Chinchilla Community Forums

Chinchillas => Q & A => Topic started by: mollo713 on October 20, 2014, 08:58:41 PM

Title: Whisker Chewing
Post by: mollo713 on October 20, 2014, 08:58:41 PM

Hi All,
I have 6 chinchillas, I have 4 housed in a large cage together, and 2 others in a separate smaller cage. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced their chins chewing each other's whiskers...I am pretty sure it's the mother chins that do it. What does that mean? Are they stressed? Is it a territorial thing? I would love to hear any and all suggestions :-)

Title: Re: Whisker Chewing
Post by: kageri on October 21, 2014, 01:12:06 AM

It's probably just excessive grooming between chins.  Even more common with mothers grooming offspring.  Sometimes it progresses to fur chewing.  Watch for tufts of fur if you are worried about fighting.  Chins lose fur in large chunks when being grabbed aggressively by another.