How to Buy & Care for Chinchillas - Teeth issues of chinchillas

This is Lauren on behalf of Expert Village and we are talking about teeth issues in chinchillas. Chinchillas are prone to what is called amalaclesion. They are referred to as amalacluders when they have this kind of a problem. It's when the teeth can grow down into the jaw. They can grow up into the eye sockets. Or they can even cross over the tongue and keep the tongue from being able to move and eat properly. This is technically considered a genetic disorder. We don't know exactly why it occurs, but we do know that it's something we tend to see in certain lines. So that's why breeders try not to breed these animals, cause that's not good for the species. Malaclusions don't always show up for a few years, so you may not know that your chinchilla's going to have teeth problems until they reach about middle age. X-rays are the only way to show that this is actually what's going on. Some signs though can include watery eyes, drooling, and the inability to chew food properly. Another issue that's a tooth problem with chinchillas is uneven growth of the teeth. And this is usually because they don't have the proper things to chew on so when they wear down their teeth, they don't wear properly. To help combat this issue you can either go ahead and give them the proper chew toy so that they can take care of it themselves, or you may have to take them into a veterinarian to get their teeth filed. Stay with us in the next segment and we're going to talk about fur issues.