Yummy hair!

[Godofgods]

I found this odd and felt like sharing.

I was walking by my girls cage in the dark and saw what looked like a piece of poop. But it seems kind furry so i was curious. I turned on the light and saw it was a piece of chin hair. It looked like it was presicly removed. Not torn or folded up or anything; pristine.

So i wanted to see who it came from. The first out of the hut to check out what i was doing was Ameena. Shes a beige and her fur was far to light to be the owner of what i found. The other two chins look like twins so i new i wouldn't rly be able to tell which one of the two of them that this came from.

But one of them came out of the hut and i held the hair in my palm up next to them to compare color. She turned her head toward the hair, sniffed it, then quickly ate it! :wacko: lol

Well there was no more comparing after that, but i was quite surprised by her actions. And by the speed in which she did it lol. I found it quite odd. - I checked them both afterwards and didn't see anything wrong with them.

 

[ninjaturtletayy]

I thought Stanley was the only one! I have a fluffy white cat that sometimes leaves tuffs of fur around. So the other day when Stanley came out to play, I saw he was eating something and it turned out to be a tuff of white cat fur. As soon as I came over to take it from him he ate it as fast as he could too. I was so worried it would mess with his tummy. But so far, poops are normal.

 

[AZChins]

I'm seen chins eat loose fur dozens of times. I can't tell you why they do it, but for some reason they will eat a mat that they find or a loose piece they find here or there. Each time I can't help but think that it can't possibly be very tasty. It won't hurt them to do it unless they are eating a whole lot of fur all at once and then it could potentially cause a problem.

 

[akane]

They probably do it as a fiber source. Lots of people who feed carnivorous animals raw diets like to leave the fur or feathers on because they help move other stuff through the digestive tract. Barbering by herd animals or feather plucking by birds can be a sign of a diet too low in protein or fiber.

The hair comes out pristine because chins can release chunks of fur when stressed or bitten by another chin. They just slip it away without it breaking or anything. It helps them escape. My more spastic nervous male does it all the time. There's white tufts left behind every time you handle him and for days after I put him with a different female.

 

[Newt]

Rosey fur chews occasionally, and has also eaten her own fur slips. Sometimes, when she's on my shoulder, she tries to grab and eat chunks of my hair too!