What Do Chinchillas Eat? | The Official Chinchilla Care Series
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
- The Official Chinchilla Care Series
*See below for some general pointers and timestamps!*
00:00 Intro
00:22 Pellets
02:51 Hay
05:50 Water
08:20 Treats
“What do chinchillas eat? What kinds of treats are safe? Where do I get all this stuff?”
All your diet related questions for owning chinchillas are answered in this cute, concise video being the first of our care series by the one and only Chinpals. Some general points:
1. A chinchilla’s diet should be very bland: pure pellets (no mix-ins) and fresh timothy hay
2. The brands Oxbow and Mazuri are excellent for pellets, and Oxbow, Standlee, and Small Pet Select are our favorites for timothy hay.
3. Limit treats to one small piece a day, or less; chins don’t need treats in their diet, and less is always better!
4. Avoid treats with nuts, seeds, fruits and veggies (dried or fresh), high fat, and sugar.
5. Good easy to find treats are plain cheerios, plain oats, and unfrosted mini wheats.
6. The best water bottles are glass with a spout and ball/spring, we like Lixit and Oxbow bottles!
7. Use purified water instead of tap to reduce the chances of giardia.
8. Clean your bottles once a week, and make sure you change the water in the bottles roughly every other day!
9. Whimsy's Menagerie, NOLA Chin Rescue, and Pandamonium Pets are excellent resources for safe treats, toys, and chews!
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Me literally watching this with my chinchilla on my shoulder and then she uses me as a jungle gym.
This may be the best most informative chinchilla video on youtube & with the cutest b-roll! Shout out to the chin rescues I always love supporting them!
Thank you! We love those rescues too!
We use Supreme Science Selective pellets for our boys. They've been loving them! They also have timothy hay, the occasional whole oats, and a variety of dried flowers like chamomile and rose for treats.
How cool! Yeah we’ve heard that pellet is a good one, it’s Marty’s bag! 🥰
Sorry I'm late
Chip,Finn, Knox, Linus and Henry are so adorable ❤🐭🐭🐭🐭🐭Very Educational also ♥️
thank you so much!! this summer i took my schools chinchilla home and since being back he has been grumpy and has bit anyone who has tried to hold him, beside me. so my teacher offered me to take him home! he hasn’t quite been getting proper care, he is kept in a dog crate which is very cramped and has lots of plastic in it. he luckily is getting oxbow timothy hay and mazuri food. we purchased the exotic nutrition 2 level mansion cage and we will upgrade to the 4 level cage soon. your channel has been a huge help in me preparing and finding his new cage and accessories. we are picking him up tomorrow and i couldn’t be more excited!
Our chins get a nice food mixture of dried grasses and herbs it even has a few dried fruits and veggies and it of course also comes with pellets. It even has a few thin sticks which they love to chew on!
It's quite tricky finding good chinchilla food here in Germany so we were lucky enough that the shelter where we adopted our chins recommended us this store which they used to order from so they didn't even have to get used to new food!
Omg I'm so excited I didn't kno u had a Channel on here 💖 I just found out my best friend an older lady I take care of has passed away and seeing this made my night better. Ur amazing!!! Ty 💕
My chins loved dried dandelion greens and dried rose hips, both grown in my garden so I knew what was in them! Also fresh apple tree twigs!
I’ve had a few chinchillas in my days and all of them loved the dandelion greens and apple twigs, though only a couple liked the rose hips. I’ve also tried different treat hays. Most loved the orchard grass, only a few liked the alfalfa. I can’t remember any of them liking the hay blocks. I was kinda bummed since it would have made things a lot less messy, haha.
A suggestion for the next video; cage/play area safety/set ups. The only premature chinchilla death I’ve had was when I used cedar wood chips not knowing how toxic and unsafe they were. It still chokes me up to this day. I know in the video you were talking about not having plastic in the cage and stuff, so I was thinking you could educate people about the things in a chin cage, like wheel types and litter, that are safe for your chin to have!
Yessss, ours loves dried dandelion greens! We pick them, wash them, soak up all the extra water then dehydrate them until crispy. She gobbles them up! And, they keep her regular!
Coop Cup for the win! Still bottom level, but slightly elevated to prevent peeing in the bowl.
this is a fabulous product thank you!!
I'm in the UK and have a Common Grey Chinchilla called Bella and it 11 years old (used to also have a Black Velvet Chinchilla called Boo, but she passed away 😔)
Food wise we give Bella plain pellets by Charnwood and use Timothy Hay ordered directly from a farm that grows it (dust removed).
For treats we give chinchilla friendly leaves, rose hips, dried dandelion roots, dry treats like alfalfa based tiny "biscuits" and of course various chjn friendly sticks like apple wood, willow, hawthorn, etc. We do give Bella a raisin but only very rarely, like one a month due to sugar and water content.
