# Chewing on her legs/feet?



## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

Just wondering if anyone know why Hannibell might be doing this...she was sound asleep on my chest for a while when she woke up suddenly and started chewing on and licking her nails/feet/lets. She's been acting completely normal all night, her nails are trimmed properly, and she's got plenty to eat and drink. She's also been scratching excessively for a day or two now...could this be a cause of mites, or does anyone else have a possible explanation?

Sorry for bombarding you all with questions lately, haha.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

Mites or allergies would be my guess. Does she have any scaly/peeling skin on her legs or underside?


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## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

She doesn't have any peely/scaly/dry skin anywhere, and when a quill or three come out they've got that little ball at the end that they're supposed to have, so I didn't think it would be mites, but I wouldn't know what else is causing it.

Also, odd addition: Every now and then she licks her ladyparts, I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it..


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

They'll lick themselves just to keep them clean. Unless her genital area looks inflamed or something, then it's nothing to be concerned about.

The ball at the end doesn't mean much unless it's not present - it being there doesn't tell you anything. Itching on the legs, without quill loss, can sometimes be mites, but the first thing to rule out would be some sort of allergy. Is she chewing and hurting them, or doing it without any evidence of it? Sometimes they'll groom the poop off of their feet.


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## Alex (Dec 7, 2012)

That was actually my point about there being the ball at the end of the quill; it was there, so it might not be mites, though I know there are a lot of other factors so it doesn't really mean much..

It seemed like it was more just a scratching thing; she did it for about ten minutes, and hasn't done it since..it might have been a grooming thing and I just hadn't noticed, but I didn't think there were any feces around at the time...There's some quill loss, but nothing I would think above normal. Maybe 3-5 a day? And she is around 12 weeks so that much could be the start of quilling as well. 

As far as allergies, I haven't changed anything on her lately, but is it possible that they develop allergies at this early age?


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