Feed pellets and hay together??

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hp7681

Member
Joined
May 11, 2016
Messages
9
I'm feeding Vitacraft Vitasmart Chinchilla food. My only other option locally is National Geographic Daily Diet Chinchilla food. Both are pellets with a tiny amount of hay mixed in. Does anyone have experience with either one or both of these foods? Are they okay?

For hay my options are: Kaytee Timothy Hay, All Living Things Natural Timothy Hay, National Geographic Nutritious Topping Timothy Hay, Vitacraft Timothy Sweet Grass Hay, and Oxbow Western Timothy Hay.

How do I feed the hay? Does it get mixed with her food? Do I just toss some in everday? Install a little hay feeder? Do you feed it daily in addtion to pellet food?

Thank you!!!
 
Why is those 'only other option' ? Both are junk food. You need either Oxbow, Mazuri or other recommended pellets - use the search button to find recommended pellets. If you can't find these brands order online (people here sell those) - it is cheaper than pet store prices. Oxbow hay is the best. No you don't mix the pellets and the hay. I use small coffee cans (turned on their side) for my hay
 
As I already said in your first thread, Oxbow or Mazuri (or something of equal quality) are what you want, both the foods you listed have extra junk food in them. Look at the ingredients, chins should not have fruits and vegetables, and both have them. Also the National Geographic pellets doesn't even have hay as it's primary ingredient, it's listed as the 4th and 5th, you want hay based food.

Same thing with the hay, you want plain hay without any extras added in (herbs are ok but not for a treat not all the time) Once again the National Geographic hay has lots of extra junk in it, including seeds with chins should not have, so not good even as a treat.

You need something to hold the hay, but make sure it's not something the chin will get sick if they chew up or get stuck or hurt in, so no plastic, and no metal bar style holders. The hay generally needs to be up off the ground too or the chin will likely pee in it. There are a few sold in pet stores that are ok, but cheap ones include metal coffee tin (cleaned out of course), a clay pot, or a cardboard tube (so long as the chin just chew the cardboard not eat it). There are several vendors on the forum here that sell hay holders, as well as online places like amazon. Chins need hay everyday, clean out any hay that has been peed on though since once it's been peed on it's no longer edible.
 
Thanks for the info. Those foods and hay aren't my only options, I mentioned they are my only "local" options. Will look into those others.
 
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