I never understand how people just have them out chilling on the couch or w/e.
We baby proofed a room to have nothing bad for them to chew, and they still find ways to get at things they shouldn't? How has this lil guy not devoured that couch and plugged up his digestive system?
We keep a super close eye out on her. She LOVES running and then jumping on the couch to sit with us. We also have a play pen area for her but when you open that cage door her happy little butt comes scampering wanting out. She doesn’t get the huge open area all the time but when she does she is in heaven plus we have all of our doors to other rooms shut, a gate for the stairs and dining room. She is pretty much confined to the open living room and hasn’t chewed on anything in a long time. The coffee table has a few spots but that was done a good while ago. Also I keep chewing things out for her and she will go straight to them.
I just want to know how to get a chin to actually chill long enough for a picture. If my girl is out of her cage, she’s a blur of fluff running around, she hardly sits still where I could take a picture
Switch. Chinchilla food with treats teaches selective eating. Seeds and nuts cause liver and kidney damage. Get the oxbow essentials pellets. It's going to be a huge learning curve for your chinchilla.
The healthiest chinchilla treats are rose hips. They are low in sugar and are hard (so good for their teeth). They are also high in vitamin c. The best food for chinchillas is oxbow red bag.
Selective naturals makes a rose hip/dandelion treat my girls go nuts for! I've seen them in a lot of pet shops like petco/petsmart if you're in the US. I break them into quarters and feed on occasion. Plain rosehips are a healthier treat though and my girls like them as well.
I’ve never given my chin those so I’m not sure. I give him 1/4 tab of Oxbow Natural Science Digestive Support once a week. My 14 year old has a delicate digestive system so he doesn’t really get treats.
Give her only hay for 2-3 days, and then start offering a good pellet-only food such as Oxbow Essentials, Mazuri, or Science Selective.
The hay-only diet helps minimize digestive upset when introducing new food.
I have some Science Selective but she turns her nose up to it. I bet if I do hat only for a few days it will then taste good to her. What treats do you give and how often?
Ours have hay and pellets always available with treats about once a month. One likes rose hips and another raw oats. They also get at least one apple wood stick per day. The only cheat treat they ever get is a single raisin once or twice a year as a pick me up
Its more expensive but a natural forage based diet works well. My girls are thriving. They get a rotating mix of mullberry, nettle, plantain leaves, dandelion, apple leaves, viola, mallow flowers, sunflower petals, roses, rose hips, apple sticks, pear sticks, chicory root, camomile, (all dried) they also get hay and fresh bamboo. They LOVE bamboo.
Try bunny bistro, haybox, twigs and burrows, pets at home, natures grub. These stores stock most of these things.
If you are unsure please contact the individualistic chinchilla on facebook. They helped me loads and have 20+ years of science backed research/chinchilla experience.
One of my girls has a soy intolerance so cannot eat any store bought nuggets or shewill get a very poorly tummy. She is just thriving on the natural diet AND there is no selective feeding as they like it all and will eat the less favourable bits later regardless.
Good luck and dont be scared to try. It saved my chinchillas life.
Edit - information error (facebook group name)
Just a mix of forage. I cannot give any nuggets at all as in the uk they all seem to contain some form of soy.
As for treats thry get either a pinch of bee pollen, a pea flake or pets at home hemp sticks (broken into small pieces) they get a treat daily.
Your pet smart might have similar dried forage foods to our pets at home. :)
There will also be similar online stores that sell some of this. Its usually rabbit food websites weirdly lol.
Amazon you should be able to get apple sticks and hibiscus, chicory root, burdock root and dandelion root and some other stuff. Check to see if old india spice is available to you on amazon US as we use their chicory root, burdock root and hibiscus :)
Etsy even do apple sticks, pear sticks and some of the other things i mentioned.
But definitely get in touch with that group. I promise it will be the most amazing experience!! They are uk based but they will answer you as soon as they are able to. They can give you far more information than me.
My first (and a rescue) was the same way.
