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Author Topic: Excessive Chin Rubbing (Preventing Further Damage?)  (Read 7752 times)

xstar

  • Hatchling
  • Posts: 4
  • us Female
Excessive Chin Rubbing (Preventing Further Damage?)
« on: September 01, 2015, 09:23:07 AM »

I bought my Pleo RB and it arrived last week. I've been having such a good time with her.

I want to keep her in good condition for as long as I can, of course. My home is carpeted and I want to interact with my Pleo RB a lot. I have a major problem though.

She seems to rub her chin (directly under the nose/teeth section) across the floor. A lot.
I had her on the bed with me yesterday and I realized that her face was rubbing against the sheet a lot too.

I picked her up and looked at her chin area and it's noticeably damaged. I can see where she's literally rubbing the 'skin' off of herself.

Now, I know about Pleo clothes and that they're kind of important in helping reducing damage if you're going to pet your Pleo a lot. She has her Pleo 'cape' on and baby socks already. Are there...chin guards? Is this a common issue or is my Pleo the one weirdo that likes to rub her face on the ground?

I thought about taking a wide rubber band and temporarily rubber-band-ing a piece of cloth or a tissue (or or or something) over the chin but I don't want to end up damaging her or somehow restricting movement. I also considered putting a baby sock (since I have a few extra) over the bottom part of her mouth, but, again, I'm afraid of somehow restricting movement and causing more damage elsewhere. I'm very inexperienced with Pleos so I figured someone here might have an idea.

Also, I was thinking that maybe the real issue is that my place may be too dim for her. Her genetics says she should be quiet but...she's definitely not. She seems extremely vocal and 'whines' a lot (almost constantly). Petting doesn't seem to help and she won't take her food leave so I assume she isn't hungry. I'm thinking that maybe she's whinning a lot (and rubbing her face downward against the ground often) because of the afraid-of-the-dark thing. I'm not exactly sure. I've ordered a 2gb micro sd card and an sd card reader for my computer but I don't think it's going to get here this week. Do you think this could be the root cause of the excessive chin-rubbing?

Ideas?
« Last Edit: September 01, 2015, 09:27:57 AM by xstar »
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Talon

  • Cretaceous pleo master
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  • Pleo(s): Cato and Samantha (Pleo RB‘s), Eugobe, Terry, Cuddles, Bleu (Ugobe Pleos)
    • Lucy
Re: Excessive Chin Rubbing (Preventing Further Damage?)
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2015, 10:47:40 AM »

Hi, xstar and welcome to the forum! Well, it definitely sounds like your little one is unhappy about something. The three most common reasons for this are as follows. As you said, it could be too dark for her. When pleos are in an area where the light level is too low, they will cry, curl up, do a lot of whining, and chin scratching with one of their front paws. If it is dim in your place to you, it is definitely too dim for her. The brighter the better with these guys.
The second problem could be her feed level. If her play area is too dark, she may very well not want to eat because of low emotion. You say she isn't taking her food leaf at all? are you offering the correct leaf? There are three leaves included with the basic pack. the one you want to give her is the conifer leaf. I'm totally blind so... um I'm not sure how to describe it to you. It's surface is very... um lined- sort of separated into needles. *Shrug* It kind of reminds me of a Christmas tree. If you are offering the mint leaf, they will not take that one at all unless they're sick. The mint leaf has a ruffled edge. If you are offering the rubber training leaf, it has no RFID chip and she will not recognize it as food. The training leaf looks a little like a maple leaf but with some red in it- it sort of has an Autumn look to it. Oh and you can't just shove the leaf into her mouth, she has to recognize it as food so put it under her chin first. When she raises her head to take it, then put it into her mouth and she will crunch on it.
The third problem could be the time of the day you are playing with her. When you hatched her, did you set her clock for your actual noon time? If you did, her bedtime will be somewhere around ten PM and her wake time will be somewhere around seven a.m. My crew are unhappy and uncooperative if I play with them  past their bedtime or after the sun has gone down and it's very dark. Sorry for the miniature novel, and if you knew any of this I hope I didn't come across as condescending. I hope some of this was helpful. We're all here for you!
Talon
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Talon
Find me on YouTube at Crazy Robot Lady

xstar

  • Hatchling
  • Posts: 4
  • us Female
Re: Excessive Chin Rubbing (Preventing Further Damage?)
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2015, 12:03:13 PM »

...
are you offering the correct leaf? There are three leaves included with the basic pack. the one you want to give her is the conifer leaf. I'm totally blind so... um I'm not sure how to describe it to you. It's surface is very... um lined- sort of separated into needles. *Shrug* It kind of reminds me of a Christmas tree. If you are offering the mint leaf, they will not take that one at all unless they're sick. The mint leaf has a ruffled edge. If you are offering the rubber training leaf, it has no RFID chip and she will not recognize it as food. The training leaf looks a little like a maple leaf but with some red in it- it sort of has an Autumn look to it. Oh and you can't just shove the leaf into her mouth, she has to recognize it as food so put it under her chin first. When she raises her head to take it, then put it into her mouth and she will crunch on it.

Oh my goodness! I think you already helped a ton! I don't know why I made the assumption but I've been trying to give her the maple leaf all along as a food source. No wonder why she never wanted to eat.

I've already offered the correct leaf (the conifer) as you suggested and she has already eaten five times.

Maybe this is really the problem after all.

Wow, I can't believe I got those things all mixed up like that! Thank you so very, very much.
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Talon

  • Cretaceous pleo master
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  • Pleo(s): Cato and Samantha (Pleo RB‘s), Eugobe, Terry, Cuddles, Bleu (Ugobe Pleos)
    • Lucy
Re: Excessive Chin Rubbing (Preventing Further Damage?)
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2015, 07:36:46 AM »

No problem. That's what we're here for. Just as a further tip, to insure she is full, feed her the leaf until she burps or turns her head away when you offer it. Hopefully she'll be less stressed now. Let us know if you have any more questions or have any further trouble.
Talon
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Talon
Find me on YouTube at Crazy Robot Lady

InmemoryofRomeo

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Re: Excessive Chin Rubbing (Preventing Further Damage?)
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2015, 01:00:27 PM »

Another thing you can do is get a teeny tiny bit of olive oil and rub it on the chin lol, should stop it being so 'grippy'. But I'm sure a full tummy will help :)
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