Hive mind feedback: new, young chin drinks very little

I wanted to pose these details to the forum to see if anyone thinks our new young female has any problems.

In short: 5 month old female barely drinks any water, and I don't see any urine in the cage bedding, and only some poop. She is eating hay, and shows an interest in shredded wheat. However, she is not interested in pellets, and tends to bury her food dish in bedding.

More details: I've never had a chin this young before, as I have a tendency to get chinchillas from people who realize they can't take care of them after several years. This little girl came from some college kids who, I think, didn't understand the level of interaction she needed. They got her a couple weeks after she was born, from some pet store.

She smelled like cucumbers when we got her home. I have no idea what else they may have been feeding her.

She is pretty active, and is a bit moody when it comes to being pet or handled. It's clear she's still acclimating to the new cage, and she's testing the strength of the cage bars and chewing on almost everything.

One of my prior chins was barely a water drinker, and she was always extremely healthy. Perhaps this girl is the same? Do young ones drink less than older chins? For example, my older 7-year old female went through an entire water bottle in the time it took the younger one to drink only about a centimeter of water from her bottle.

Note: they are not sharing a cage yet.

What mostly concerns me is that I can see no evidence that she's peeing.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

Well first of all chins under 6 months shouldn't have treats, just hay and pellets. I would put the food bowl up higher so she can't bury it in bedding, coop cup work well since they attach to the side of the cage. Chances are she is just use to getting junk food and doesn't want to eat the good food. It's like a kid getting junk food and refusing to eat healthy food now, hoping if they hold out long enough they will get the junk food back. Chins can live off of hay alone, so as long as she is eating hay you can wait her out until she starts eating the pellets (or try a different brand).

You could try temporarily just lining the cage with paper towel or newspaper to get a better idea if she is peeing and how much. Or if she doesn't chew fleece use a fleece blanket and check for pee (take a paper towel and dab the fleece to see if it's wet anywhere after a few hours of her being awake), bedding tends to absorb pee so it can be hard to see. Chances are if she is drinking she is peeing, what goes in must come out. If the temp and humidity is good chins don't drink that much, as little as an ounce or two a day. In the wild they get most of their water from morning dew so they don't require much.

Another thing to mention is that chins start to go through puberty between 4-6 months, and can last a few months, so moody is very normal at that age. Also not all chins even ever live being held, it has little to do with handling and almost everything to do with personality. There are some chins that have been handled since birth, and only get to the point of barely tolerating being held. Keep in mind also that it can take a chin weeks to months, and some case years to fully settle if they came from a bad situation.