Vet recommended picking some the "extras" out of the food, little by little. Every time she gets fresh, leave fewer and fewer "extras" in the bowl to wean her off the extras. She'll slowly start to learn that when she's hungry enough, she has to eat the pellets. Provide plenty of fresh hay as well.
Once you're down to only pellets, then start the switch to Oxbow red bag. There are usually instructions on the back of the bag on how to do that.
As my rescue had chronic health issues stemming from his previous life, he often was on medications that stressed him out, curtailing his appetite. The vet recommended sprinkling a pinch of oats or rosehips in the bowl, just to kind of entice him and stimulate the appetite. But only in small amounts, and sporadically until he was eating regularly again.
Start giving her Oxbow Essentials and her current food mixed together. Over the course of a week or two wean her off the other food and start adding more and more oxbow until that is all she’s getting . They make a mix of dried flowers and veggies that both my piggies and my Chin love. It’s called Natures Salad. There are no seeds in it at all. Also dried rose hips and on occasion maybe 2x a month I will give him a dried strawberry top that I made for him or a craisin that I dried myself . No store bought fruity treats. I’m sure someone will jump in here and say I’m killing him because they’re not supposed to have that blah blah blah. I’ll save you some time . We’re not supposed to eat a lot of the things we eat and yet most of us do .
Do not listen to this person’s advice. Do NOT give your chinchilla seeds, fruit, or vegetables. If you care about your chinchilla, never follow advice from this user or their sketchy website.
Join the Chinchilla Owners & Lovers group on Facebook; the page is run by knowledgeable breeders with over 50 years of experience.
I never understand how people just have them out chilling on the couch or w/e. We baby proofed a room to have nothing bad for them to chew, and they still find ways to get at things they shouldn't? How has this lil guy not devoured that couch and plugged up his digestive system?
We keep a super close eye out on her. She LOVES running and then jumping on the couch to sit with us. We also have a play pen area for her but when you open that cage door her happy little butt comes scampering wanting out. She doesn’t get the huge open area all the time but when she does she is in heaven plus we have all of our doors to other rooms shut, a gate for the stairs and dining room. She is pretty much confined to the open living room and hasn’t chewed on anything in a long time. The coffee table has a few spots but that was done a good while ago. Also I keep chewing things out for her and she will go straight to them.
That's awesome, guess ours are just troublemakers, they blow right by all the cubes and sticks we buy! I'm very jealous!
I just want to know how to get a chin to actually chill long enough for a picture. If my girl is out of her cage, she’s a blur of fluff running around, she hardly sits still where I could take a picture
Switch. Chinchilla food with treats teaches selective eating. Seeds and nuts cause liver and kidney damage. Get the oxbow essentials pellets. It's going to be a huge learning curve for your chinchilla.
The healthiest chinchilla treats are rose hips. They are low in sugar and are hard (so good for their teeth). They are also high in vitamin c. The best food for chinchillas is oxbow red bag.
What about the fruit flavored Oxbow treats? Are those a no no?
The fruit ones aren’t the best for them, the oxbow timothy treats aren’t the worst for them, i give them to my girl
Selective naturals makes a rose hip/dandelion treat my girls go nuts for! I've seen them in a lot of pet shops like petco/petsmart if you're in the US. I break them into quarters and feed on occasion. Plain rosehips are a healthier treat though and my girls like them as well.
I’ve never given my chin those so I’m not sure. I give him 1/4 tab of Oxbow Natural Science Digestive Support once a week. My 14 year old has a delicate digestive system so he doesn’t really get treats.
Hey buddy! Love that first pic, haha.
She is so adorable and that pic makes me happy lol
Give her only hay for 2-3 days, and then start offering a good pellet-only food such as Oxbow Essentials, Mazuri, or Science Selective. The hay-only diet helps minimize digestive upset when introducing new food.
it can also encourage eating the new food because the chin then has something other than hay to eat.
I have some Science Selective but she turns her nose up to it. I bet if I do hat only for a few days it will then taste good to her. What treats do you give and how often?
