Poor George's paw/tail :(

[Georgey]

So I'm kinda new to this site, not sure exactly how it works...but anyways...

My chinchilla, George, is about a year old and I adopted him about 4 months ago from someone who was moving and could not take him with her. He is fairly small for his age, and extremely friendly and playful. Just the other day I noticed at the base of his tail a decently large bump on the top, no fur was missing and i didn't see any cuts or scratches but it looked a tiny bit red. He did not seem to be bothered when I touched it or anything, but it just seems strange because the top is a bump but underneath it goes in just a tiny bit.

Also, yesterday I had him out of his cage and he usually will jump around and then eventually get into a cuddley attitude so he will run up to my neck if im laying down and just snuggle under my chin and sometimes go to sleep, so all his behavior was the usual for him (maybe not for other chins who don't like to be held long, but George has always been this way), but i noticed a small lump on the top of his paw just the size if you were to compare it to our hands just the top, not near the wrist or fingers. I would say it was only raised about 2 millimeters maybe, but I know for a fact it was not like that before. But again, he did not squirm or make any noises when I touched it, so i'm assuming it doesn't hurt too badly if at all. Plus, he does not walk or jump around any different that I can notice.

What are your opinions? And what should I do?

He's just so small compared to all the other chinchillas I have interacted with and that my couple friends own, is it possible for there to be a runt chin of a litter? He seems pretty timid of any little sound unless i'm holding him.

 

[tunes]

What does the skin on the tail and paw look like? Is it scaly like dry skin? Are they hard or squishy lumps?

Where you described the lumps are some of the places that fungus (ringworm) likes to show up. It would depend on what the actual skin looks like though. I had a rescue that had fungus to the point where it built up and created a lump under the skin. Took quite a while and an oral as well as topical medication to clear up.

Are you able to post pictures?

 

[Georgey]

I'm not at home right now, but I can try to post a picture sometime tomorrow morning if i can, and it's hard to even really see them. The tail especially because his fur is so thick right at his bum haha but maybe if i draw out what it feels like it would look like...would that help?
I guess you'd be able to see that his one front paw looks maybe a tinyy bit larger than the other. This one is fairly hard, not squishy or anything at all...kinda feels like one of the little mini m&m's under neath his skin but probably flatter than the height of one of those. He still uses it just fine, I checked earlier by handing him pieces of food and he would grab and hold it with that paw as well as the other (and as I already mentioned he is still walking and jumping around as normal and running on his saucer thing the same).
I tried to look at the skin under the fur and on his paw...I guess it might look a little dry, but it wasn't extremely noticeable (but I'll check again tomorrow). The skin on the lump on the tail base did not look really dry, only a tiny but pinker/redder than usual.

Honestly, if he didn't try to snuggle up to me all the time, let me hold him and all that....I wouldn't have really noticed because he wasn't acting strange and you can't exactly see anything without touching him and feeling the differences.