Beige progeny.
Where BB = ">Homozygous Beige
Where Bb = ">Beige
Where bb = Standard
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Punnet Square of ">Tower Beige x Standard |
B | b |
| b | Bb - Beige | bb - Standard |
| b | Bb - Beige | bb - Standard |
It is possible to breed a ">Homozygous Beige (two Beige genes), which is a much lighter, pale Beige chinchilla which when mated to a Standard will breed 100% Heterozygous Beige.
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Punnet Square of Tower Beige x Tower Beige |
B | b |
| B | ">BB - Homo Beige | Bb - Beige |
| b | Bb - Beige | bb - Standard |
Breeding Tower Beiges
The Beige chinchilla is a well developed Mutation with a long history. It is perhaps the strongest of the Mutations, along with the Black Velvet, and can be produced in high quality. Many colour phases are possible, ranging from the very lightest, almost magnolia-white, to a deep-dark fawn colour, but the tendency is for the lighter colour phases of Beige to be more successful on UK show tables.
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EDP013 - Young Beige Female
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This is not because the lighter colour phases are favoured, but that they tend to show more blueness and clarity of colour over the darker Beiges, as long as the depth of tipping allows for good veiling coverage.
There are no particular aspects to breed for in terms of the Beige Mutation over that of a good Standard, so by crossing the best of the Beiges with your top quality Standards, good results can be expected. Beiges do tend to oxidise easily in direct sunlight, so care should be taken to avoid this, since it leads to an oranginess to the tipping of the fur, which is very undesirable.
Exhibiting Tower Beiges
When exhibiting a Beige chinchilla, it should possess all of the qualities of a Standard, but be of a blue-beige hue rather than the blue-grey hue of the Standard. In the UK there are several breeders who specialize in the Beige mutation, and they are often the winners of the 'Best Mutation' or 'Reserve Best Mutation' at NCS (UK) Shows.
Combinations of Mutations with the Tower Beige
The Tower Beige, being an established and simple Mutation to breed, has been used to create many different 'blends' of colour combinations, some of which are listed below;
Click on the links to see pictures where available in our 'Mutation Combinations' Section of this Website
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Combination |
Known as in UK |
Known as in US |
Description of the Combination |
Seen on UK Show tables? |
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Beige + Beige |
Homozygous Beiges are basically a very pale Beige with red eyes and white belly fur. They are judged with Heterozygous Beiges since phenotypically they cannot be discerned from a Heterozygous Beige. |
Infrequently |
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Beige + Black Velvet |
TOV Beige |
Brown Velvets are darker than Beiges, being a chocolate brown colour due to the influence of the Black Velvet colouration. They range in colour phase and have a distinct class of their own. They have white belly fur. |
Often |
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Beige + Wilson White |
Pink White or Starlight |
Pink Whites are a peachy, creamy white version of a Wilson White, with the ear and eye colouration of the Beige, and white belly fur. Where the standard fur would show on a Wilson White, you see the Beige fur instead. You see many variations in pattination akin to the Wilson White, except the Beige Veiling gene seems strong so often you see quite evenly veiled Pink-Whites compared to Wilson Whites. |
Often |
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Beige + Black Velvet + Wilson White |
TOV Starlight? |
Brown-White crosses resemble Pink-Whites, although where mosaic patches of colour appear, they tend to be darker. The presence of Black Velvet usually helps fur strength, although unless obvious as a Brown-White, will be judged in the Pink-White class. |
Infrequently |
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Beige + Charcoal |
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A light Pastel is a combination of Beige and recessive Brouke Charcoal. The Pastel chinchilla has it's matt Beige colouration spreading evenly over the entire animal, including the belly fur, and has the Beige's eye and ear colouration. |
Infrequently |
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Beige + Black Velvet + Charcoal |
- |
A Dark Pastel is a combination of Beige, Black Velvet and Recessive Brouke Charcoal. The Dark Pastel chinchilla has it's matt Brown-Velvet colouration spread evenly over the entire animal, including the belly fur, and has the Beige's eye and ear colouration. It is likely to be exhibited in the 'Self-Brown' class with Tans (Ebony + Beige) in the future since the two cannot easily be discerned from one another. |
Infrequently |
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Beige + Sapphire |
Beige-Sapphire |
? |
The likelihood is that a Beige-Sapphire would resemble a pale, bluish Beige chinchilla, so would be judged in the Beige class. It would likely have weaker fur qualities to Beiges without the Sapphire mutation. |
Not seen |
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Beige + Violet |
Beige-Violet |
? |
Beige-Violets are a relatively new Mutation on UK show tables, and resemble Beiges with a slightly different hint or hue of Violet colour. They are predominantly Beige in phenotype and so would be judged as a Beige. |
Rarely |
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Beige + Ebony |
Tan or Pastel |
The Tan chinchilla is a shiny-brown colouration all over the animal, including it's belly fur. Colour phase or intensity is dependent on number of Ebony genes present, but the evenness of veiling is paramount over intensity of colour. Exhibited in the 'Self-Brown' class with Pastels and Dark pastels, which cannot be phenotypically distinguished from each other. |
Infrequently |