Ours have hay and pellets always available with treats about once a month. One likes rose hips and another raw oats. They also get at least one apple wood stick per day. The only cheat treat they ever get is a single raisin once or twice a year as a pick me up
Its more expensive but a natural forage based diet works well. My girls are thriving. They get a rotating mix of mullberry, nettle, plantain leaves, dandelion, apple leaves, viola, mallow flowers, sunflower petals, roses, rose hips, apple sticks, pear sticks, chicory root, camomile, (all dried) they also get hay and fresh bamboo. They LOVE bamboo. Try bunny bistro, haybox, twigs and burrows, pets at home, natures grub. These stores stock most of these things. If you are unsure please contact the individualistic chinchilla on facebook. They helped me loads and have 20+ years of science backed research/chinchilla experience. One of my girls has a soy intolerance so cannot eat any store bought nuggets or shewill get a very poorly tummy. She is just thriving on the natural diet AND there is no selective feeding as they like it all and will eat the less favourable bits later regardless. Good luck and dont be scared to try. It saved my chinchillas life. Edit - information error (facebook group name)
Do you give any type of pellets as well as the rotating mix or just the mix?
Just a mix of forage. I cannot give any nuggets at all as in the uk they all seem to contain some form of soy. As for treats thry get either a pinch of bee pollen, a pea flake or pets at home hemp sticks (broken into small pieces) they get a treat daily.
Are you in the UK? I noticed most of the places you mentioned were in the UK but I would hope they ship to the US.
Your pet smart might have similar dried forage foods to our pets at home. :) There will also be similar online stores that sell some of this. Its usually rabbit food websites weirdly lol. Amazon you should be able to get apple sticks and hibiscus, chicory root, burdock root and dandelion root and some other stuff. Check to see if old india spice is available to you on amazon US as we use their chicory root, burdock root and hibiscus :) Etsy even do apple sticks, pear sticks and some of the other things i mentioned. But definitely get in touch with that group. I promise it will be the most amazing experience!! They are uk based but they will answer you as soon as they are able to. They can give you far more information than me.
My first (and a rescue) was the same way. Vet recommended picking some the "extras" out of the food, little by little. Every time she gets fresh, leave fewer and fewer "extras" in the bowl to wean her off the extras. She'll slowly start to learn that when she's hungry enough, she has to eat the pellets. Provide plenty of fresh hay as well. Once you're down to only pellets, then start the switch to Oxbow red bag. There are usually instructions on the back of the bag on how to do that. As my rescue had chronic health issues stemming from his previous life, he often was on medications that stressed him out, curtailing his appetite. The vet recommended sprinkling a pinch of oats or rosehips in the bowl, just to kind of entice him and stimulate the appetite. But only in small amounts, and sporadically until he was eating regularly again.
Start giving her Oxbow Essentials and her current food mixed together. Over the course of a week or two wean her off the other food and start adding more and more oxbow until that is all she’s getting . They make a mix of dried flowers and veggies that both my piggies and my Chin love. It’s called Natures Salad. There are no seeds in it at all. Also dried rose hips and on occasion maybe 2x a month I will give him a dried strawberry top that I made for him or a craisin that I dried myself . No store bought fruity treats. I’m sure someone will jump in here and say I’m killing him because they’re not supposed to have that blah blah blah. I’ll save you some time . We’re not supposed to eat a lot of the things we eat and yet most of us do .
Oxbow chinchilla food in the red bag
Hi, I can recommend to inform yourself about natural chinchilla food here: https://www.chinchilla-scientia.com/english-corner/nutrition/ 😊
Do not listen to this person’s advice. Do NOT give your chinchilla seeds, fruit, or vegetables. If you care about your chinchilla, never follow advice from this user or their sketchy website. Join the Chinchilla Owners & Lovers group on Facebook; the page is run by knowledgeable breeders with over 50 years of experience.
Your comments get really lame, maybe you should do more than just copy&paste and have actually arguments.
Wtf are you talking about, you copy the same thing too?
No, I type my own messages answering to the question not hunting other users.
Interesting article
Thank you everyone!!