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Feeding Your Chinchilla
Many chinchillas are bought from pet shops who know nothing about nutrition and feeding for chinchillas. Many uneducated startup breeders also dont know much about proper feeding. They will tell you to buy perhaps a mix. This mix will contain a multitude of treats along with what looks like chinchilla or rabbit pellets. This means the chinchilla will eat all the unsuitable treats and leave the pellets which are all the chinchilla really needs. Surely common sense will tell you that it wrong? That you are asking for problems in later life? As you will no doubt have read somewhere, chinchillas love to chew on wood. Would you like to chew wood as a way of keeping your teeth worn down? No, I am sure you would not. Yet a chinchilla by nature and habit loves doing this. So, think before you decide to give foods that we eat! Please.
You have paid a lot of money to buy that chinchilla and the cage so why then feed it wrongly? Chewing materials. My chinchillas are given new wood every few week. *note below the difference.
old wood New wood
If you were a chinchilla which would you chew one? old? new?
Feeding
To feed your chinchilla, simply fill a feed cup with chinchilla pellets (fortified alfalfa pellets), which are available at your pet store. If it knows food is available regularly, a chinchilla will eat 1 to 2 tablespoons of the pellets daily. Make sure the food stays clean and fresh. Feeding the wrong food may not show in early years if you are not actually breeding, However in future years the problems will start to show. Weak bones, diabetes, teeth problems, dull fur, obesety the list is endless. A chinchilla does not know right from wrong. It is up to you to be educated enough to be a responsible owner. Avoid high-fat foods such as sunflower seeds and peanuts. I was told many years ago by a breeder called Arthur T Sweeney that nuts which were high in fat could result in a chinchilla being sterile. Do not buy other food such as you see in pet shops sometimes which looks like food for guinea pigs or hamsters. They do like as a treat a sultana or raisin, however care should be taken when doing this. It is after all a sugary food, so feed only occasionally. Recently I have noticed some owners at sites are now feeding their chinchillas millet seed and spray. May I also remind this is VERY high in fat. The nutritional need of a chinchilla food should be as near this example as possible.
PROTEIN - 16% - 18% FIBRE - 12.5% OIL - 3.5% ASH - 9.6% Vitamin A - 14.000 Vitamin E - 80 Vitamin D - 32.400 high protein soya Grass meal Oat feed Wheat feed Linseed extra vitamins and also minerals Molasses can be included for 'bonding'
When feeding treats, never add to the food dish. Instead give by hand. Otherwise the wise chinchilla will only pick out the treats to eat. Another food they need daily is good quality meadow hay, or Timothy hay. (not straw) , which will help satisfy the animal's need to gnaw and keep its teeth in excellent condition. .They need a supply of good quality hay every day. The reason being that in the wild they live on tough high altitude vegetation, this requires them to eat continually in order to satisfy their nutritional requirement. Nature provided them with continually growing and erupting teeth to allow for the damage caused by the roughness of the diet. Over the last ten years I've been dismayed to see owners and also suppliers of food have been altering that. Much to the harm of the chinchilla's teeth.
The recent trend of feeding soft treats and mixed diets such as the mixes results in lack of the much needed gnawing of back molars causing the natural continual growing of teeth to get out of control.
This then causes spikes and ridges to form on the cheek teeth. These ridges prevent normal much needed side to side gnawing and chewing movements and, in time, cause sores to the soft tissues of the mouth resulting in severe pain and weight loss. it's then no wonder the poor chinchilla can't eat properly.
Put simply Hay is one of the best things to aid a good gnawing action (sorry for long winded explanation. timothy or meadow hay is an excellent natural source both for digestion and teeth. A chinchilla need a plain diet, their digestion is upset by too many changes. Alfalfa hay is a bit too high in protien for a chinchilla, so feed sparingly. Twice a week is sufficient.
Your chinchilla may also like to chew on blocks of untreated white pine.
Also note a high carbohydrate diet interferes with fermentation in the gut, thus causing change in the pH and altering the balance of the good flora, sometimes causing Enteritis.
Any change in normal gram positive flora may lead to other causes of Enteritis. Another reason for Enteritis can be Salmonella* Giardia Lamblia* Coccidia*. These will require quick treatment from a Veterenarian.
They also love apple or pear branches. Care should be taken to ensure the bark is stripped off first to ensure no pollution if you don't know the source of the branches. If none used on the tree then bake with bark still on in a slow oven for a few hours after scrubbing in water to remove any bird-droppings etc. Willow is another wood chinnies love and is easily found to buy on bunny websites.
