Pregnant chinchilla's diet/supplements?

[Sunnyastounded]

I have read that you should give unlimited food when a chinchilla becomes pregnant. Is this true, and if so how long after giving birth should I revert her diet back to normal? Also, should I give calcium supplements? If so, what would be a good calcium supplements and when should I give the supplement?

 

[tunes]

I give unlimited food all the time to everybody. Just because a female's pregnant, you don't need to change her diet. Offer her unlimited pellets, plenty of hay, minimal to no treats (which is how I do ALL my chins), and fresh filtered or reverse osmosis water.

 

[starleomach]

I agree with Peggy 100%

 

[Sunnyastounded]

So you guys don't have problems with your chins overeating? I read that they can do that, but it is rare. I currently have my chin on two tablespoons a day, should I really have it filled at all times?

 

[ABBY W.]

Most chins will regulate themselves and will not overeat. Occasionally a chinchilla will choose to eat only pellets and not enough hay. If that happens, then you would want to reduce the pellets to encourage the chinchilla to eat hay, otherwise, feeding them "free choice" should be fine.

 

[tunes]

I don't think anybody can prove that a chin overeats too many pellets. I don't have chins here with rolls all over their bodies. I do have big chins, 1000+ gm, but they aren't rolley polly obese, they are just big.

 

[starleomach]

I have never had a chinchilla overeat

 

[Sunnyastounded]

I am more worried about my chinchilla being sluggish if I give him free choice feed. He is one of the more active chinchillas I have ever seen in my life and I don't think I want to risk changing that.

 

[Cuddlebug]

I free feed both pellets and hay and none of my chins are overweight.

 

[Spoof]

If your chin gets pregnant it will become sluggish, and possibly possessive and ornery once the kits are born.

Quantity of food intake does not decree energy level. The quality of food does. )

 

[Ronda]

I feed every other day and I have big feeders. The chins rarely eat the whole feeder in that time period. Some do get the habit of digging the food out and onto their cage floor. This was a common occurance when i was giving them equine senior in their food. Now they get it separate and the majority have stopped digging.

You might want to check her teeth occasionally to see if they are still a nice deep orange color. I use cuddle bone as a calcium supplement but only have to use that occasionally. They seem to get enough calcium in their feed.

Several of my laid back chins get pretty snippy when they are pregnant. They also tend to lay on their back and cram their face into the corner and scare me when I walk by. They don't take too kindly when I jiggle the cage or blow on them to see if they are alive.

Good luck with the new babies - it's an exciting time. Hope you get a chance to see them born. Usually early in the morning.

Ronda

 

[feistychins]

I do give alfalfa hay along with timothy if I have a pregnant rescue.

I don't limit pellets either, but I do have a couple of chins that are not big hay eaters, so for them, I may limit some pellets to encourage them to eat more hay.

The only time I have had chins that are overweight and have actual rolls of fat are those that have been fed a very junkie diet of poor quality pellets (mixed with seeds and biscuit pieces) and given too many surgary/fatty treats. Once I transition them over to a healthy diet, they loose the excess fat and never over eat and do really well.

 

[Sunnyastounded]

Good point Spoof.

 

[Sunnyastounded]

Also, thank you Ronda and Andrea.

 

[Pikaia]

I free feed my chins hay and pellets and they are not sluggish. They are still very energetic and happy. Chichi was pregnant when I got her and I had no idea -0) and I am really glad I free fed her because I could have been restricting her diet when she needed it the most.

 

[Amphy64]

I am more worried about my chinchilla being sluggish if I give him free choice feed. He is one of the more active chinchillas I have ever seen in my life and I don't think I want to risk changing that.

I shouldn't worry about that, I freely feed mine and although he eats as though he's a very small rabbit, gobbling up plenty of pellets (definitely more than two tablespoons a day) and lots of hay, he's still a very energetic, bouncy, crazy thing. )


One thing I wanted to ask breeders since we're on the topic, I read here:
http://www.chinchillachronicles.com/weaning_a_chinchilla.html
that chinchilla kits can overeat?

'Chinchilla kits can over eat, which is a major contributory factor to juvenile mortality and it is therefore important to not over-compensate. At the age of 8 weeks a kit should be consuming approximately ½ - ¾ tablespoons of chinchilla pellets, a small handful of good quality coarse hay and distilled water daily.'

I was pretty sceptical especially as other information on the page I knew to be problematic (I would want to wean males before twelve weeks), it didn't sound like a good idea to limit the food, especially not hay, given to a growing hindgut fermenter, but since I don't have experience with kits (would like to one day, still learning first) figured I should ask just to check.

 

[Spoof]

I have never had an obese kit. Ronda has also never had one that I know of. I've only had one truly fat chin here from another rancher - as in had giant bald manboobs. He never did reproduce.

Maybe the person that wrote that had a line of chins that got really fat. Bruce Kenworthy had some that got fat looking at pellets, great pelting line but the males couldn't reproduce, only the females.

 

[Sunnyastounded]

I shouldn't worry about that, I freely feed mine and although he eats as though he's a very small rabbit, gobbling up plenty of pellets (definitely more than two tablespoons a day) and lots of hay, he's still a very energetic, bouncy, crazy thing. )


One thing I wanted to ask breeders since we're on the topic, I read here:
http://www.chinchillachronicles.com/weaning_a_chinchilla.html
that chinchilla kits can overeat?

'Chinchilla kits can over eat, which is a major contributory factor to juvenile mortality and it is therefore important to not over-compensate. At the age of 8 weeks a kit should be consuming approximately ½ - ¾ tablespoons of chinchilla pellets, a small handful of good quality coarse hay and distilled water daily.'

I was pretty sceptical especially as other information on the page I knew to be problematic (I would want to wean males before twelve weeks), it didn't sound like a good idea to limit the food, especially not hay, given to a growing hindgut fermenter, but since I don't have experience with kits (would like to one day, still learning first) figured I should ask just to check.

So with that being said, how much should I feed my kits daily when I end up weaning them?

 

[Spoof]

As much free pellets as they'll eat.

 

[Amphy64]

Heh, I don't think I've yet seen a fat chin, can't really imagine it. Thanks, I thought it sounded odd to suggest limiting the pellets and hay given to a kit.