Tubby was violated .. 4 separate times:

21st of October 2009

22nd of October 2009

1st of November 2009

5th of December 2009
Since I hadn’t cleaned Tubby’s penis in awhile, this fur ring is quite thick

A common problem in non-breeding male chinchillas is fur ring, which is when fur is caught inside the sheath of the penis making it uncomfortable for the chinchillas. I noticed that one day, as Tubby was cleaning himself, there was a black-looking thing around his penis. I suspected fur ring & in order to confirm my suspicion, I had to (literally) violate him: I had to hold him still, retract the sheath of his penis, & pull his penis out. I sure did find a thick fur ring (1st picture). It must have been super uncomfortable for Tubby.

The next day, I again noticed a black-looking thing around Tubby’s penis has he was cleaning himself. He wasn’t happy when I had to clean him again; fur was slipping everywhere as he was trying to escape my grip & by the end of it all, I was covered in grey fur. The second picture shows a dirty-looking fur ring because I had to use petroleum jelly. Just as male humans may need lubricants to prevent dryness, chinchillas do too (sorry to be candid, haha!).

After the second try, I did not want to bother Tubby anymore, for fearing that he may distrust me (chinchillas can easily distrust their owner, especially after experiencing two horrible, traumatizing incidents). I noticed that his penis was slightly red (the skin was probably raw from all that cleaning) & I wanted to give him a break .. which only lasted for a little over a week, when I had to clean Tubby for the third time (3rd picture).

Not all non-breeding male chinchillas have fur rings. For instance, I have never noticed fur ring on Winnie. And some chinchillas are just better than others in cleaning themselves, while some are hopeless & need help from their human companions. As the weather is getting colder, chinchillas’ fur are becoming thicker, so fur rings may be unavoidable.

The following third party video is a guide on how to remove chinchilla’s fur ring (except it doesn’t tell how to handle a super hyper chinchilla like Tubby).