Awkward male anatomy question...

Do male chins have scrotums? I've noticed on my mosiac male he has what appears to be a scrotum located behind his anus. Theres nothing inside of it, and it almost appears like its just loose skin. But I checked my other male chin, and he has nothing? If this was part of male anatomy, wouldn't BOTH males have the same parts? Sorry if I'm freaking over nothing, I'm just a bit concerned its not his anatomy since its not on both of them? But I'd rather ask and look like an idiot, then risk something actually being wrong.

I tried to get the best picture possible, but its really not showing up on my camera.

No, they do not have a scrotum. They have small sacs below (I think) their anus where their caudal epididymis is, but their testicles are more in their lower abdomen area. The sacs are moveable, so I'd guess they's be somewhat loose feeling.

caiti said:

No, they do not have a scrotum. They have small sacs near their anus where their caudal epididymis is, but their testicles are more in their lower abdomen area.

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Well why does my one male have it and not the other? :err:

pinkpiggy1989 said:

Well why does my one male have it and not the other? :err:

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I have no idea. I've never actually seen a male chin in person. Maybe just one has more noticeable sacs than the other? I'm sure a breeder on here can answer your question and tell you if it's of concern or not. Sorry I couldn't help!! I bet someone will soon though.

Their te4sticles drop into those little sacs, which is why someimes they are more noticable than others. One could have more noticable sac...Just like in any species there can be slight individual differences

I was under the impression that their actual testicles weren't in the sacs--that would make them scrotums. But their epididymis lay in those sacs, which is connected to their testicles but I read their testicles are in their inguinal canal.

Some males also have larger testicles, making their sacs larger and more visable when the testicles are retracted. No two chinchillas are made equal, so just because you find something on one chin does not mean it should be the same on another chinchilla.

ETA: They do have sacs of some kind located on either side of their outer sex characteristics. The "sacs" or loose skin can sometimes "move" when the chinchilla changes positions so that you notice more of the wrinkled, loose skin near the anus. Typically the wrinkled, loose, sac-like skin is covered in fur on either side of the male's penis and anus so it is not readily visible.

If they are warm and really comfortable, and sitting on a ledge, you can sometimes see their LPCBs hanging down. :thumbsup: That's what I miss most with my neutered boys!!!

Lynn & The Chins said:

If they are warm and really comfortable, and sitting on a ledge, you can sometimes see their LPCBs hanging down. :thumbsup: That's what I miss most with my neutered boys!!!

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Lol Lynn, I can see Zim's sometimes, and I think i've posted a couple of pics of him on here before and you pointed that out also hahaha.

Lynn & The Chins said:

If they are warm and really comfortable, and sitting on a ledge, you can sometimes see their LPCBs hanging down. :thumbsup: That's what I miss most with my neutered boys!!!

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Hmmm.....should we be concerned that Lynn misses seeing the sacs on her neutered chins? :shocked:

No, Carole, it's just that they're soooo cute!!!

lpcb?

You know I was going to make a thread about this too. My chinchilla has absolutely enourmous testicles! They drop periodically, generally when he's out in playtime and he gets a little heated from running around. It made me wonder, how can -anyone- confuse a male chin for a female chin, thus resulting in babies??

Rob Walker said:

lpcb?

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No...idea. I was a little afraid to ask myself.

I think lpcb=little pink chinnie balls

People mistake a female's cone for a penis if they aren't familiar with a chinchilla's anatomy. They just assume the female should not have a cone.

Unless chinchillas are very out of the norm - their testicles would not be in their inguinal canal. Typically the inguinal canal only has the ductus deferens, blood vessels, nerves and lymphatics (maybe something else that I can't pull out of my brain from behind histo and biochem) passing through it. A fully mature animal shouldn't have testicles still in the inguinal canal. And I would find it odd that the tail of their epididymis is that large to fill that whole external facing sac, but it's entirely possible.

Do you have a link to where you found that caiti?

On another note, when your boy is aroused you will see those deflated sacs not so deflated anymore. haha Is your other male younger? It doesn't start to get noticeable until they are more sexually mature.

Sycamore Chins said:

On another note, when your boy is aroused you will see those deflated sacs not so deflated anymore. haha Is your other male younger? It doesn't start to get noticeable until they are more sexually mature.

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Nope. Bentley(the one 'showing') is barely 3, and Beebo is going on 5-6. Lil man must be packin'! :thumbsup:

RDZCRanch said:

I think lpcb=little pink chinnie balls

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:rofl: :hilarious: :laughitup:

Alicyn--I know it is rather strange anatomy. I remembered reading it in several papers, but the one I cited it in my presentation for reproduction class was: Spotorno,
Angel 
et
al
(2004)
Chinchilla
 laniger. 
Mammalian
 Species/American
 Society 
of 
Mammalogists.
758,
1‐9
There's a link to the article on the article section in this forum actually (I could have saved some time if I looked there first!!)
I may be wrong, and these papers may be wrong (I deleted all my bookmarks to the other papers after I turned in my presentation since I had so many and only needed one to cite a fact from) but my teacher has yet to correct me if they are. Don't know if he would have in front of people anyways.

Testes are relatively large. Those from 4 wild mature males
were 21–29 mm long (mean 5 26.2), with mass of 3.0–5.1 g (mean
5 4.3). C. laniger lacks a true scrotum; instead, testes are contained
within inguinal canal, and caudal epididymis can drop into
small moveable postanal sacs. Inguinal canal is open (Weir 1970)

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EDIT: ok I attached the PDF so you don't have to go searching for it, hehe.

Lynn & The Chins said:

No, Carole, it's just that they're soooo cute!!!

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Houdini's cage is right next to my computer. When he's hopping around and I catch a glimpse of his sacs, I'm surprised. "What the......oh, yeah." is usually my response.