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Post by lindalakota on Oct 19, 2010 14:35:39 GMT
i got m two beautiful blues today to acompany my two girls and one of the boys has a bald spot on his back which was apparently due to over grooming.
Is there anything i can do to encourage the hair growth back on his back at all?
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Post by emz on Oct 19, 2010 17:24:51 GMT
Sometimes hair can just fall off in small patches (alopecia) and yeah it can be due to over grooming. Sometimes this over grooming is a by product of boredom (not enough chew toys that degu likes) and sometimes they just enjoy over grooming and it cannot be stopped. Some people say bitter apple spray can help with this but I am not sure.
Another reason for over grooming can be an over exposure to sandbath access or also stress. Like when I first moved my degus into their new cage one chewed the fur off the others back a little and it grew back. I assume the new environment made my guys a little edgy but now they're fine.
Finally another thing to consider is mites. Check the skin quality if it isn't peeling or wheezing it should be fine and not a skin condition or a mite infestation.
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Post by amie on Oct 19, 2010 18:28:37 GMT
Dean has a small patch of fur missing on his side too, although I haven't seen him chewing at it or anything so I presuming it's from when he was at the pet shop as it doesn't seem to be getting any worse and he's not bothered by it.
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Post by lindalakota on Oct 20, 2010 9:35:06 GMT
Any idea if i can encourage the hair growth back and how i can do this?
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 20, 2010 14:54:37 GMT
Bald patches can result from two different causes, over grooming of the balding goo by his or her cage mate(s), and alopecia which is not uncommon in degus. There is really not much you can do for either. You can reduce the frequency of their access to the sand bath, and sometimes that helps, and keeping their cage clean can help. With alopecia, it's more a matter of time and the fur will eventually grow back in.
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Post by melrohner on Oct 22, 2010 0:59:10 GMT
Lindalakota, one of my guys has a bald patch too, from him fighting with his cagemate. It had just started to heal up nicely when they had another bad fight (really a few days of fighting) and now he's got another bald patch in the exact same spot. But it WAS healing, so I think if it's from an injury it will probably grow back.
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