I got a chinchilla 1 week ago. He is 9 years old, and came from a home with other chinchillas (although he lived alone because his cage mate died last year) and rabbits.
I haven’t done a health check on him yet because I wanted to let him settle in a bit first. So far he’ll sniff my hand a bit but doesn’t want me to touch him.
Today I noticed he was pulling out the fur along the inside of one of his arms. The inside of one arm is pretty much bald.
Is this fur chewing or possibly mites? Something else? I’m a bit freaked out because although I did quarantine him for one week, I have now moved him to the room with my other small animals, and I really don’t want an outbreak of mites. Other than this instance of him pulling out his fur, I haven’t seen any scratching or other behaviour to indicate he’s itchy.
his coat is a bit scruffy looking, I’ve been offering him a dust bath and will try to groom him when there’s some trust. He also has patches on his butt that looks like a dog blowing his coat, like patches of fur that are coming loose. Doesn’t look like a fur slip to my eyes because the area is not bald, just like maybe new fur is pushing out old fur and the chunk of old fur is still caught in the coat.
advice? I can get someone to help me to hold and inspect him later, but how do I tell what’s going on? It is normal that he’d be stressed right now, with the change of homes. He has some wood and lava chew toys, hay, and a new wheel, I have more chew toys on order for him, and I’m working on chin-proofing a space so he’ll be able to exercise outside of his cage starting in a few days.
I haven’t done a health check on him yet because I wanted to let him settle in a bit first. So far he’ll sniff my hand a bit but doesn’t want me to touch him.
Today I noticed he was pulling out the fur along the inside of one of his arms. The inside of one arm is pretty much bald.
Is this fur chewing or possibly mites? Something else? I’m a bit freaked out because although I did quarantine him for one week, I have now moved him to the room with my other small animals, and I really don’t want an outbreak of mites. Other than this instance of him pulling out his fur, I haven’t seen any scratching or other behaviour to indicate he’s itchy.
his coat is a bit scruffy looking, I’ve been offering him a dust bath and will try to groom him when there’s some trust. He also has patches on his butt that looks like a dog blowing his coat, like patches of fur that are coming loose. Doesn’t look like a fur slip to my eyes because the area is not bald, just like maybe new fur is pushing out old fur and the chunk of old fur is still caught in the coat.
advice? I can get someone to help me to hold and inspect him later, but how do I tell what’s going on? It is normal that he’d be stressed right now, with the change of homes. He has some wood and lava chew toys, hay, and a new wheel, I have more chew toys on order for him, and I’m working on chin-proofing a space so he’ll be able to exercise outside of his cage starting in a few days.
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