How much hay should a chinchilla eat per day?

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heleneshareL

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
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4
Hello everyone!
I am a chinchilla owner in China.My chinchillas are super picky about the hay.In China many people said that a chinchilla should eat at least 10 grams timothy hay per day to prevent the back teeth from overgrowing.If they are so picky ,the owners may stop giving the pellets to force the chinchilla to eat more hay.I never saw people in this forum mentiond that.I konw you always say unlimited hay,but I wanna know if there is a lowest limit for a chinchilla,and what should I do if they don't like the timothy hay.Is it true that no other hay can instead of timothy hay.
 
Iv never heard anything about a specific amount of hay. And each chin eats different amounts and has there own different metabolism. They also have there own preferences. Some like hay a lot more then pellets. Others like pellets a lot more then hay. And to top it off, each chin has there own likes with taste and texture. So its hard to say how much hay one should eat.

There are a few things you can try to increase there hay consumption if you want. Mixing in some other hays like orchard grass. You could try hay cubes, which is hay that is highly compressed into cube shapes. Iv heard some have tried taking a handful of hay and putting it in a bag with some mint leaves for a few days to get the mint smell all over the hay. And then place just they hay in the cage for feeding.

Im not sure what the chinchilla pellet market is like in china, but over here nearly all pellets are made primarily from alfalfa hay. Which is one reason we feed timothy hay loose. It helps gives a more balanced nutritional value.
 
I don't know exact weight or measurement, but should be roughly a small handful worth of loose hay per day. As Godofgods mentioned, most pellets are alfalfa based which is why timothy is the recommended hay. Also timothy has the most nutrients of the grass hay types. However, any grass hay will do, ultimately the best hay is what your chin will eat. So you can try any of the grass hays (alfalfa is a legume not a grass) if you are feeding alfalfa pellets. Most chins seem to enjoy a combination of hay types, grass hays, grain hays, and you can even mix in some alfalfa hay to make the hay tastier. I normally feed a timothy and another grass or grain hay at the same time as well as hay cubes. However if you are already feeding a grass based pellet you can feed mostly alfalfa hay to balance out the diet.

Another option, then just getting a couple types of hay, is to make a hay/treat mix like Fuzzies Kingdom's Foraging Fun Hay. The mix of other things can help make the hay more interesting. I've never tried the foraging hay myself, but I've read that chins go nuts over it so it's commonly out of stock. That site also has a lot of useful info on proper diet if you care to read any of it over.

If the chin really isn't eating enough hay, then yes you can pull the pellets. Chins can survive off hay alone, but fur quality drops so it's best to just cut down on the pellets rather then remove them completely. Most chins should only be getting about 2tb of pellet food a day, the rest of the diet should be hay. Pellets are too soft to do any good at wearing down teeth, so if the chin isn't eating enough hay the teeth wont wear down properly.
 
Thank you for your reply.Many people here feed the chins oxbow and mazuri pellets,also some other brands which are mostly made from alfalfa hay.I think I could mix some orchard grass which my chins like very much.
 
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