Many vegetables are completely off limits. Chinchillas typically consume most of their diet in the early mornings or later at night due to being crepuscular.
Crepuscular simply means that a chinchilla is most active with natural light cycles at dusk and dawn. Keep this in mind when offering any permitted vegetables such as certain greens like lettuce.
Clearly, none of us want to see our chinchilla go through this, so always keep tabs on the situation when offering new treats to your chinchilla. And always ensure they have plenty of fresh, clean water at their disposal when they need it. While this may be somewhat overkill, it makes me feel relieved that she has plenty of water at all times.
And that if I have a slip of memory one day and forget to fill or top off one water bottle, she still has a backup water bottle to drink from. If you want to read more about the best water bottles you can use for your chinchilla, you can view my post here. The next topic is something I discuss in many posts on this website. Sticking to the basics is always the best for your chinchilla. This consists of hay and pellets. This is what your chinchilla primarily needs to live a long and healthy live.
Use a reliable hay feeder and the correctly formulated chinchilla pellets and keep the rest of the items you can offer your chinchilla at minimums, and your chinchilla will be in good shape and healthy. If you need to learn more about the best hay you can get your chinchilla, you can view my post here. You can also catch up and read about chinchilla pellets here. I know the feeling, and it can be tempting.
Due to this, I wanted to provide a quick recap of some of the safe vegetables that you are clear to offer your chinchilla. Here is that quick list of vegetables that we discussed previously that your chinchilla should never have:.
Chinchillas need safe items to chew inside of their cage, and you can even provide these items when your chinchilla is out for playtime. This means they produce two types of poo. Donate Menu. Get help. Find us. Your Chinchilla's diet Our vets' advice. Feeding your Chinchillas. The best diet for your chinchillas will include: As much high quality hay or grass as they want to eat.
It helps keep their teeth and digestive system healthy Commercial chinchilla nuggets, which you can buy from pet shops. These have the right mix of nutrients for your chinchilla.
Follow the feeding guidelines on the packet — it should be around g for an adult. Fresh greens — around a teaspoon a day per chinchilla Fresh herbs and leafy greens as a small daily treat. Later in the post, we will show you how much hay, pellets, greens and fruit your chinchillas should ideally eat per day. Feeding greens and vegetables in large quantities can upset the nutritional balance of the hay and pellets you are providing to your chinchilla. Greens and veggies that would usually be considered really healthy choices for most animals can be harmful to chinchillas as nutrients such as calcium can cause unwanted health problems if consumed too often and in large quantities.
Below we have listed the most common greens that your chinchillas can safely eat in moderation as part of a healthy and balanced diet. Please remember that there are hundreds of greens and vegetables from around the world. For this reason, we have chosen to list the most common greens and veggies that owners often choose to feed their chinchillas and that we can validate are safe using veterinary sources such as the PDSA. Fruits should only ever be offered as a treat to your chinchilla.
The problem is that the majority of fruits are high enough in sugar to cause your chinchilla digestive problems amongst other things so only a handful are really considered safe enough to eat even in small quantities.
The list below contains the fruits that chinchillas can eat in moderation and as part of a balanced diet…. Apart from the fruits that we mentioned above, that can be offered in really small quantities, there are a handful of foods that are considered healthy enough to feed to your chinchilla as treats.
Remember that treats are only supposed to be offered sparingly and not in large amounts daily. Rope Hips are considered one of the healthiest treats you can offer your chinchilla. They are extremely high in fibre while offering low amounts of sugar. Hibiscus is known to be a healthy treat for chinchillas if offered in small quantities and is often used in commercial chinchilla treats. The popular cereal Cheerios are also seen as a treat that chinchillas can eat due to their dried nature and high amounts of fibre.
You can find out exactly which variety of Cheerios is safe to feed to your chinchilla right here… We researched all popular varieties and only recommend feeding your chinchilla these 2 varieties. We have created a list of common foods that chinchilla owners regularly contemplate feeding their chinchilla. The foods below are considered unsafe or too unhealthy to feed to your chinchilla and therefore should be avoided….
Like most rodents, chinchillas love to chew things. Providing your chinchilla with safe wood for them to chew on is the best and most convenient option. Anu wood sticks you offer your chin needs to be from non-toxic trees and free from pesticides.
You can either purchase wood sticks from a store or collect your own. If you decide to collect your own wood then you need to make sure you do a few things before handing it over to your chinchilla. There is often a lot of confusion about if chinchillas actually need water. This is because chins can get ill if they are exposed to large amounts of water on their fur.
Water should be provided in the form of a water bottle rather than a bowl as this is much more hygienic for your chinchilla. You can check out the water bottle we recommend you use in our new cage accessories guide here…. Take a look at this guide that shares the types of water your chinchilla can drink….
If you want to know everything you need to know about chinchilla water bottles in less than 3 minutes then check our easy to follow guide here…. Offering too much or too little of one food group can cause your chin to have digestive and even health issues.
Take a look at the guide below that details what foods your chinchilla should eat and in what quantities…. Please talk to your vet for a detailed diet plan that suits the individual needs of your pet.
Like most animals in the world, chinchillas require a variety of nutrients to be considered healthy and for their organs to work correctly. Chinchillas require large amounts of fibre in their diet for their digestive system to function correctly. Here is a breakdown of the nutrients your chinchilla needs in their diet and in what percentages…. Chinchillas have an extremely sensitive digestive system as we have already mentioned in this article.
Basic nutrients such as sugar, fat and even calcium can all cause health problems to chinchillas if they are overfed.
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