We have a glass water bottle and use tap water (it's drinking water in the UK from the cold tap), a ceramic bowl and hay is put in a wire mesh holder but thats built into the cage and can't be sat on by our chin. We also a tile for cooling down on, a box to sleep in, a tube and lots and lots of seagrass mats for hop time. I'm going to build some new platform and box toys out of kiln dried pine as well.
Before I get Bella anything, I make sure it's Chinchilla safe (I check, double check, triple check and check again). My lil Bella is precious and I make sure she has lots of playtime, chin safe food and toys. One of us is usually up with her throughout the night so she gets at least 4 hours of hop time, if not 6-8 hours or when she's decided sheshad enough.
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Omg!...the way u were making ur statement about how good and healthy there little pellets were at :28/30 seconds, and how he dropped his pellet like "this is shit!"...was perfect timing 😂😅....omg...I'm rolling...Linus is my fav but this lil Dark horse is rising the ranks 😊
Super informative! Wish I had a video like this when we got our chins.
I bought a chinny book from pet store after reading several books at pet store.
I use the Oxbow pellets and western timothy hay!
I’m getting my chinchillas in 9 days, thank you! You have helped me understand what I need to look after a chinchilla.
Please do another live soon
So happy to hear that! Hoping to do another this month!
How is it going.
We have a puppy "tent" that we can play with him in and let him climb on us and sometimes on our heads. His favorite treat is selective naturals woodland loops they have multiple kinds but dandelion and rosehip are his favorite and if you feed them to your chinchilla only give them half a day
This video makes me miss my chinchillas and degus very much. RIP.
Much success to you and your family always.
I mix oats and crushed rosehips and dispense with a baby spoon for proper size proportion!
excellent tip!!! :)
My 16 year old son has a gorgeous chinchilla, our first one. He is 6 months old, we called him Gizmo. We got him y'day, cant believe how soft and lovely there fur is. ❤❤ You video is amazing thank you. 😊
I love this! Such a well made and informative video 🥰
Mostly Well done.
I'd add that any glass bottle that has a "floaty" in it - you should remove the floaty.
I personally prefer not to use spring loaded bottles. Some springs are too strong for chins.
Big concern: Those cereals you mention DO contain processed white sugar and a lot of sodium (example cheerios first five ingredients: Whole Grain Oats, Corn Starch, Sugar, Salt). Processed white sugar is not readily dealt with by a chinchilla's liver. Even fruit sugars should be limited. Plain rolled oats would make a better choice if you're going to treat with oat based treats.. etc.
These are great points made, thank you!!!
Awesome, and most importantly, accurate information! Keep these videos coming, they are Calcifer & Odin approved ♥️👏👏👏
Thank you so much for this educational video!!!❤️❤️❤️
I recently switched from Oxbow (I'm very disappointed in them for their "other" brand of chin feed they put out a while back), to a brand from my own country with the same ingredients and that is recommended by certified breeders. It is also like half the price because it doesn't need to be imported from overseas 😅 .
Dried rosehips and oats are my go to treats 💪🏽 recently adopted a mother/daughter duo(I was getting lonely with only one chin left after 20 years of having multiple) that seems to have been given ....urgh...raisins... All their life, they're loving rosehips and oats tho ❤️
Loving the content from you! Keep it going 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Linus is THE king 👑
Glad someone is doing a series!
We used oxbow until we noticed our one chin wasent eating at much so we switched to Missouri.
Great accurate info in this video
We use oxbow food and hay for our chin with cheerios hand fed as treats
Great chinchilla information! Thank you! 🐭
My chin goes crazy for popcorn. Also he refused to drink from the bottle. I got a elevated water dish and he does well and keeps himself dry.
We were told to keep them on the same food as the pet store had them on because changing their diet too young/quickly can cause rectal prolapse that can lead to death.
Our chinchillas loved romaine lettuce, and a few other lettuce.
Oxbow all the way best ingredients and readily available however Oxbow hay is very inconsistent because sometimes you get a good batch and other times its full of brown pieces that's my only problem with them.
I tried any and all types of hay, and none of my girls will eat it. Dried herbs, flower petals, vegetables, rose hips, carob, hibiscus etc. are much preferred, as well as leaves from apple, pear and cherry trees. If I want to make sure they stay hydrated, especially in the summer, I go and get portulaca, maidenhair, golliwogg, tradescantia, topinambur, echinacea etc. from the garden. In general I just get a lot of stuff from out garden, just gotta make sure it's save for chinchillas and not to give them too much fresh greens if they're not used to it. Dried topinambur sticks are great too all year round
You should do a video on chinchilla dust baths and what’s needed for them!