Many pet stores in UK sell willow product as play toys for your chinchilla. Remember though it will not last long. Always check the composition for dye and chemical addatives before you buy a toy.
To provide water, attach a water bottle with drinking tube to the outside of the cage. Be sure to keep the bottle filled with fresh water daily. The bottle should also be sterilised in baby bottle steriliser or boiling water at least once a week to discourage growth of algae. (green slime)
Also NOTE*** keep water bottle high so that chinchilla has to stretch upwards to get a drink and not low where it has to lower it's head to drink. This helps guard against bloat by lessening the risk of air being swallowed with the water. If you have babies in a cage with mum? put a bottle low for them but still high enough so that they do not have to bend down to drink. ****
We now make a variety of wooden chew toys to help keep you chinchilla's teeth in good condition
email me @ kingdomchinchillas@blueyonder.co.uk
We had a rather heated discussion (June 2004) on Kingdom Chinchillas msn group about chinchilla treats.
I must admit I was totally shocked at what some members fed their chinchillas on.
One post on the question about treats read thus: Both my chin and my rabbit go crazy over pumpernickel bread. Haven't had Chilly (chin) long so I don't really know. I know that he doesn't like spaghetti sauce! (my other babes love it so I offered him a taste)
Aileen replied: Chins should not get bananas and spaghetti sauce.It is not their natural diet and too much soft food will land up with them getting tooth problems.They are best kept to the right food for chins.
To which said member replied: lol Aileen I know that chins shouldn't eat spaghetti sauce...but a tiny taste of anything once in a great while won't hurt.
Pumpernickel is like rye bread but a stronger, slightly different taste. Well it depends on the brand, some are very different tasting. All I know is it's good. :)
Another member came in with 'treats' she allows her chinchilla to eat: Charlie loves dates,apricots,wine gums and rose petals for treats, weird i know but thats Chaz 4 ya!
These two posts then opened up a rather heated exchange. One of the members post was in fact not passed through the moderated stage as she more or less started a slanging match by flaming Aileen for being silly for suggesting chins should not have spaghetti sauce and a taste of everything humans eat.
As our long standing members will remember it was decided at a meeting a while ago to add a page with rules of conduct after just such a deflamatory remark by a previous member who was then banned for flaming members.
The first member mentioned above has since left out group after reading some of the posts which followed hers. A shame really because the aim of Kingdom Chinchillas group is to educate and help owners to better realise a chinchillas actual 'needs' and also to add to the well being and health of chinchillas.
As Sonya pointed out: I'm not trying to be a downer on this thread and I know how cute it is when our chins beg, but I agree with Aileen and Mum. You shouldn't even be giving your chins a taste of something outside their regular diet of good chinchilla pellets and timothy hay. Kirby gets one raisin every other day and I know Aileen gives a small piece of apple to her chins once a week. Like Mum said, their systems are very fragile and I know Kirby gets along just fine with what he eats. No health problems (knock on wood) and I never have to worry about something blocking him up like seeds or nuts. So please, think twice before feeding your chinnie something outside of their normal diet. You might think they are getting bored with their pellets and hay, but it is the best thing for them and they will be fine. Your chinnie wants love and attention more than anything. So please give them a free run as a treat versus food.
On this comment by Sonya I end the story here. True words indeed.
Soft squishy dropping are usually symtoms of wrong feeding and too many treats!
treat you can give.(not all at the same time!)
remember, a chinchillas tummy is small in comparision with yours! a thumb sized piece and one treat only not all on the same day.
ryvita: 1-grape: thumb size piece of apple: dried apple: raisin: carrot:
alfalfa small amount twice per week: 1-dried rose hip: a sprinkle dried rolled oats:
A good tip from member Raven Blair.
I don't know if you guys have it where you are but in canada we have chin pellets and then pellets with treats called cocktail and theyre treats for chins like dried apricots dried banana chips and rasins and these little things that look like cheereos that have vitamins and stuff that chins need. I pick out all the treats and put in the pellets and then I've got tons of treats to give that are good for her and I give her a couple once in a while . Shes quite happy eating those she loves her wood chews for her teeth and lava blocks she is a real begger but Id never think twice about giving her a treat I just assume everything is bad for them and only give them those treats I listed above. I've given her shreddies with out anything on them just normal shreddies the rivita bread once or twice and 1 cheereo and she didn't like the cheerio so thats about all I've let her try that isn't pellets. Shes very affectionate with me now she hears me come down stairs or open the door and shes climbing all over the front of the cage. She loves a scratch around the ears she still hates to be held and fights it like crazy but she loves to be petted she has finally completely warmed up to me I'm really happy.
© Kingdom Chinchillas 2004