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Suitable Food


Chinchillas should be fed on a staple diet of pellets and hay. These foods are needed to keep them healthy. Treats should be an occasional extra only, and should only be fed in very small amounts e.g. 1 or 2 small bits per day. Chinchillas can also be fed occasional green foods, but these too should only be fed in very small amounts.


Pellets

Plain pellets are preferable to those with treats mixed into them, as chinchillas may eat the treats only and not the pellets that they need to stay healthy. The pellets should be stored in an air-tight container. Chinchilla pellets are available from pet shops and mail-order.

It is recommended that chinchillas should not be fed rabbit food or guinea pig pellets. Nor should they be fed nuts or many seeds. These foods are generally too fatty for chinchillas and don't contain the right balance of nutrients that they need.

The basic chinchilla diet should be somewhere near the following*:

* Nutritional information from The Chinchilla Gazette, Vol. 1 No. 2, May, 1959.

Daily allowance = 1 heaped tablespoon or 2 level tablespoons of pellets.


Hay

Hay can vary in texture, from being quite course like timothy hay, to quite soft like meadow hay. Seed hay is grown from seeds of specific grass types. It usually has the seed head of the grass attached, is often hollow and airy and harbours little dust.

Some people find that the dust from the packed hay triggers an allergy for them. Life can be made easier with hay that's compressed into biscuit-like blocks or discs.

Daily allowance = approx. 1 handful of hay per day or as needed.


Water

Chinchillas, being used to desert conditions, do not drink a lot but still need access to fresh water daily. There does not appear to be a general ruling over where the water used should come from. Most people just use plain tap water. Some people who use tap water but are concerned with the amount of chlorine and other substances in the water in their local area filter it first.

Chinchillas should be given plain, still water.
Sparkling water is unacceptable, as is flavoured water. Chinchillas can be notoriously fussy and wasteful with food, so try to keep things as simple as possible. If you give a chinchilla flavoured water, if they get a taste for it and then start rejecting the plain water then you'll have a tough job on your hands from that point onwards!


Possible Treats

Chinchillas can happily survive on pellets, hay and water only, but do like to have treats now and again. Any treats that you give a chinchilla should be low in fat and oils and low in salt. Nuts and seeds are usually very high in fats and oils, so should only be used really sparingly.

Treats should only ever be fed in small amounts. Chinchillas are no strangers to emotional blackmail and will use it on you in order to try to get more treats! If you cut the treat food up into even smaller pieces the chinchilla will think it is having more treats.

Daily allowance = 1 or 2 small treats should be ample.


Dried Fruit Pieces

Small flakes of fruit without added sugar, such as Raisin, Apple, Blackberry, Strawberry, Cherry, Papaya and Cranberry.


Vegetables

A small, washed piece of vegetable e.g. carrot, flaked pea, dandelion leaf may go down well. Too much green vegetation will give your chinchilla runny droppings which will stick to everything.

Avoid anything gas producing e.g. broccoli, cabbage...


Dried Herbs

Dried origano, mint, raspberry leaves, nettles, dandilion leaves...

If you grow your own herbs, cut them and bind the stems. Hang them upside down by the binding in a warm dry place to dry them out. Once they have completely dried out you can crush them and store them in jars.


Locust Bean Shell

This is the woody shell of the locust bean.


Cereal

Low fat and sugar free varieties, e.g. rice crispies and shreaded wheat, are suitable in small amounts.


Charcoal Nuts / Very burned Toast

These aid in digestion and help prevent problems with digestive tract. Good for chinchillas with overly soft droppings.


Liquorice Root

Broken into small pieces and used sparingly, this is a great treat for chinchillas. It is also a natural laxative, so good for chinchillas with overly hard droppings.


Rose Hips

Dried rose hips.


Alfalfa Cobs

This is a rich type of hay and is complimentary to a chinchilla's usual hay. Alfalfa cobs double up as toys which chinchillas will happily throw around their cages.