Hair loss on one of my degus

[Cionn]

I dont think so, becaus where ever i pull a little harder the hair goes easily off.
And at the spots where the hair fell normally off, the skin is a little darker than from the spots where the vet took the hair off.
I would post a picture but Im not alowed to do that since Im a new member .

Hard to explain it.

[Sasami]

If all tests come back negative it might be some sort of genetic disorder. If that's the case, you can't do much but it shouldn't harm the degu unless it's all falling out.

What kind of bedding do you have in the cage? Just the straw? I had a degu who was allergic to wood shavings (aspen).

[Cionn]

They have small cut wood and a little bit straw.

[Sasami]

Do you know what kind of wood it is? Some common ones are pine, aspen, and cedar. If you have access to paper-based bedding like Carefresh in your area it might be worth a shot to switch and see what happens .

[Cionn]

I am not sure what type of wood it is (I dont have it right now), but I will check it and tell you.

But right now I saw something strange. Both degus were standing on their feet and it looked like the healthy degu was doing something on the sick degus head. I thought that they were just playing, but it looked like the degu was biting the hair off.
It is the first time I have ever saw this.
What could be a reason for that?

I tried to pull off some hair on the healthy degu to see if its maybe infected, but nothing came off.

The sick degu looks bad. Almost the whole head is bald (except on the cheeks and on the neck. He lost hair around his ears and around the right eye. It looks like it is continuing to fall off

[Sasami]

Hmm, he might have been chewing off the hair, yeah . It's not a common behavior but I've heard of it happening with other animals. But it's hard to say if he's chewing off healthy hair, over-grooming, or purposely chewing off hair that's already falling off (to clean the degu). Maybe watch them more carefully and see how often it happens. You could separate them to see if it stops but I'd be worried about having to re-introduce them.

Have you tried other online degu forums to see if anyone else has experienced this?

[Cionn]

It is the first time i have ever registred on a animal forum.
Im not sure if this idea is good, but i could try to separate them in the cage.
I could put in the middle of it glass and see if the hair loss stops.

[Cionn]

It's been a long time from my last post.
Sorry for that, I was a bit busy.

The last test was also negative, so now I dont have any idea what may have caused the hair loss on my degu .
I have switched to an more expensive food, bought 2 types of straw and removed the old wooden houses on which they were sleeping.
It looks like the hair loss has stopped, so I hope that the hair will start growing again.

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cionn It's been a long time from my last post. Sorry for that, I was a bit busy. The last test was also negative, so now I dont have any idea what may have caused the hair loss on my degu . I have switched to an more expensive food, bought 2 types of straw and removed the old wooden houses on which they were sleeping. It looks like the hair loss has stopped, so I hope that the hair will start growing again.

I'm glad the hair loss stopped, I hope it grows back .