Fleas?

[marinamayhem]

I thought that chinchillas couldn't get fleas? This morning out the corner of my eye I spotted something move on my jacket and I looked down to find a tiny flea. I have not been around any flea infested animals in quite a while and the only animal in our house is my two chinchillas. Do they get fleas or not?

 

[ninjaturtletayy]

Chins cannot get fleas due to the density of their fur.

 

[akane]

You may have just picked them up in the yard. Fleas can survive outside especially if you have a lot of wild animals. That's how many pets get them in the first place to then infest the house. Often the house and yard have to be treated as well as the animals to get rid of the fleas.

 

[sarah2000]

I got the worst flee infestation in my house about 3 years ago, the funny thing was i had no animals at the time, i sprayed my house and still it was getting worse. It was that bad that when i put a cup down on my carpet the rim of the cup would be covered in flees. I could not understand why.

I went for a coffee at my neighbours house, and she also had no animals and had the same problem, it turned out that a mutual friend of ours who had loads of cats ( that clearly were never flee treated) :wacko:had been bringing her flees in on her clothes. Her house was actually not as infested as ours, as apparently the flees will jump on the cat and then get dropped off outside, where in our non animal houses they just kept breeding with nowhere to go.

I ended up gutting my whole house it got that bad which did solve the problem, and my friend and i had to ban our mutual friend from our house as did her own mother. I would be asking yourself what people come to your house, as it could be them bringing them in. Now i treat my house regularly for flees as once you get that many its hard to get rid of them

 

[akane]

A flea infestation is a nasty thing. Our old ranch house in town had a horrible flea problem. We did have 2-3 cats and a dog at any given time and it was before topical flea treatments when all you had were flea collars, chemical sprays, and medicated shampoo. Even after we finally got rid of the fleas on the animals with new methods the yard was horribly infested and no treatment of the house would work because they'd just get dragged in again. I lost a couple hamsters to anemia from the fleas and 1 to an overdose of flea medicine.

We ended up moving and my mom thought the fleas were gone since we'd been vacuuming like crazy and treating the pets with the then brand new advantage. Unfortunately when the new owners moved in and stopped using preventative measures the fleas went nuts again. They complained for years about it and finally also sold the house. Dunno what happened after that.

 

[Amethyst]

Chinchillas can get fleas, just like any other animal, if their fur is in bad enough shape, normally their fur is too dense but if the chins have fungous or large fur slipped areas causing large areas of skin to be exposed they can get a flea there. That being said the flea on your jacket most likely came from outside the house, as akane said, from a wild or stray animal (or from someone who has or who's pet has fleas) originally. In order for the chinchilla to get fleas in the first place it would have had to bald spots on their body (I'm not talking about their ears) and be outside running around or be in an already flea infested house.

 

[ticklechin]

I have had rescues with fleas, the belly, throat, paws, ears, tail all can get fleas, even the rest if the fur is poor thin quality.

 

[AZChins]

They can get fleas...it isn't very common, but they can definitely get them. With dust and proper care and cleaning, you won't see them. It's doubtful that these little fleas came from your chins. Keep an eye out for them in your house.

Chin dust actually does a great job at controlling them. I've only seen fleas on chins that were not dusted for a long while and were kept in close proximity to cats and dogs.

 

[marinamayhem]

Where can I get some flea treatment safe enough for my chins?