No nails??

[EternallyCynical]

So, my first chinchilla came home on Monday, and I've heard the odd thing about nail care, so one of the first things I did as I watched him move about the cage was look at his feet to check the condition of his nails, to see if they would need attention soon. I was surprised when I didn't see anything! Even when his paws are up against the cage door and I can get a clear view of his lil' feet, I can't see any nails. The one time he climbed on my hand for some food, I couldn't feel anything, either. Am I missing something, or does he seriously have no nails? Has anyone else heard of anything like this? He's approximately eight years old, so it isn't as if they haven't had time to grow in. I know he was on some poor flooring before I got him, so I don't know if they were damaged then or what.

 

[Amethyst]

I've never heard of a chin with no nails, but who knows? More likely they are just short and you can't see them under the paw fur. Chin's don't have long pointy needle like nails like you find on most rodents, their nails actually look a lot like human nails. Looking through photos it's hard to get a good shot of toes and nails, lol, but basically on my greys their feet are white and have a black/dark gray dot at the end if you look from the top, the dot is the nail. If he lets you touch his toes when he has his paws on the cage you probably can feel the hard nail. If the chin was on rough surfaces before you got it it's very likely the nails are just worn/filed down, some people actually put bricks in the cage for that purpose.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

Chins don't need to have their nails trimmed.

 

[Pikaia]

Yeah, he probably has nails and you just can't see them. Then again, maybe he doesn't. Anything is possible. You don't have to worry about trimming them or anything like that. Just running around is enough to file the nails down.

 

[ollie08]

I was wondering about nail care as well. My chin has longer nails and I was wondering if I needed to trim them.

 

[Shenanigans]

I'm not sure about trimming-Post a pic for the experienced chin owners to mull over. What seems long to you may be in a normal range. And maybe you just need to get a wheel or something hard so your chin can wear them down naturally.

I hadn't really paid much attention to nails-i sort've assumed they were there and i hadn't been scratched-my usual clue for trimming my pets' nails. I had to go look at them once I saw this though