Shaded Program Varieties

Shaded by definition includes Sable and Seal, however, a Shaded program will likely include Sable, Seal, Californian, and White.

Shaded is not a hard-to-understand variety in itself, however where the confusion for most people happens is when the chinchilla (chin) gene gets involved.

Sable (aaB_cchl_D_EE)

Seal (aaB_cchlcchl_D_EE)

Californian (aaB_ch_D_EE)

White (aaB_cc_D_EE)

Self Chin (aaB_cchd_D_EE)

Some points to remember:

-All Sables, Seals and Cals must be self-based to be showable. Crossing with otters or agoutis or chocolates or dilutes will create unshowable colors. Of course you can but you should understand the genetics first in order to breed back to get showable varieties.

-Trues Seals are “double sables” meaning they have two copies of the cchl shaded gene.

-Sables can carry either white or Cal, many traditional breeders will tell you that sable HAS to carry Cal or that Sables that carry white have inferior color. This is not true. I have produced many of both and you could not tell the difference. There are too many other modifiers at play when it comes to the depth of color and intensity of color to accurately pick out Cal-carriers vs White-Carriers.

-Self chins can look nearly identical to a Seal. In fact, many Shaded breeders get Self Chins and show them as Seals whether or not they know it. Because so long as you only breed the above mentioned colors then it can be difficult to tell. You would need to pay attention to which colors youre breeding together and what colors you get in the litter.

How To Test Breed for Self Chin

As mentioned above, True Seals are double sable. This means that if you breed a Seal to a White or Cal that you will get 100% Sables. IF you get ANYTHING else then they are NOT a True Seal. A Self chin bred to a White or Cal can produce White, Cal, Self Chin and Sable.

Ive seen some breeders that have Self Chins that carry Sable (aaB_cchd cchlD_EE) but the rule above still applies. Bred to a White or Cal you should only get Sable.