Fur Biting?

[GHOSTY]

My chin Chippy (6 months old) has a spot on his hind leg/back where it appears that there is uneven fur with some strands poking out. There is no skin showing. I sometimes find a small amount of his fur in the cage. He is housed with my other chin Sprite (whose fur has no abnormalities) but I am unaware of any conflict between them besides occasional mounting. They were already a bonded pair when I brought them home and I have had them 4 months.

Some other info is that I take them out at least every other day with 2-3 baths a week. I let them watch TV when they are active at night and I sit beside the cage with them for a couple hours as well. I just ordered a wheel figuring it might be from boredom since he is a very active guy. The temp in my house is around 65 F and 35% humidity. Their last visit to the vet was 2 months ago and everything checked out fine.

So I was really wondering if it was fur biting or if it was Sprite? Or just shedding? Thanks!

Here's an attempted photo (he wasn't thrilled that I got his "bad side" )

 

[VikiH]

Sounds like you've got fur biting figured out. If they've never had conflict before, I doubt it's the other chin. Fur biting can be boredom, stress or simply hereditary. Have you noticed any areas of fur biting before? If you have, it may just be in your chins nature. Mine loves having a good old nibble at himself and he has similar fur (strands poking out etc).

If there's no skin showing, I wouldn't worry about it but would keep an eye on it, if you start to see skin, especially if it looks irritated, take your chin to the vet.

Is there any way you could give your chin play time out of the cage? If it is boredom, this could definitely help.

 

[jags]

Its not in an area where you normally see chewing but a closer clearer more detailed pic would help us see more.

 

[ticklechin]

I agree with the above post, it is higher up on the hip than you see chewers chew, but you can have a chewer who wont chew his own fur but will chew a cage mate, I had one who chewed his cage mate in around the same spot when he rested on him when cuddling. He also chewed his cage mates tail like a corn on the cob.

 

[Riven]

It's hard to tell from the picture but it looks like the grey fur is LONGER than the black tipped fur. If this is true it's not chewing, it almost looks as if it's a priming line. I would dust good and get a chin comb to comb out the loose fur.

 

[Vyxxin]

To send a bit more confusion into the mix I agree with all opinions here! My first thought was a priming line, the part where the black tipping looks almost creased? THAT looks like a priming line BUT there's a part slightly below & behind that that looks like fur that's been chewed down to the gray underfur. It's a small patch and it's hard to tell in the lighting/photo used...but that's what it looks like is going on to ME!