I have two and one of them hates pellets I've tried everything she is very picky and only likes the best part in the food which is the treats. She is mean also but nice when she wants things. My other is young fun who loves to be picked up and plays and loves pellets. Both different budgets
Im glad I found this video because my brother said he was going to buy one so I sent him this so he can no how to properly take care of the chinchilla
Very informational. Question? What smells can they stand vs cannot stand(Pine Sol, Ecolab, Furniture polish scents, bleach etc)
P.S. you forgot about the Timothy sticks and apple sticks!?
I'm thinking of getting a chinchilla for my birthday and this helps so much
Same!
Im new to this and thank you for the information
I would love some tips of websites to buy cage accessories! :) I love your content and you inspire me to be the best chin-dad I can be!
Cages will be our next video! And the three sites i mentioned in this video for toys and treats also have cage stuff!! We also love woodnstuffga on Etsy!
Her, "cheerwewoes" are her favorite, not sure if honeynut ones are too bad seeing as they are offered less than one single cheerio per every few days.
Correct me if Im wrong though, making the switch is no issue.
I agree with everything except the fruits and veggies statement. Raisins are often unhealthy but they RARELY kill chinchillas outside of seizures. Chinchillas in the wild have being recorded eating copao fruit.
Goji berries are my lil girls faves and apple sticks
Love this!!
watching even though I don't have a chinchilla 🥰
Very informative! I'm not sure if we have this brands on EU but i'll have a look of them! I really like your videos/tiktoks/instagram posts, i always learn a lot from them :)
I was wondering tho, i usually give my chins Versele Laga Pellets (Versele Laga chinchilla complete, the pink one that has herbs+timothy) with no extra stuff for them to select and no added sugar but still now im unsure if those are a good choice) and same brand treats (Versele laga Crock Complete Herbs) and now i'm kinda concerned in case they are not the best options! They really seem to really like both but... Are those safe for them? Just wanted to make sure i'm not hurting them on any way!
For cheerios here i can only find integral cheerios (the ones they say 90% avena/aveia) and im not sure if those are fine for em too, So i dont give it to them in case.
Also another point, as reference, how often do you give them treats? Like, daily, weekly...?
Sorry for the questions and thank you so much for taking the time reading ❤
Amazing information thank you! I have 6 chins they are a joy to have! I follow you on IG as well. Look foreword to more contact ❤️
Sooo cuteee
Soooooo.....any more Videos of this Series already Work in Progress? 'Cause I'm planning to get two Chichillas in the next 2 or 3 Years but since I'm still earning about how to treat them the right Way, I would love to see the next Episodes of this Series with even more helpful Informations like These. 😁
What about the oxbow lollipop things? They’re made of hay with dried apples or carrots on them, and attached to an apple stick. Are they safe, or should they be broken up in smaller pieces?
Chinchilla s are cool. I have 6 guinea pigs. I keep them outside. I was somewhat alarmed about the chinchillas urinating into their flood bowl.Anyway I wasn't aware of giardia in tap water. I don't like the water bottles either. I change their bowl of water every day. Do you think chinchillas would be happy living with guinea pigs.
Where do you get playpins for your Chinnies? I recently got a Chinchilla so I am learning the best I can to take care of it :)
I have a question for my chin. I have a chinchilla about 10 months old, and I’m still trying to figure out the hang of things and what all I should do to maximize his life. I have the traditional basics such as water, food, hay, a cage, toys, sticks, a hidey house, and I’m working on getting rid of the wire bottom and covering the plastic tray. I’ve upgraded him to a new food bowl and a Kaytee Critter Bath for a hay feeder, but I’m worried his hay feeder is much too small for him to get his hay properly. I’ve noticed that he’s very picky in that most of his hay does end up on the cage floor. Do you have any recommendations for hay feeders or am I good in that department? Also, do you have any overall recommendations? I just wanna make sure that my Gus-Gus is as safe as possible.
Hoping to get a chinchilla soon and this was so helpful! Do you think you'll make another care video soon?
I so cute I love chinchilla xD
My two are rescues and are fed Tiny Farm Charlie Chinchilla food. I have tried feeding Oxbow and they won't eat it.
It might be because they are so used to the Charlie’s food, which tbh is mostly just junky treats. I would start weaning them off by mixing in either Oxbow or Mazuri - maybe buy the smaller bag of Mazuri if you want to try something other than Oxbow!
@@chinpals I'm definitely going to give that a try! Might make the transition a bit easier if I sprinkle a little oats in it. Hoshi is only going on 8 months old, so he may take to the new food easier than Kumo.
How long does hay and pellets last? Do they have the ability to go bad?
