Hair Rings

Hair rings in males.  Fun fun subject.

If you're unfamiliar.... male chinchillas can get hair rings... basically, hairs wrapped around their penis, inside the sheath.  Usually, they remove them themselves, but the hairs can sometimes get so wrapped around that they require our help to remove them.

I get asked all the time how often I check.  Honestly?  Almost never. 

You know why the answer isn't literally, "never"?  Because I get people who, on occasion, ask me to show them how to do a hair ring check.  In the last, oh, 10 years... that's been the only time I've done hair ring checks.... to show people who have asked for a demonstration, this is how it's done.

Let me tell you why.  For the most part, chinchillas can remove a few stray hairs on their own.  Sure, there's the chin here or there that has a hard time with it, and gets consistent hair rings... but that's sort of the exception to the rule.  If you read stuff online, it sounds like they get them all the time, and OMG, you MUST check them all the time, in case they were to get one, and you didn't notice. 

Years ago, I used to check all my male chins every month.  If we assume maybe 1/2 the chins are male, you can imagine how much fun this is on 100ish chins.  I think I found one or two, over the course of 10 years.  They're really not all that common, and even the times when I found them... the male was paying particular attention to that area, enough that it made me check them (outside of my usual once-a-month check), and sure as shit, there was a hair ring.

Usually, they can clean off any hairs themselves, and this is what you see... I get emails allllllll the time about someone's chin pleasuring themselves, with its mouth on it's penis going up and down.  Yes, I know what it looks like, but he's cleaning himself, and no, he's not doing it to make you feel awkward.  Remove mind from gutter. 

The thing is... think of it this way.  If we get a wood splinter under our skin, and we don't have tweezers to get it out... we will keep trying to get it out cause it's bothering us.  And if we leave it alone, chances are, it will bother us again, and we'll again try to remove it... whether or not we can.  This is how hair rings are.  You notice when they're paying too much attention to that area... and that's when I would check, and that's when I would recommend that anyone checks.... if you see too much attention being paid.  Otherwise, I leave it alone.  You're welcome to check all you want, and I'm happy to show you if you'd like... but just not something that I feel has to be done all the time....