Do Chinchillas always get brownish when reaching maturity?

[MelissaPenguin]

My Chinchilla Holland Lop has started getting chestnut hairs, I've noticed. Do all chinchillas get brown flakes? I have photos if you need them.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

it could possibly be from the sun. and its just fading.

 

[hillrise]

Most agoutis tend to grow their hairs out in layers, so they end up with a weird patch of colors between molts. Although with a chinchilla, I would more likely assume it's sun damage, since their hairs shouldn't have any yellow/brown/red in them at all (the gene for chinchilla suppresses that/covers it up with the gray/white and black).

 

[HappyFarmBunnies]

Photos would help us determine if it's sun damage.

 

[MelissaPenguin]

Please keep in mind that I let her out to take photos and she's being extra fussy since she's due in the next few days.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

they're all sun burnt. or faded. See how even your black rabbit is red? It's sun fading.

 

[MelissaPenguin]

How can I help that? :? I make sure they have shade through out the entire day. Do I have to make sure they get no sun at all :?

 

[hillrise]

The only way to completely prevent it is to make sure they get no direct sun exposure, which means no corners of the cage/play area allowed to get sun since the rabbit will inevitably decide to lie in the sun at some point.

The amounts they have probably aren't hurting them, so unless you're showing, a little bit of sun does no harm. Just make sure that they ALWAYS have ACCESS to enough shade for them to do a full-body flop in.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Peter has never had any change of color but the only sun he gets is thru a window or sliding door--he never goes outside.

 

[MelissaPenguin]

I'm not showing but I thought maybe I had been jipped on her being Chinchilla lol! I guess I'm glad to know it's just sun fading. I'll try putting up more shade to see if that helps any.

 

[Hill-Hutch]

I thought it would be less brown! My rabbit, fuzzy, is also a chinchilla and he has that kinda frosted look behind his head on his white spot... but not almost completely brown...

 

[MelissaPenguin]

Yeah I was kind of worried when I first actually noticed it. I mean, it's so bad that it shows almost perfectly in photos. I wish I would've got better photos but she was being fussy. But you see what I mean right? She's got light brown tips like over her entire body. D=