Crusty Fur?

[mrswheeler]

Hello chinchilla lovers,
I have had my grey chin, Bernard, for about 3 years now. He is a little skittish still, but he does let me handle him. I have recently noticed what I can only describe as crusty-looking fur on him. First, it was a small patch on his head, which I combed out without problem. And he loved it. This morning, I noticed a much larger patch on the back of his neck. I will comb this out tonight as well, but I'm just wondering why this is happening? It looks wet, but it's dry and crusty feeling when I touch it. He is behaving normally, and eating and drinking normally too. Thank you!

 

[becky12883]

Does he have a cagemate? I find crusty spots on both of my boys that are caged together quite often. They both think the other one is their girlfriend.

 

[mrswheeler]

No, no cagemate. The person I got him from had his brother in his cage with him, but his brother was way too aggressive towards him. I think that's why he's so skittish, it took me almost a year to get him to be friendly with me. I've never seen him groom the back of his neck, I'm not even sure if he can reach back there?