Whiskers

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Brittany_Lynn

I like dinosaurs :3
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
606
Location
Rochester, NY
Yesterday when I went to spend some time with my chinnies, I noticed that Rodya's whiskers are...not there. o_O
It seems Pico has chewed off practically all of Rodya's whiskers on his right side, and left about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of his whiskers on the other side. The right side has 4 or 5 thick black whiskers that are about a centimeter long, the rest seem to be either chewed down to the follicle or pulled out from the follicle, I'm not sure which.
Neither of them have any fur pulls, bites, or anything else that would worry me. Is this okay/normal? Pico now has the long whiskers in the cage--about 2 in long (recovering from when I trimmed them to put them in a cage together).
Should I be watching in case they start fighting, or is this something I shouldn't worry about?
As always, thanks in advance :)
 
Longer whiskers are a sign of dominance, so often times the dominant chinchilla in a pair will chew the whiskers of the less dominant cagemate. It doesn't hurt them, and the whiskers will grow back if Pico doesn't chew them, but chances are while they are together, Rodya will have short whiskers.
 
I have noticed this too with my 2 boys. Dylan seems to be more dominant than Bryson, but he is only chewing his left whiskers, the rights are still long... Perhaps he is only half submissive.. hmmm
 
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