Patchy fur?

[DazzlRazzle]

I have just gotten this chinchilla a couple of days ago, he was born at the end of march. I am slightly worried though because there are just little patches where some of his hair is longer than the rest towards his rear. I have herd that they grow new fur about every 3 months. I wasn't sure if these patches were something to be concerned about or not...

 

[Dreamlite]

Does it look like the hair was cut? He could be a fur chewer.

 

[alli713]

It sounds to me like he's just getting new fur in. Sometimes they shed huge chunks at a time, and normally you can just simply pluck them and they slip right out. So next time you are holding him try tugging on it gently and it might just come right out. I've had them get a bit stuck, and sometimes you can work them out with a comb, or normally over time they just shed out naturally.

If he were a fur chewer, the patches of fur would be short, not sticking out.

 

[DazzlRazzle]

I tried to pull and comb on his fur, and nothing came out. Here are a few pictures. It's like his rear half is has longer hair than the rest of him. It's easiest to tell what I mean in the 3rd photo, but the 1st photo shows where it is located better. I was hoping it was just because of how old he is...

The ripped up paper shouldn't be in his litter box, it was just a temporary thing till tomorrow so that he had something to go to the bathroom on. I had corn litter in there, but I had read that corn is really bad for chinchillas, so I got it out of there.

 

[DazzlRazzle]

I've been going around and have been trying to figure out what could be the reasoning behind this, and I found a post saying...

Tufts of fur might be little fur-slips (chinnies shed clumps of fur to escape predators or grabby owners). Maybe your girls play a little rough, and that leaves some fur-slips in their coats. Just a thought!

The person that I got my chinchi from had a 9 year old that played with the chinchillas a lot. Maybe that's the reason it looks patchy! That would be a lot better conclusion than if he had some sort of medical problems. I would love to take him to a vet if I had the money for it. I just spent it all my money on getting him! lol