Char Black

The Char Black is one of the most common mutation combinations involving the Charcoal, and is a combination of Homozygous Recessive Brouke Charcoal and Gunning Black Velvet. The colour of this chinchilla is of a Black Velvet, but with the veiling coverage spreading all over the aniaml, including it'sa belly fur. The Char Black strongly resembles the Extra-dark Ebony, or the 'every-hair-shiny-black' Ebony, although the use of Charcoal often gives a matt finish to the fur, rather than a shiny finish of the Ebony. The Char Black is one of the main combinations involving Charcoal, others being the Light Pastel and the Dark Pastel or Char Brown...

The Charcoal, as has been stated, is a simple recessive Mutation, which only shows itself fully in the Homozygous state. A Heterozygous Charcoal, or a 'Charcoal Carrier' will resemble whatever the 'base' colouration the animal is which carries the single Charcoal gene. If this was a Standard, the chinchilla would look like a Standard, and if it were a Black Velvet, then it would look like a Black Velvet, etc, etc.

If you wish to breed Char Blacks, then the best method is to mate a Charcoal to a Black Velvet. All kits from this mating will carry a single Charcoal gene, and will therefore be either Black Velvets carrying Charcoal, or Standards carrying Charcoal. Once this mating has taken place, you have a selection of Charcoal carriers, some of which will be Black Velvets. If you then mate these to Charcoal animals, there are four possible combinations.

Mating	Progeny
Char Black x Standard	50% Black Velvet Charcoal carriers 50% Standard Charcoal carriers
Char Black x Standard Charcoal Carrier	25% Char Blacks 25% Charcoals 25% Black Velvet Charcoal carriers 25% Standard Charcoal Carriers
Char Black x Charcoal	50% Char Blacks 50% Charcoals
Charcoal x Black Velvet	50% Black Velvet Charcoal carriers 50% Standard Charcoal Carriers
Charcoal x Black Velvet Charcoal Carrier	25% Char Blacks 25% Charcoals 25% Black Velvet Charcoal carriers 25% Standard Charcoal Carriers

Char Blacks are a complex mutation to breed, since they involve the Charcoal mutation which in itself is a recessive. It is imperative that when attempting to breed a Char Black, that only the finest examples of Charcoal and Black Velvet are used, paying specific attention to the fur qualities, and the clarity of your chinchillas. The darkening effect which the Black Velvet adds to the Charcoal to become the Char Black is not attractive if the clarity of colour is poor and if the animal is tinged or not blue (the blue hue which all chinchillas should have, if of high quality).

Char Blacks possess the same problems as the Charcoals, namely that they have a tendency to be small, to have a soft fur type, and also to be off-colour or be brownish, rather than clear and blue. Again this does not have to be the case if the best Standards and Black Velvets are used in their breeding lines, and only the best Charcoal carriers produced selected for breeding.

Char Blacks generally are judged in separate classes at present, but with the onset of Ebonies on UK show tables, they will be judged in the same class, called Self-Black. The reason for this is that phenotypically (by looking) you cannot distinguish an Ebony from a Char Black easily.