chinchilla dusting

akane · Jul 3, 2014

Started weekly chinchilla cage cleaning and they all take a turn in the bathroom dusting while I clean cages. It's obvious why we confine dusting to the bathroom and still end up with dust everywhere.

Katsu decided this whole camera situation was stressful and he wouldn't roll. He ran off to get in to things while his mate took over the dust bath. :lol:

http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takak ... b.mp4.html

Hachiro kinda blends in since she's solid black
http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takak ... 5.mp4.html

and Aisu who is still figuring out her new home. She seemed confused as to why she got dumped in a giant container of dust.
http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/takak ... e.mp4.html

Ran out of clean fleece to do the rest today.

Zass · Jul 3, 2014

SO adorable!

Miss M · Jul 3, 2014

:lol: I've been wondering what they do with the dust! That's cute!

(what... no blue sparkle dust? :twisted: )

akane · Jul 3, 2014

Can you imagine what sparkles would look like... :lol: That's only part of their dusting. They often spend 30mins hopping in, rolling, hopping out, sometimes shaking, rolling, and so on. Toward the end of cage cleaning there's so much dust that some don't bother getting in the dusting box. They just roll on what's settled around it. I tried to save money by straining the dust to remove any random poop or other particles but it just puffs out everywhere as it falls through the strainer. It's not uncommon for large scale breeders to have to give up chinchillas after many years because of respiratory damage. There are some other options for dusting but the heavier particles are not as effective so you just end up dusting them more often and possibly still have a lower quality coat. I am just in shock at the coat change of the ebonies like Hachiro since we got them. Better pellets and better dust has taken them from a dull, greyish medium ebony to shiny dark ebonies.

Miss M · Jul 4, 2014

Wow... why is dusting so necessary for chinchillas?

akane · Jul 4, 2014

It removes the oil buildup coming off the skin and loose dead hair. They cannot have a bath with water or cleaning themselves with saliva because getting the coat too wet will grow fungus since it's too dense to dry and there's no way to get down to the skin. They have like 80 hairs per follicle to our average of 3. That's what makes them so soft but also means there is no other way to remove oils and water near the skin. They need a fine grain dust, generally crushed volcanic rock, to work down in the coat, bind to the oils, and fall back out of the coat. People do groom them with special chinchilla combs for shows but it's not necessary for the average chinchilla getting good dust baths.