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[GrayRodent]

My chinchilla is becoming very tame. I have been handling him every day and seeing amazing progress in the short time I've had him. He enjoys being touched and rubbed and is starting to like being held. The problem is that I have naturally oily skin and his fur is really showing it. I'm someone who washes my hands obsessively and that doesn't help much. I give him a dust bath every other day because I understand dusting every day can be a problem for his skin. But I have to wonder should I be dusting more often? Should I start handling him less like every other day? If I do that I know he will not like that too much. His fur looked a lot nicer when I first got him.

I was wondering if others have had a similar experience.

[chinclub]

Every other day for dusting is fine.  A lot of chinchillas that are handled everyday don't have that show look.  That is why serious showers don't touch their chinchillas for weeks before show.  He might not look as pretty but it won't hurt him and I am sure he would rather have extra time with you than a perfect coat.   Be sure when you dust him that you have at least 2 inches of dust in the pan and that it is long enough for him to lay down all the way.  If you are really concerned about his appearance you can try dipping your hands in the dust before you hold him.  That will pull out some of your natural oils and the dust you transfer to him will give him a little freshen up as well without drying out his skin.

[GrayRodent]

Thanks for your advice. Actually I'm not too concerned about his appearance as much as I am concerned about him being comfortable. I do not want a fur chewing chinchilla because he's annoyed by the oil. I don't think it bothers him too much because he is not grooming excessively like I thought he would. For all I know this could be normal for a pet. I'll keep the every other day dust schedule, use a smaller pan, and add more dust. The pan he came with was way too big and it took a huge amount of dust to fill it just enough to cover the floor so maybe he wasn't getting clean enough to start with. I also like the idea of dusting my hands before I handle him too.

[chinclub]

Its ok if you have to pour the entire container of dust into his bath.  If you get a little hand sifter and just scoop out his poops you can use that same dust over and over until it begins to get a little clumpy.  My favorite dust container is a plastic shoebox from Wal-Mart for $1.  You can pour in all of the dust and just put the lid on between dust baths for easy storage.  I know you are in a small space so if you want to minimize dust in the air get a cardboard box that the shoebox will fit inside.  Cut a 3 inch diameter hole in the side of the box and close the lid up tight.  Let your chinchilla come and go through that hole.  The  cardboard box will contain the flying dust and having to squeeze through the small hole will help remove some of the excess dust in the hair that will get everywhere later.

[GrayRodent]

That's a very good idea. I have a plastic bin I can do that with. At the time I am dusting him inside of our shower stall. It seems to keep the dust pretty well contained although he likes to roam around more than he likes to dust. I've noticed a pattern with him and he prefers it when the dust level is low enough he can dig and scratch the floor of the pan. Otherwise he just sits there and paws around in the dust a couple of times. I gave him 20 minutes but he stayed in the pan for maybe 5 of those minutes. Tonight I manually dusted him. He seemed to like it for the most part but I don't think it did a very good job.

[chinclub]

Try an experiment.  Wait two days before you dust him next time and see if he dusts better.  Some of my chinchillas become lazy dusters if they are are dusted more often.

[GrayRodent]

Will do and see what happens.

[GrayRodent]

I tried dusting my hands to help with the oily fur and found it to be very effective. His fur looks a lot neater now. It's really amusing because he smells the dust on my hand and thinks it's a dust bath so he starts digging around on my skin and rolls his head in my hand. I hope it won't spoil him for his real dust bath tomorrow.

[chinclub]

I'm so glad it is working. 

[GrayRodent]

I waited three days until the next dusting and he rolled around in it a lot longer. It was a spectacular dust cloud too with two inches of dust there.

[chinclub]

Wonderful.  He just needed to want it more