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Author Topic: Hair eating  (Read 780 times)

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chinchillalover101

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Hair eating
« on: June 20, 2016, 02:59:28 PM »
My older chin is pulling out my baby chins hair.. Does this hurt them? I dont get how the fur is bitten off. I just hope it didn't hurt while she did it. They were barking and attacking each other..
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GrayRodent

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Re: Hair eating
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2016, 03:40:05 PM »
If they are attacking each other and pulling hair out that is a sign of extreme aggression. Since we've covered a bit of your pets history in your case I'm not surprised. I've seen it happen with mine. The next step in aggression is biting and wounding so consider it a warning sign. Now this can differ from hair slip depending on what you saw happen.

Chinchillas will slip fur when they are stressed or upset (and sometimes when running and playing). The fear response causes the skin to loosen up and the hair falls out very easily. In the wild this can help them escape a predator that grabs them. It is also a reason to make sure you hold a chinchilla properly when handling because if they get spooked and try to get away they are very slippery. A good tip to remember is you can always hold them at the base of the tail (never in the middle of the tail or higher on it) to control a panicking chinchilla. You can hold them with one hand like this if you need to. Hair slip may occur at the tail as well but it's not as slippery.

With hair slip clumps of fur may fall out with rubbing against something or when another chin grabs with its teeth. I doubt there's any pain involved.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2016, 03:42:31 PM by GrayRodent »
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chinchillalover101

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Re: Hair eating
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2016, 04:07:28 PM »
Also, you said to give them a dust bath together. I only have the dust house which i don't think they would both fit in. Should i just get a big bowl? For my baby chin I've been using a bowl. My older chin refuses to go in there. She will only go into her dust house. I don't know what to do
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chinchillalover101

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Re: Hair eating
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2016, 04:10:54 PM »
Update: I just put my older chin inside the babies dust. She didn't roll, however she just sat in it for 2 minutes sniffing all around. She started to clean herself in it then jumped out. Could this be a good sign?
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GrayRodent

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Re: Hair eating
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2016, 04:21:02 PM »
Sounds like normal chinchilla dust bath behavior. Especially if they have dusted recently. How long have you had chinchillas?
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chinchillalover101

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Re: Hair eating
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2016, 04:29:43 PM »
I got my first chinchilla in january
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GrayRodent

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Re: Hair eating
« Reply #6 on: June 20, 2016, 07:54:04 PM »
After you've had the other one for a few weeks you'll start getting a better feel for how they interact.
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