There are many, many colors and color combinations of chinchillas which can make it confusing when learning to breed.

	Standard - demonstrates the standard agouti pattern of having a white belly, and the veiling can vary from light to dark. This is the most common color, and is the color that wild chinchillas are. Other mutations have been developed through selective breeding overtime, but the standard is still the backbone of breeding.
	Beige - demonstrates the agouti pattern, but instead of demonstrating gray the color is beige. Their eyes can vary from dark red to a lighter pink-red. They often have ear freckles, which is neither desirable or undesirable when showing. There are also two types of beiges, hetero and homo, usually homo beiges are lighter in color and always are produces from two beiges. There are many more hetero beiges than homo beiges. This color was first produced in 1955 by Ned Jensen in Oregon .
	Black Velvet - Black Velvet refers to chinchillas that demonstrate a very dark masking on their face and their back, which fades to gray, and then to white where it meets the belly. Never breed two velvets together, as it produces a 25% lethal gene. Sometimes referred to as a gunning black , this color first emerged in 1956 by Robert Gunning in Washington .
	Brown Velvet - A brown velvet is the product of a black velvet and a beige chinchilla being bred. They will have the same masking as a black velvet but have brown and beige tones instead of black and gray.
	Chocolate/Brown Ebony - This refers to a chinchilla that is a solid brown tone all the way around, with no demonstration of a white belly. The colors vary from light brown (often referred to as tan ) to medium (sometimes called pastel ) to a very dark color(often called Chocolate ).
	Ebony - this color does not demonstrate the agouti patterns, and the belly is the same color as the coat. The color can range from a light ebony, medium ebony, to a dark ebony. A dark ebony will demonstrate a very dark colored fur. Also their is a hetero and homo version of ebonies.
	Mosaic - This refers to a chin with colored markings on its body. If the chin has silver or gray markings, it is referred to as a silver mosaic. When a chin demonstrates beige splotches, it is a beige/white mosaic. People often refer to chins with very strong markings as an Extreme Mosaic , which means nothing more than very drastic markings.
	Sapphire - This color is best described as a blue or lavender hue, and is pretty rare. This color should demonstrate an agouti pattern with a blue tint.
	Violet - A violet chin is best described as a purple hued chin, and demonstrates the white belly. This is a recessive gene. One variant of this color is a Violet Wrap, and that is when the entire color extends across the stomach of the chin, and there is no white belly visible.
	White - White chinchillas can vary from solid white, to white with gray tipped hair. There is also a Wilson White which refers to predominately white chins with gray ears and a gray base on the tail. Another variant of the white chinchilla is the Pink White , which is entirely white, but has pink or red eyes. Whites carry a lethal factor as well and should not be bred together. They should also be pure white, with no yellow or muddy tint.

Please keep in mind that the possibilities are almost endless when it comes to breeding chins, and that there are many types of pairing you can do to achieve different colors. Chins can also be carriers of a recessive trait, so if you had a standard violet carrier, when bred to a violet chinchilla they could produce violets. Where as if you breed a regular standard to a violet, the babies will all be standards, but carry the violet gene.