calorie conserving after 6 month?

pm4k · Oct 28, 2013

So I had given my chin the saucer for a couple weeks while he was under 6 months until I learned that was a no no. Now that he is over 7 months we gave his wheel back to him. But he runs in it 45min to over an hour in a 24hr period. Actually that might be a bit of an under statement, He could be running up to 2 hours a day. I know that he is still growing and needs those calories. My question is should I take it away from him? He gets very little out of cage run time. Maybe once every 3 or 4 weeks.

He has had one big growth spurt already. He also doesn't seem to be eating that much more since he got his wheel back. He was never a fat chin and I don't want his growth stunted any more then it could have been. He also doesn't jump around the cage randomly anymore but i assume that is because of the wheel. I have been watching and I'm not worried about over heating. He doesn't pass out like he did when he was a kit.

In case it makes a difference he eats Timothy hay and I'm thinking timothy hay pellets. Would it be worth while to switch him to alfalfa or some other high calorie hay?

Also while I'm making a post anyway, anyone know if there is a spray that works to keep them from chewing on wires?

mgonya · Oct 29, 2013

I put a silver saucer in my 5 mo male's cage because he was tearing around like he was crazy. He actually settled down after he got the wheel. You will get a lot of different opinions and advice here, you have to decide what will work best for you and your chin.

I give unlimited pellets, timothy or orchard grass and also alfalfa blocks to my chins. If you are talking about biting the wires on a chin cage I do not have any advice to make them stop chewing. If you mean electrical wires you need to make sure your chin has no access to them or they can get burns or die if they chew them.

Pikaia · Oct 29, 2013

Start monitoring his weight. Buy a food scale from Walmart and weigh him like once or twice a week. That way you know if he's burning too much energy on his wheel and you can adjust things. He's probably fine.

What is the brand of food are you feeding him? That way we can tell for sure if they are alfalfa or timothy based. You want to feed a variety of different hays (timothy, orchard and the occasional alfalfa is okay). A chin really only needs timothy hay in their diet, but different types & cuts wear teeth down differently- so it's very beneficial. I bought my chins kleenmama's hay and they have gained some weight on it. They absolutely love it!

Everyone should monitor their chin's weight. Losing weight is often the first sign of chin illness (unless they are just burning a ton of calories on their wheel..lol)

pm4k · Nov 6, 2013

I checked and the Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla Deluxe is alfalfa based. I tried weighing him tonight but I dropped the scale and I'm not really sure i put it back together correctly but it says he is 1lb at around 8 months. I'm sure the scale is lower then reality.

becky12883 · Nov 6, 2013

You really need to get a gram scale to get an accurate weight. Unless your scale weighs to about 3 or 4 decimal places, it's hard to get an accurate weight. Just an example 1lb is about 453 grams, but 1.2lb is about 544 grams.