Determining the Sex or Gender of your Chinchilla

How do you tell if your chinchilla is a male or a female? This is probably the most difficult thing to do and many breeders will make a mistake on the kits sex sometime. Most breeders will tell you that a male has a space and a female does not. What does this mean? On a chinchilla the female has a cone and an anus and the male has a sheath that holds the penis and an anus. These reproductive parts look nearly identical in both genders. The only difference is the male will have a slit on the sheath facing away from the anus and a space between the penis and the anus where a small piece of foreskin will be visible going from the sheath to the anus. The female on the other hand will have almost no space between her cone and anus and instead of foreskin there will be a slit between the anus and cone going from side to side which would be her vulva. Below are simple steps to sexing your chinchilla and pictures of both genders across age ranges to aide you in sexing your chinchilla. If you are still having trouble telling the gender of your chinchilla after going through the steps, you are more than welcome to take a picture of your chinchilla's genitalia like the pictures I have below and email me. I would be happy to sex your chinchilla!

Step 1: Get your chinchilla!

Step 2: Grasp your chinchilla firmly but gently by the base of the tail. The base of the tail is where the fur stops and the tail begins.

Step 3: Gently lift your chinchilla's hind end by your hold on the tail. The back legs should be fully off the table with the front legs still touching to provide your chin with some support and comfort. Here is what it will look like from the side.

You should be positioned directly behind the chinchilla so that your view looks like this.

​Step 4: Compare your chinchilla's genitalia to the pictures provided below! Males should show a clear gap while a female will have no gap.

Baby Female

Adult Female

Baby Male

Adult Male