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[hlianapa]

Hello. My friend has 4 chinchillas, two pairs in two different cages. The last 2 times we cleaned one pair 's cage, it had worms in it!!!! Many of them!!!!!  We clean their cages once a week, the other cage has no problem. We put the same hay and food in both cages, but the one has worms and the other not.. Any possible reasons?? Note, it 'summer here in Greece.

[GrayRodent]

What kind of bedding are you using?

[hlianapa]

Wood shavings. In both cages.

[GrayRodent]

If the bedding is damp and not being changed often enough that can cause things like that. Could they be coming from something above the cage and falling in?

[hlianapa]

It is being changed once a week. The strangest thing is that the other cage doesn't have worms or anything. Is there any chance worms are from their poop??

[GrayRodent]

With two chinchillas you may need to be changing the bedding every three days but usually once a week is fine. If you have a lot of flies around it could be maggots.
The most important thing is to identify the worms.

If your chinchillas have worms they will be loosing weight and having symptoms. I would think having visible worms in a chinchilla it would have to be pretty sick. The fact it is one cage and not the other is kind of strange if they were maggots.

You may consider taking a photo and a sample to veterinarian or someone who is familiar with rabbit farming and seeing if they have encountered something similar.

I recommend weighing your chinchillas once a week and keeping track of their weight. If they do contract an illness it makes it easier to identify problems because you'll notice weight loss. If any of your chinchillas appears to be underweight or weak you should take it in for an exam.