Chin not drinking much water

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hqt5009

Active member
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
25
Location
Boston
Ever since I brought home my chin (11 weeks old) a week ago, I've been noticing that she consistently only drinks at most 1oz/day (most of the time, less than 1oz). I don't think she pees much as well. Her "fresh" poops are not very moist and turn hard very quickly like dried pellets. I am very worried about dehydration or possibly other illness. Please advice on how I can get her to drink more!

Also The first few days after bringing her home, she seemed to be more curious, energetic and interacting more with me, but now she seems to be more easily scared and hides back to her hideout more frequently. She would still comes to me when I hand her fresh hays or toys, but I am feeling that our bonding is going backward. Should I bring her to a vet? I've been worried about her non-stop.
 
Chins don't drink much water, about 1-2oz a day, in the wild the only water they drink is from dew, so they just evolved to not need much water. Some chins drink more, some a bit less, it all depends on how humid or dry it is and how active they have been. Since they drink so little you do need to change the water out every day or two rather then waiting for the bottle to be empty so she always has fresh water. The poop is suppose to be hard and dry, it should also be odorless, dark brown/blackish and about the size and shape of a Tic Tac. If the poop is soft, sticky, light colored, and/or smelly that is when there is a problem.

I would give her more time to settle in, it takes most chins at least a week to settle in. Some take up to a month or more to get use to all the normal sights, sounds, and smells of the new home especially if you live somewhere that the noises and stuff change from day to day. Simple things that you don't even think of that don't make noise all the time like the pipes rattling, noisy neighbors or housemates, animals outside, or even vehicles if you live near a road, to name a few, can all make scary sounds if you don't know what they are. It's likely that at first she was just so focused on the new cage and owner that she didn't notice anything else. Now that the novelty of the new cage has worn off she is probably noticing more around her, and trying to learn all the new stuff, which can be scary for a prey animal. It's also very likely that she heard or smelled something that she never has before and it's scared her.
Another thing to keep in mind is that now that she is settling in she probably feels more comfortable to sleep, and being a kit, she needs lots of sleep so will be spending at lot of time in her house.
 
@Amethyst, Thanks so much for your explanation! Being a new owner makes me worry about just everything! I really want her to be well and happy with me.

Another thing is that she is getting pretty picky about her pellets. She would sniff around the bowl to pick and choose pellets and I think she's eating less pellets now though she still consumes plenty of hays. Should I do something about it?
 
Yeah chinchillas are very different from other rodents, so if you had rodents before it can be confusing expecting similar things. They are very smart (about equivalent to a 2 year old, so smart enough to throw temper tantrums lol), they go through puberty (around 4-6 months expect mood swings), solid bonding takes months to years you can't rush it (you are building a friendship, not being their master), they are strict diet herbivores (more rodents are actually omnivores), they have dry poop and drink very little like a gerbil, they take dust baths and should never get wet, they live in caves (hideout houses) instead of burrows, they have nails like humans instead of claws (it's very cute I think), their molars and incisor teeth grow their whole lives, they can live 20+ years, etc.

Anyways, being picky with pellets is pretty normal, most paw through the bowl, pick a pellet, take one bite then toss it, lol. So long as you are feeding a good quality pellet only food there really is no difference between pellets and no harm with being picky. I'm not positive on kits (it's been a while) but adult chins normally only eat 1-2 tb of pellets a day, some more some less. I measure out the pellets I give so I can keep an eye on how much they are eating, but most chins don't over eat so I don't restrict the pellets, if the bowl is empty before the next day I put more in. Hay is actually the primary food for chinchillas, it should make up about 70% or more of their diet, the can actually survive on hay alone. It's actually more of a problem if they refuse to eat their hay. The pellets are more like the supplement to the hay, they contain the nutrients that the hay may be lacking.

Being a kit you do want to make sure you are giving her plenty of alfalfa in addition to the timothy or other grass hay. Alfalfa has a lot more calcium and protein that growing chins need. The normal rule for adult chins is, alfalfa pellets with grass as the primary hay, grass pellets with alfalfa as primary hay to help balance out the diet and not over do it on calcium. With kits (under a year) alfalfa pellets with alfalfa as the primary hay (you need grass hay too since it's higher in fiber) is good since they can use the extra calcium for growth.
 
@Amethyst, thanks so much for your suggestion and explanation! I give her alfalfa pellets but with Timothy as primary hay now. I gave her alfalfa hay last night and she went crazy with it....would even climbed up to my palm for the hay and let me pet her freely! I'll switch to alfalfa hay as the primary and Timothy as secondary hay for her then.
 
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