Timothy Hay

Can Chins eat Timothy Hay with clover and grass in it? We have local growers and wanted to know if this type of hay is ok for them or stick with the store bought?

I buy a bale of "grass hay" from a local farmer. (Timothy hay is a type of grass hay.) I doubt that there is any clover in it, but when I pull it apart to put in Idgie's cage, I just give her the hay. If a weed or something is in there, I just pull it out. But it doesn't happen often.

So if they just mean that there is the occasional clover in it, I wouldn't worry about it. (You might want to do a search on clover b/c it might be okay for a chin--I just don't remember.) Did you get a chance to look at it? Do they feed it to horses--if so, that would be good for chins.

I pay the same amount for an entire bale that Idgie couldn't even eat half of in a year compared to one small bag that wouldn't last a week or two. It's definitely worth looking into more.

When you purchase timothy hay or any other grass hays, you want to make sure it is horse quality hay as horses and chinchillas have similar digestive physiology.

Personally, I would avoid hays with a lot of clover in it as clover is a legume hay and high in protein. It may be too rich for a chin to have a large amount...