TOV

[Darren Lim]

orginally posted by silverfall of Chins N Quils

What is TOV?

TOV or ToV means a “Touch of Velvet.”<br>
To understand TOV, we have to first look at the black velvet chinchilla, the original velvet mutation. A black velvet is like a standard gray chinchilla, but with a mutant gene that enhances its veiling, or the dark tip of each hair shaft, and gives the animal a dark mask on its face and a dark “stripe” down its back and tail. The mutation is also said to be linked to a particular kind of texture, which is why they call the mutation “black velvet.”<br>
An interesting thing happened when the black velvet was bred to a beige chinchilla. It produced a chinchilla that was kind of like a beige, but with a brown mask and a brown “stripe” on its back. This made the beige look like it had a “touch” of the velvet influence. Ranchers called this beige/black cross a Touch of Velvet or TOV, while the pet market referred to them as Brown Velvets.

As breeders began crossing more mutation colors, it became clear that the velvet influence could be inherited with other mutation colors, including violet, ebony, sapphire, and white. Breeders adapted the name TOV, which traditionally stood for the beige/velvet cross, and applied it to the other colors: TOV Violet, TOV Ebony, TOV Sapphire, TOV White. The original TOV or Brown Velvet may be referred to as a TOV Beige. As such, the velvet influence is more of a “pattern” than a color. TOV influences the base color, as it were, indicated by the latter half of the name. This is how the pet market continues to identify these animals.

So when you see TOV in the name, it means the chinchilla has the velvet influence, a genetic trait that it can pass to its offspring 50% of the time (because it can be only heterozygous for this trait). The velvet trait is associated with a lethal in the homozygous state, so many breeders prefer not to breed TOV chinchillas together and instead choose for them non-TOV partners. It does not matter how many other color genes the chinchillas have, if both chinchillas have the velvet influence, then the lethal factor always applies when breeding them.

To breed TOVs of any color requires the participation of certain veiling characteristics that work together with the velvet influence. The veiling is the dark tip of the hair and can vary in length. Chinchillas with longer tips appear darker and are generally desirable, but breeders also aim to use chinchillas with even tips or tips that are the same length throughout the entire coat. Uneven tips disrupt the smooth, rich color of the coat and may make it look uneven, mottled or splotchy. In order for the velvet to look its best, the veiling characteristics must also be at their best. It is for reasons like this that breeders may look for dark, well-veiled standards to breed with their velvets.

When chinchillas with the velvet influence are born, they may not look exactly like the full-grown version. Some babies will have dark noses, dark rings around their eyes, or dark heads indicating that they are going to develop the velvet influence as they grow. It can take 8 to 14 months for the color to reach its full potential, but breeders usually have a good idea by six weeks if the baby will be TOV or not (with the exception of certain color combinations).

[Darren Lim]

Some color combinations make it hard to classify a chinchilla as a TOV even when it is full-grown. This is particularly true of TOV Ebonies, TOV Violets, and TOV Whites. TOV Ebonies may be hard to distinquish as TOV is the ebony is also very dark. TOV Violets may be confused with violets of the darker color phase because the velvet influence can be very subtle in this color combination. TOV Whites have to contend with the two factors. First, the white mutation does a good job at preventing pigment from being used in the hair shaft, making it hard to determine how pigment is being affected by other mutations like TOV. Second, white chinchillas are traditionally bred to chinchillas with lighter, shorter veiling, which keeps their color light and bright, but does not lend itself to the expression of the velvet characteristics. For these reasons, a TOV White may have only a dark mask on its face and no “stripe” on its back. It may also have some irregular spotting where the veil comes through. A TOV White with complete veiling is rare, but quite striking. Chinchillas that fall into one of these categories may produce TOV offspring by surprise.

One thing that breeders look for in their velvet chinchillas is the paw stripe. While it's true that most velvets will have paw stripes, it is not necessarily an indicator of TOV. Paw stripes appear when a chinchilla has dark, well-extended veiling, so even standard gray chinchillas can have paw stripes. The TOV enhances the stripe on the paw in the same way it enhances the mask on the face, so paw stripes are helpful in identifying the velvet influence, but are not fail-safe.