Comments | chinchilla_love: Another Chinchilla Question

sylvercheetah in chinchilla_love

Another Chinchilla Question

Jan 25, 2010 17:12

Our boy Gizmo seems to be scratching a lot lately, and I'm wondering why. He is about 10 months old so I understand that this should be about the time of his first shed. We took him home the day after Christmas and this is new behavior. But his coat seems to be just fine, so I'm wondering if it is just the impending shed or is there something else ( Read more... )

Comments 8

neumeindil January 25 2010, 23:53:29 UTC

How many baths does he get a week? Do his feet or ears look flaky/cracked at all?

sylvercheetah January 26 2010, 16:00:09 UTC

His ears and feet look just fine. He is not taking as many dust baths as he used to. When we first got him, he took one every time we touched him - right after we got a "dirty, disgusting humans" look. Now he takes them once every other or every third day that I notice. But it is possible he takes them when we're in a different room.
But we make sure that he has fresh dust for his bath at LEAST 2 or 3x a week minimum.

neumeindil January 27 2010, 02:02:24 UTC

That might be the problem. Cut the baths back to 1 per week for a while. Indoor air gets much dryer during the winter, and if he's overbathed, his skin can dry out and make him itchy.

sylvercheetah January 27 2010, 15:21:48 UTC

Should we take his bathhouse out except for one day? Because normally we just fill it up/refresh it and let him use it whenever he wants to.

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