Pellets and Hay for my chin baby.

[shadouneko]

Hello! I got my baby chin of about three months at a local petstore in Huntington, NY: Selmer's Petland. They seemed really knowledgable on animals, so I automatically trusted their judgements. They set me up with a plastic rabbit cage (which I'm soon to get rid of once I can afford a better-suited cage), a huge plastic water bottle which I just recently changed to a glass one (seemed better to keep clean/less-likely to collect bacteria;

This is the food they started me out with, it's a mix of these two different types of pellets: Sunseed Vita Exotics Chinchilla formula and Nature's Weiss. - - Is there anybody who's knowledgable on those two brands of pellets? What's the best pellet to get for my baby? I'm not sure how much I trust these, now that I'm reading into that one of these contain raisins? D:

Also, I started out with a huge bag of Timothy Hay, which I've come to understand is the best type of hay for them? Is this true?

Any suggestions/feedback will be greatly appreciated! Thanks! ^_^

 

[BooBoo*TheKiddo*]

IMO, ditch the food. Switch to Oxbow, Tradition, Manna Pro Sho, or Mazuri. Look around and you might find someone near you who can sell you some food or someone who only has one chin and you and them can split a bag.

If you can't find it local, check the classifieds.

Yes, Timothy Hay is what you want to feed.

 

[shadouneko]

Hmm.. I thought so! I've heard great things about Mazuri and Oxbow. I just moved to MA from NY and actually found a cute, little local pet store.. two of the people that work there have everything from cats and dogs to chins and reptiles, and they were very personable. I'm sure we can work something out. I'm just upset I've been feeding him bad pellets. D:

Oh! In order to bring him onto the new food, should I slowly transition him, or should I ditch the old food completely?

Thank you so much for your response, btw!

 

[javachin]

Change the food over slowly. Also, timothy is very commonly used for chinchillas. An orchard grass/timothy mix is also good. Some people use alfalfa hay too. I would go with Oxbow, Tradition, or Manna Pro Sho in terms of pellets. Also, Manna Pro is actually a rabbit pellet, but is perfectly fine for chinchillas. I use it and have great results.

 

[Lillybabe]

I actually wouldn't bother switching over slowly. If the food has raisins in it your chin is going to dig out the raisins and ignore any better quality food you offer. I'd take your chin off that food cold turkey and offer one of the others. Make sure there's plenty of hay available as well. Make sure your chin is eating at least the hay though. It is unlikely the chin will starve itself but you ought to monitor closely for a few days. If they are eating only hay that will be fine for a few days. You might try alfalfa hay, orchard hay, botanical hay, or meadow grass along with the timothy as they are typically a little more tempting. At 3 months the fat in alfalfa will be fine to feed as your chin needs to be gaining weight anyway. Alfalfa is recommended only once a week or biweekly as a "treat" hay with adult chinchillas.

 

[ChinnyMom]

i agree with Lillybabe. when you are feeding a bad food that is filled with treats/seeds/raisins etc you need to do a cold switch to the good quality food or else your chin will just continue to eat the treats out of the old food while ignoring everything else in the dish.

 

[melbur10]

Totaly agree on doing a cold switch, but just incase of digestive upset you might want to pick up some acidophilus or other benificial bacteria from the drugstore/health food store to sprinkle on the food. As well as simethicone (baby gas drops) you might want to administer either 1. Daily as a preventative or 2. Administer as soon as you see she's not eating much of the new food/is having smaller poops.
A good tip while switching foods is to either count pellets or weigh food before and after/during the switch so you know exactly how much the chin is eating.