LeoMonster
Well-known member
Hey guys, this is going to be a long post.
Just did a search on decreased appetite, and everything is saying that Leo should be sick, but since everything also says that it depends on the situation, the existing threads aren't really helping me.
History.
About two months ago or a little more, I switched Leo over from Alfalfa hay to timothy hay because I thought he was gaining weight and I already had him on Mazuri (an alfalfa pellet as 99% of people already know). When I did that I found that he was eating it so fast that I was replacing the hay once in the morning when I woke up and right before I went to bed.
At this time I also had a smaller ceramic food bowl that I would have to fill up with a handful and a half of food every morning.
About a month ago I switched the food bowl to one that locks onto the cage because Leo kept throwing the ceramic one off the shelf; this bowl is about 2.5 times as big as the ceramic one.
Also about a month ago I brought him home from school because I was on Thanksgiving break, and I couldn't leave him alone for a week, for obvious reasons.
Within the first two days of being home I noticed he wasn't eating as much, and sleeping a little more than normal. I brought him to the vet being the paranoid mother that I was, and she looked him over and said that he looked like a perfectly healthy chinchilla. She has a good reputation with exotics, and she even suggested that I become a member of this site before I told her I was already one, so I'd like to trust her judgement. Leo was still a rambunctious nut anyway so I wasn't too worried.
Since then his personality hasn't changed at all, hes still very active and such, although his eating hasn't really picked up. His hay looks like it really hasn't been touched, it just has gone down a little bit. The same goes for his food as well. I picked up a new bag of hay about two weeks ago as I was almost empty, and he immediately started into it as I could see that it was fresher than the old hay, but after a couple of days that eagerness stopped.
So basically, with all the background information down what I'm basically asking is:
1. Do chins get bored with hay/food and require a change up every now and then? Can he be a picky eater? I was thinking of getting some orchard grass and mixing it in, but I would like to hear some thoughts first.
2. Do you think my hay could be stale? It still smells good, and is green, but there are a couple brown strands here or there, and I don't think it was as fresh as the first bag originally was when I got it, but it was still greener and yummy smellier than what I was replacing.
3. Is he sick?
4. The vet said his appetite may decrease a little as he gets older, is this true? He just hit his "puberty stage" abut a month and a half ago, and humped everything in sight for two weeks, but that's calmed down, so I'm assuming he's more adult-ish. He's around 10 months now (assuming as I got him from a pet store in Sept and they said he was 6months)
5. [insert other here]
Just did a search on decreased appetite, and everything is saying that Leo should be sick, but since everything also says that it depends on the situation, the existing threads aren't really helping me.
History.
About two months ago or a little more, I switched Leo over from Alfalfa hay to timothy hay because I thought he was gaining weight and I already had him on Mazuri (an alfalfa pellet as 99% of people already know). When I did that I found that he was eating it so fast that I was replacing the hay once in the morning when I woke up and right before I went to bed.
At this time I also had a smaller ceramic food bowl that I would have to fill up with a handful and a half of food every morning.
About a month ago I switched the food bowl to one that locks onto the cage because Leo kept throwing the ceramic one off the shelf; this bowl is about 2.5 times as big as the ceramic one.
Also about a month ago I brought him home from school because I was on Thanksgiving break, and I couldn't leave him alone for a week, for obvious reasons.
Within the first two days of being home I noticed he wasn't eating as much, and sleeping a little more than normal. I brought him to the vet being the paranoid mother that I was, and she looked him over and said that he looked like a perfectly healthy chinchilla. She has a good reputation with exotics, and she even suggested that I become a member of this site before I told her I was already one, so I'd like to trust her judgement. Leo was still a rambunctious nut anyway so I wasn't too worried.
Since then his personality hasn't changed at all, hes still very active and such, although his eating hasn't really picked up. His hay looks like it really hasn't been touched, it just has gone down a little bit. The same goes for his food as well. I picked up a new bag of hay about two weeks ago as I was almost empty, and he immediately started into it as I could see that it was fresher than the old hay, but after a couple of days that eagerness stopped.
So basically, with all the background information down what I'm basically asking is:
1. Do chins get bored with hay/food and require a change up every now and then? Can he be a picky eater? I was thinking of getting some orchard grass and mixing it in, but I would like to hear some thoughts first.
2. Do you think my hay could be stale? It still smells good, and is green, but there are a couple brown strands here or there, and I don't think it was as fresh as the first bag originally was when I got it, but it was still greener and yummy smellier than what I was replacing.
3. Is he sick?
4. The vet said his appetite may decrease a little as he gets older, is this true? He just hit his "puberty stage" abut a month and a half ago, and humped everything in sight for two weeks, but that's calmed down, so I'm assuming he's more adult-ish. He's around 10 months now (assuming as I got him from a pet store in Sept and they said he was 6months)
5. [insert other here]
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