Chinchilla Community Forums

Chinchillas => Health => Topic started by: Mogsy on March 10, 2012, 01:47:55 PM

Title: Hair pulling?
Post by: Mogsy on March 10, 2012, 01:47:55 PM
I took Chester out to play, and noticed a patch of hair missing from one side of his tail near the end. The rest of him is fine, and I've never actually caught him pulling hair before. He seems otherwise fine, eating, drinking, pooping and playing. The skin of the bare patch seems fine, too. He has wooden chews, as well as the wooden planks in his cage to nibble. My house is never really loud/stressful, and he gets frequent attention. Could this just be boredom/ loneliness when no one is home or sleeping?
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: Marip on March 10, 2012, 04:58:19 PM
I took Chester out to play, and noticed a patch of hair missing from one side of his tail near the end. The rest of him is fine, and I've never actually caught him pulling hair before. He seems otherwise fine, eating, drinking, pooping and playing. The skin of the bare patch seems fine, too. He has wooden chews, as well as the wooden planks in his cage to nibble. My house is never really loud/stressful, and he gets frequent attention. Could this just be boredom/ loneliness when no one is home or sleeping?

but he pull the hair or the hair  fell?
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: Mogsy on March 10, 2012, 06:20:16 PM
It's one rather prominent patch of hairlessness, about 2 inches at the tip of his tail on one side. I don't think it'd make sense for hair to fall out in just that one spot like that, but I guess it's possible.  ::shrug::
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: Marip on March 10, 2012, 07:36:51 PM
It's one rather prominent patch of hairlessness, about 2 inches at the tip of his tail on one side. I don't think it'd make sense for hair to fall out in just that one spot like that, but I guess it's possible.  ::shrug::

if chins have fungus the hair can fall but now u have to see thta if he pulls his hair cause i think e red somewhere that sometimes cause of stress they can start eating their hair and that can that to serious problems.
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: GrayRodent on March 10, 2012, 08:21:46 PM
Do you think it could have been hair slip caused by getting his tail caught in something or getting extremely startled by something? Usually hair chewing doesn't go all the way to the skin. Fungus usually presents with redness but not always.
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: Mogsy on March 10, 2012, 09:08:23 PM
It's possible. There's just such a large patch missing. How much do they tend to lose when they lose hair if they get scared or something? There's about two inches of bare tail on the one side. The exposed skin looks fine, too.

 And as for the stress theory, I don't know how he could be stressed. My house is quiet, there's no other animals, company is rare. He gets plenty of attention, and naturally always has water, food, etc. If he -is- stressed, I have not a clue how to make it even less stressful for him.

This also seems to be a recent thing. I pay pretty close attention to any changes in him, both physically and behaviour-wise. I noticed when I got up this morning.
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: GrayRodent on March 11, 2012, 06:20:09 AM
Chins don't usually slip fur unless they are startled by something and are being restrained or touched by something (or caught in something) at the same time. The fur just becomes loose and easily brushes off in that kind of state. It can result in exactly what you're describing. The fact it happened overnight also lends to this theory. But, it's still just a theory. Have you found any clumps of fur in the cage?
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: chinclub on March 11, 2012, 06:26:49 AM
Chinchillas have a natural ability to loosen their hair when they excited.  Mine had done it when they were scared but also when they are just running around the room with happy adrenaline.   Nothing will happen until you go to grab them or they get caught in something.  Then whatever hair is caught will just slide right out.

Tails don't really have a whole lot of hair anyway so when they loose tail hair it is VERY obvious.  The body is so thick they could loose a whole clump and you might not notice.  If the skin looks normal I wouldn't worry about.  Do watch for any other areas of hair lose just in case.
Title: Re: Hair pulling?
Post by: chinclub on March 11, 2012, 06:28:05 AM
We must have replied at the same time, GrayRodent.  Great minds think alike!  :)