alfalfa hay question

richie my malo chinnie has been doing very well lately with eating some pellets on his own and i added the beapher plus and he has been eating that.
i stopped handfeeding him every night and have backed off to every other.
i am starting to record his weight to see if he maintains. so that i can possibly wean him completely.

but he never really eats any hay. so i bought a nice bag of oxbow alfalfa and put some in his cage and he actually ate it. i was so excited because he never eats hay, that every night for about the last week i have been giving him some. i add a pinch of timothy & a double pinch of i think orchard grass......but every morning the timmy & orchard are left and the alfalfa is gone. previous to the alfalfa, i put timmy hay in there every night and every day it was still ther.
i am thrilled he is finally eating some hay but i know that alfalfa is very rich.

what would be the harm or the downside or side effects of too much alfalfa?
i want to encourage him to eat hay to help with tooth wear but i dont want to jeapordize his health.

I have always fed my malo chins alfalfa, its the only hay they ate. I also have always offered my healthy chins alfalfa as part of their hay mix. In the 10 years I have done this with 6 malo chins and 8 healthy ones I have never had a issue, even with my 17 year old. Chins don't have the sludging issue that rabbits have, one of the reasons alfalfa gets a bad rap. If chins are on a alfalfa pellet and cube diet, which I have heard it being done on large ranches, then that is a alfalfa only diet, whether loose or compressed, its still alfalfa. I will get heat for my post, but I have no problem with loose alfalfa being fed.

I give my chins alfafla hay once a week and if the chin refuses to eat timothy (one does right now) the chin get alfalfa every day

I use alfalfa on a weekly basis, for moms on a daily basis and back to regular after kits are weaned.

I always keep a bag of alfalfa on hand for the picky chins that come in and won't eat anything else. I also give all the chins a handful of alfalfa once a week whether they eat timothy or not.

If that is all he will eat I would keep giving it to him.

I actually cut up some hay mix that has timothy and orchard in it and add alot of alfalfa in a large ziploc bag, poke some holes in it and give some to CJ every day. There is a some waste but I do think he's eating some of the timmy & orchard.

Just wanted to make sure that if he ONLY ate alfalfa, he wouldnt have any problems.
And I dont give him a real lot, just about the size of a cell phone. and i still add another hay with hopes he will grab a strand.
I weighed him last night. I cant belive I am typing this number.......764g. I am amazed. I have never recorded his weight any higher than that. I suspect when I first had him and was feeding him treats that he may have been this weight or heavier. I am so thrilled because he actually gained weight and I am handfeeding him less.

I've noticed, lately, a lot of people worry about giving alfalfa hay. A lot of people think that because of the high amount of calcium in alfalfa, it can lead to the development of stones in chinchillas. This is pure speculation and from talking to several people that feed an alfalfa only pellet, I would say it's a myth. If you have a chinchilla that has already exhibited signs of stones or already had stones, then they need a specific diet. Not giving alfalfa will not prevent stones.

Is some of the weight gain due to the Beaphar? For CJ it's the only feed he eats on his own without me having to do anything with it. Also, for him, alfalfa is the only hay he'll eat without a challenge.

He has only really eaten the Beaphar for about 4 or 5 days. The first week or so he wouldnt touch it???? Can't figure out why he started. But I put a small bowl of prsc pellet and a small one of beaphar next to each other. sometimes he eats one and sometimes a little of both.
I am really glad to hear that feeding the alfalfa isnt going to have any adverse affects. honestly, I wish I would not have been SO gun shy about it for the last year! I am so happy to see him eating hay! I am going to continue to offer differnt varieties though.
thanks for easing my mind a bit.