Hi im maby getting two chinchillas i was wondering if it best to have two females or two males or one of each?
Good vid btw
I live in denmark where tap water is known as one of the worlds most clean water do i still need to use bottle water ?
My chinchilla fav treat is bay leaves
Could you feed a chinchilla hay from a local farm?
The way they ate
In the chinchilla treats that i have is 1% fat and oil included, is that bad or can i keep using these treats?
Should I get one or two chinchillas? To start off with
I would probably use tap water and then filter it would that work?
My chins LOVE rosehips and oats. Oats are like crack to them XD Do you have a roughly recommended amount of oats that you can feed them per day?
I do just a pinch! Like, a half teaspoon maybe?
@@chinpals cool, thank you!
Where did you get it
Is kale okay for them? I’ve been feeding my two chins kale every now and then for a while and I just want to know if I’m doing something wrong. Thanks!
I wouldn’t feed any veggies at all personally!
I’ve wondered this myself. Not sure if the nutritional content in kale is safe for them. Do some research. But one thing is for sure, it must be dehydrated.
My chinchilla is very picky with the size of his hay and he only eats apple sticks but we have poplar and apple sticks
Is it okay to give chinchillas filtered water? ☺️
My chin is eat dried apples and all food like yours
Thank you a lot I don’t know
can chins have dried sweet potatoes or dried cucumbers?
😍
This helped but I still have questions like what’s IN the pellets and what CANT be in the pellets, do they need certain vitamins in their food that they can’t produce in their own like my Guinea pigs don’t produce vitamin C so their pelllets need that (they also get fruit and vegetables) i know it says not to house them together because they can fight with guinea pigs but I need to know if I can just buy one kind of pellets to feed the pigs and chins so I’m not spending a lot of money on a lot of different pellets because I also have a rabbit 😅 I love rodents and small pets I have parrots and tortoises too. All my animals get proper diet and cage sizes I always do a lot of research before getting new animals
Edit: I keep seeing when I look up in google that chins and guineas have different nutritional needs so don’t feed them the same pellets, but when I look up what vitamins and nutrients the chins need it all looks the same as what’s in my guineas food so I’m getting confused and frustrated. What ingredients are needed in chins food lol
I did a little digging on what they need and I THINK my guineas And rabbit can eat the chinchilla food. I feed them more then just pellets they have a balance of other foods and hay outside of the pellets so I think I narrowed it down to just having to buy mazurka chinchilla pellets for them all so I don’t have to buy 3 different kinds I’ll still do some research just in case but I’m hoping this is good
Good information however I would not feed them Cheerios or any cereal as it has sugar listed as one of the ingredients plus other things that are not good for them. Must read the labels on food for them.
My water from my fridge is purified so can I still use it?
Would it be ok to give them filtered water?
my chins don't pee in their food bowls, but they do poop in them! They love sitting in their bowls while eating lol.
My fat chinhcla poops in the bowl😅
If someone has a chinchilla, comment here!
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A tip:Chinchillas can eat Dried dandelions! 😀
well, for starters, us 😁
@@chinpals I actually have too!
Me! I have 5!
@@Indi_Waffle_Girl Damn, that's too much! 😅
@@hamcatger haha! I had three but apparently one of my girls was actually a boy. So one of them had babies XD I got attached so I decided to keep them. she actually had three! Triplets (: but one of them passed away. Apparently chin kit survival is like 70% or something. :(
What about bailed hay?
I’m going to get a Chinchilla
I live in the uk so i buy from Pets at home Charlie chinchilla 😅
i personally don't really like oxbow cuz in my country it's bit pricier but also it contains soybean oil, soy flour, Lignin sulfonate and salt which isn't that good for chinchilla but otherwise the food is good for them so no hate to the food i just don't like the ingredients
Well don't tell my Girl to eat pellets.
She only will eat them when starving.
She loves Timothy Hay as is.
My male Chinchilla loved the pellets.
But, each has their own personality
My chin loves sunflower seeds But she only g’ets 1-2 each 1-2 weeks
Did you tried those pellets?
just so you know its good to give them only pellets but its better to give them some fresh mix ps: I asked google
Mys is Papiamento treats
So how much do i feed my chinchilla?
Hii my friend co-owner 🥰🐭 super informative videos 🫡
I have four chinchillas
I have a chin to
Oh no i give my chinchilla tap water😮
Vi prego.. aggiungete i sottotitoli in italiano? grazie mille
My chinchilla likes chips and I can’t tell her no 🥺
Rose hips
Obviously Knox found that pellet disgusting.
Are those cruncy rice pops ok for them?
I’d personally avoid those! 😊
Not me being allergic to Timothy hay😢
👍❤️🇨🇦
My chinchilla only pees in one spot always