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[Dex21]

Hey guys, so lately I have been letting my chinchilla Dex out of his cage to play through the night while I sleep (because I do not have time to let him out for 1-2 hours every day around 10pm -- but don't worry I stay awake with him for at least 45 min when I let him out!) however last night he was not in his cage when I woke up (like he usually is).  I spent all day looking for him in my bedroom and have just found him (it is now 3:34pm).  He hid inside of my dresser drawers (I found poop in multiple drawers) and is now back in his cage, but looks scared.  I examined him and he appears to have chafed his hind legs a little (they look red --> I'll attach a photo for a professional opinion).  Is this something serious that I need to look into or will he be okay?  I am getting rid of this dresser to avoid this from happening again but I want to make sure my little guy is going to be alright.

Side Question: I have noticed some missing fur at the base of Dex's tail.  I first spotted this about 2 weeks ago and it doesn't seem to have spread, however the fur is not growing back.  I am unsure how long is takes for a chinchillas fur to grow back fully however I wanted to attach a picture of this too for further examination.


Update: since I have been writing this he has started moving around his cage and is now eating some Oxbow pellets.

[Dex21]

I am unable to attach the two photos I wished to share because it says the maximum size of a post can't be greater than 192 kb, does anyone know how I could share these photos into this thread?

[GrayRodent]

Typically when I post pictures I'll reformat them to 600x800 and export to a .jpg format. If you would like any help please submit your picture to me (admin@chinchillaclub.com) and I'll make sure it gets posted.

It sounds like your chinchilla may have got trapped somewhere and panicked to get out. It may have slipped some tail hair in the process. Tail hair can take 3-4 months to fully grow back. I wouldn't be too concerned as long as the skin looks normal. As far as the hind feet I'm curious to see it. Make sure the redness isn't something that can be washed off. Maybe it was transferred red varnish or something.

It's not good for a chinchilla to be out to wander through things like dressers and finished furnishings as coatings like varnish and lacquer can be irritating to skin and poisonous to ingest. Also wood that is not safe for chinchillas such as cedar can be irritating and toxic as well.

[BLS Chins]

This is going to sound harsh but you should never let your chin loose in any area unsupervised. They are great at getting themselves into trouble and dangerous situations. All it takes is one chew on the wrong toxic paint, or an electric wire and you have a dead chin. If your cage is large enough (2ft cubed) he doesnt need play time. Thats a myth started by pet owners. Over exercise can actually lead to a lot of health problems including heat stroke, seizures, low blood sugar, injury and even death.

The bald spots are likely fur slips from close calls during his loose time in your room. Keep an eye on the area for any swelling or flaky skin.

[GrayRodent]

Totally agreed. A chinchilla should be left in the cage when you are not around. Something bad happened when you didn't see what was happening and you may have been able to prevent it if you'd have seen it. The next time the outcome might be deadly different.

[GrayRodent]

These photos were submitted to me so I could reformat them. At this time the image size is pretty limited for our forum. I'm planning on making some adjustments once we're moved to our new server. At the time they need to be re-sized and compressed to meet the maximum file size requirements.

Foot injury:

[GrayRodent]

These photos were submitted to me so I could reformat them. At this time the image size is pretty limited for our forum. I'm planning on making some adjustments once we're moved to our new server. At the time they need to be re-sized and compressed to meet the maximum file size requirements.

Tail injury:

[GrayRodent]

My opinion about the photos is there are no significant problems. The foot does a little chafed and dry but my chinchillas feet are actually worse than that from normal contact with their wood shelving. If there's something there I'm not seeing it. The tail is really a non-issue. The skin doesn't looked damaged at all. The fur apparently got scraped off, perhaps it was inside of a tight space and panicked. It should completely grow back but it may be a few weeks before you see new hair growth. You are blessed.

[Dex21]

Thank you very much for all your help guys I greatly appreciate it.  I am going to wean down all-night playtime until I eventually stop it altogether asap, though I had a quick question regarding this.

So I live in a very small bedroom with Dex (my bed takes up at least half of my room) and when he is out of his cage he does not listen to me as much as when he is inside of his cage (commands like "come here" or merely his name).  He hides under my bed most of the time when he is playing (I assume because of the darkness), so getting him back into his cage when he is under there is quite a pain.  He will escape me if I try to pick him up when he is out playing, so is there a way to condition him to listen to me better when playing outside of his cage?  One of the main reasons I started letting him play all night was because I merely couldn't get him back into his cage after he got out, so if I could get him to listen to me when I want him to enter his cage again that would help greatly.

[GrayRodent]

I doubt you'll be able to train your chinchilla to respond consistently to voice commands. I suspect it can be done but I don't think it's going to practical to anyone besides a professional animal trainer.

When my chinchilla gets away from me (unintentionally when he's not in his chinchilla safe place) and goes under a dresser I use a plastic shop grabber to chase him out. No, I don't grab my chin with it, but I like it because it's long, lightweight, and it's safer than something like a broom handle or a dowel rod. I usually chase him into the bathroom or another room where it's easy to reach down and pick him up and it's pretty straightforward. One thing I've done is conditioned my chinchillas to not jump off of me while I sit with them. I let them play in my bathroom which has been set up to be safe for them to run around in. That is also where they get dusted and Kulu, who likes to jump out of his cage, will gravitate towards that room.

This may be the exact one I use here. I think I paid $1.00 for it. https://www.dollartree.com/Tool-Bench-Easy-Reach-Plastic-Reacher-Grabber-Tool-33-/p321981/index.pro

(This does not consitute an endorsement for any particular business or tool. Always use good sense while poking around in the dark where your chinchilla might be).

[BLS Chins]

Your chin shouldn't be able to get to areas where your can't reach them. Your chin could be eating parts of your mattress and you wouldn't know it till your chin is dead. You should block off areas where your can't monitor him. You can try to use the dust bath to catch him. Many chins will willingly jump into there. But food for thought, if you can't catch your chin during play time what would you do in an emergency? You need to be able to catch/grab your chin quickly at all times.

[Dex21]

Hey guys, sorry to bring up this thread again but I had a quick question about Dex's tail.  Lately (usually whenever he is waking up) he has been picking at his tail in the bare spot area.  I will attach an updated picture (note: I was unable to upload the picture file again so I sent the pictures to admin@chinchillaclub.com) though I am wondering if this is an issue to look into.  When looking very closely I can see some white flakes in the area, though since he has been picking at this spot part of his tail looks dry so I am wondering if this is merely dry skin.  Thank you again for your help guys, I greatly appreciate all the advice.

[GrayRodent]

If the spot increases in size (and I mean obviously larger as opposed to you just suspect it might be but you're not sure) or if the skin starts to look red then you should probably have it checked out. Otherwise I suspect this has more to do with your pet sensing there is an anomalous texture there.

[BLS Chins]

With the flaky skin its likely he has a fungal infection. That can cause an itchy feeling causing him to bite at the area. If you can post pics it would help

[Dex21]

@GrayRodent did you happen to receive my pictures that I sent to the email address above?