Digging in food

[KitsuneGem]

Is there ANY way to break this habit or a dish that would keep digging to a minim?


I adopted a 5 year old female from someone, and she has the worst habits!

Don't get me wrong, shes a sweet heart and I love her, but this food digging is starting to drive me bonkers!

I think her old owners must have feed her something with tasty add ins, and since I only feed Oxbow, there is nothing extra in the food. I've had her for 5ish months now, so you would think she would learn there is nothing extra for her.

She's got tons of chew toys that get rotated to keep her active, fresh hay, fresh food, fresh water.

I'm not sure how to get this habit to stop. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't decide to pee on the shelf either, even if I switch different shelf levels she seems to pee right by the food.

I clean the cages daily so the peeing isn't a big deal, but when she pees in the food shes spilled all over it waist food. I've tried deeper dishes with little bit of food, lot of food. Shallow dishes, everything I can think of..

Am I just stuck with food digger?

 

[Narcissus]

I bought a triangular rabbit feeder. it is hard to explain, but it is a gravity feeder. wide at the top and small at the bottom. my chibs hsve to pick the food out piece by piece. it has stopped the food waste ( I have several diggers) I bought them from a rabbit breeder who was getting rid of older stuff... but im sure if youlooked on line you could find something.

 

[KitsuneGem]

I bought a triangular rabbit feeder. it is hard to explain, but it is a gravity feeder. wide at the top and small at the bottom. my chibs hsve to pick the food out piece by piece. it has stopped the food waste ( I have several diggers) I bought them from a rabbit breeder who was getting rid of older stuff... but im sure if youlooked on line you could find something.

Could you take a photo and post it for me?

 

[akane]

It would probably be a rabbit jfeeder. Any feedstore should have them but you can get them for about $3 at major online rabbit supply sites.

 

[Godofgods]

I'm not sure how to get this habit to stop. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't decide to pee on the shelf either, even if I switch different shelf levels she seems to pee right by the food.

I clean the cages daily so the peeing isn't a big deal, but when she pees in the food shes spilled all over it waist food. I've tried deeper dishes with little bit of food, lot of food. Shallow dishes, everything I can think of..

Am I just stuck with food digger?

mine pee on the shelf with there food sometimes as well. Mainly my girls tho. But the have this ability to make the pee go only underneath the bowl. As if they peed on the shelf, lifted the bowl and set it on top. Its the strangest thing. :hmm:

Ive gotten used to a the idea of wasting a lot of hay and food. Mine are picky and stubborn. While they eat most of the hay, there are just pieces they wont touch. One time i tried putting the hay pieces they disgaurded back into the hay bowl. So they took it out, threw it on the shelf, and then peed on top of it. Such defiance from my girls lol. But they certainly got there message across lol.

I feed mine Select Series Pro Rabbit Food (a manapro feed). It seemed pretty close to the formula in oxbow's chin food. My chins wont eat anything else besides this food. Not even 'food' with the 'treats' in them. But since its smallest selling size ive found is 25lbs, (and for $8-9 at that) i haven't worried to much about wasting pellets. I throw out anything not used each day and give them fresh ones. With a bag that size, even feeding like that, the food will last a long time; And i have 5 chins.

 

[Godofgods]

I clean the cages daily so the peeing isn't a big deal, but when she pees in the food shes spilled all over it waist food.

obligatory image...

 

[akane]

I only have had a problem with Aime because they put in this ramp that terminates at nothing. Just runs in to the side of the cage. Then they got a hanging rabbit dish and put it next to the ramp. Well when we got her here she was so interested in the other chins and the dish was so big that she would climb in to it to watch them. She'd sit there so long she'd end up peeing and pooping in her food. We took the dish away and put a crock on the bottom of the cage but now the ramp is pointless and she doesn't use it. She could use more shelves anyway though. It's in process. Someone is cutting us a bunch of really thick apple branches from his trees so we can make perches. My others only have the shelf a FN comes with but I want to buy them some corner feeding shelves and wood tunnels that attach to the side of the cage to make it more interesting. The guy only takes orders between Jan to May so I have to wait a little before I can replace my FN shelves.

 

[KitsuneGem]

Out of annoyance last night I tossed in a old cereal bowl I had that is ceramic, it's shaped a bit different then the other bowls I've tried in the past, more curved I suppose, I added a small amount of food last night and this after noon when I got home, there is only a few pellets on the shelf and not the whole bowl worth like normal.

Wasting foods no big deal in small amounts..

But when its a nearly full bowl almost daily, it gets super pricy super quick.

I wish there was a way to break this habit.

On a side note, any one know where to get a bigger bag of Oxbow? Bigger then 10 pounds that wont cost me an arm and a leg?

Locally I can get a 10 pound bag for 16 dollars, but they can't get more then 10 pounds.

 

[Godofgods]

while searching for info, i found this. Might help you find your oxbow in different sizes..


Just to expand on what i mentioned earlier about oxbow and select series pro being similar. (I just looked these up) These are the analysis of each of those two foods (at least what was listed).

Select Series
Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min.) 16.00 %,
Crude Fat (min.) 2.50 %,
Crude Fiber (min.) 16.00 %,
Crude Fiber (max.) 21.00 %,
Calcium (min.) 0.75 %,
Calcium (max.) 1.25 %,
Phosphorus (min.) 0.50 %,
Salt (min.) 0.25 %,
Salt (max.) 0.75 %,
Vitamin A (min.) 3,000 IU/lb.

Oxbow
Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min) 18.00%
Crude Fat (min) 2.50%
Crude Fiber (min) 18.00%, max 23.00%
Moisture (max) 10.00%
Calcium (min) 0.60%, (max) 1.10%
Phosphorus (min) 0.25%
Vitamin A (min) 19,000 IU/kg
Vitamin D (min) 900 IU/kg
Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg
Copper (min) 30 mg/kg

I guess oxbow might have an edge with the 2% higher protein and fiber. (I am not a pet nutritionist by any means.) And of course the Select Series one is a rabbit food technically. Only certain rabbit foods have the appropriate ingredients to be safe for a chinchilla.

Another big difference for me was availability and price. Oxbow chin food is sold at my local petsmart, but it is $17.99 for a 5 lbs bag.
Select Series is only sold at Tractor Supply (at-least in my area.) And that is a bit of a distance away from me. However is only costs around $8 usually for a 25 lbs bag. But for me, a bag that size means i only have to go once every few months, and its a much lower price. So for me it works. I also have 5 chins, so a small 5lbs bag wont last long (and at that price...)

Its also helped by the fact that my chins love the Select Series Pro food. I was completely shocked by this. My first guy that i took in was on a pet store mixed food. Pellets with a whole bunch of 'treats' mixed in. Obviously not very good for them. When i first for the SSP food, i mixed it with the old stuff to slowly get them used to the new stuff. The very first day i gave it to him, he ate every piece of the new food, and left all his old food, along with the 'treats' lying there in the bowl and wouldn't touch them. So ill repeat, i was in shock lol.

Just to clarify, im not saying SSP is the best food out there or anything like that, im just showing how it worked for me and worked for my chins. Its up to each person and each chin to see what works best for them.

Back to the OP topic, my chins would drag the food bowl itself around and knock it off the shelf. But it seemed they only did that when they were agitated or bored or to much energy. As long as they were distracted or kept busy with something else, they seemed to stop doing it. Of course that's easier said then done'