New chinchilla!!! Frontline or not?

[danischi24]

I got a 4 month old male chinchilla yesterday. His name is Einstein & he is so tame & precious! Can I spray him with Frontline to get rid of any bugs & is it nessessary? Here are some pics

 

[cutiepieacres]

NO! Chinchillas hair is so thick they can not even get fleas, lice or mites. Any sort of poison like that can be easily deadly. Make sure to do some more reserach he is super cute and looks sweet and I know you wouldnt want to do anything that could hurt him.

here is a link to a site just for chins with all the correct info, since somtimes the correct info can be hard to find when it comes to chinchillas.

 

[danischi24]

I've heard that but what about places like his ears & tail-they don't have enough hair to stop bugs? I sprayed my baby mouse with Frontline as well as many birds.

 

[cutiepieacres]

Chins should not have any sorta of bug spray on them. If kept properly they cannot get any sort of external parasites like mites or lice. They need regular dust baths and their cage cleaned on a regular basis. They can get fungus/ringworm especially if kept in a humid dark place or if they get wet and fail to dry out.

 

[danischi24]

OK. He has special chin dust once a day for 10 min & a clean airy cage with all the necessary things-I've done my research minus the Frontline.

 

[cutiepieacres]

unless you live where its super humid all the time a dust bath once or twice a week is enough. If its humid maybe up to once every other day and if its dry once a week will work. Too many dusts baths can dry out their skin which can make them uncomfortable as well. But you are right that you only want to give it to them for short amounts of time or they may use the dust box as a litter box. Its so much fun to watch them rool around in the dust, they love it as well, super cute!