Tagna
Chin lover
The only one that does that to me is Athena. She's the baby and I think that's part of it with her. She loves to destroy her cage as fast as I clean it.
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Bekks
Guest
After reading alot of posts on chinchillas and some of their behavior, I am starting to get convinced that it could just be my little boys being boys :halo: I'm going to stick with the Mazuri for now. But they know I'm watching them now
You should keep an eye on their weights, if they start losing weight because they are dumping their food instead of eating it, you should probably switch to something else. I have a girl here that dumped food while she was on Mazuri (not saying there is anything wrong with Mazuri) and stopped after I switched to Tradition. There are now actually empty bowls here in the morning and no pellets on the shelf, bottom of the cage or on the floor around it. I don't think chins just dump their food for no reason. Think about chins that are on crappy foods with all the treats in them, they root around in the pellets to find the treats and usually just dump out all the pellets looking for the good stuff.
alli713
..has a fleece addiction
I would caution about just switching food because your chin dumps it. Like stated, that can mean there's a freshness issue, or maybe they're eating half of the pellet like mine, but if you were to switch their food to a different type of feed every time they start digging around in their food, you're going to be switching feed quite a bit as I'm sure a chin can catch on that if they don't eat, they'll get something else. You would probably have to do it a couple times for them to catch on, but just something to think about.
Remyma0408
:)
I have a digger in each cage. I have found no real solution but to keep filling the bowl up as needed.
Sandi
non-stop poop sweeper
I weighed them when I got them on Christmas and when I first noticed the waste of pellets and the baby who is now 3 1/2 months has gained significant weight and his 1 year old cage mate has gained some weight as well. The reason I was thinking that it might just be them being boogers is because they are also pulling out ALL of the hay in the hay holders and pulling out the (fleece) pillows/seats from their house and couch and everything else that's not attached (believe me these guys do get out of cage exercise almost every day). Since they've only been on Mazuri for 6 weeks (they are fresh pellets) and they continue to gain weight, I'm just going to watch them now and may consider changing their pellets down the road.
But thank you for your advice, I have been back and forth about Mazuri but I just don't think its good for them to keep changing their pellets so quickly (before Christmas, they were with their breeder and were on Nutrena). I originally chose Mazuri because I wanted something that I could get at the pet stores by me in case of an emergency because I do order my pellets online as I mentioned in a previous post.
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Bekks
Guest
I switched feed because of digging and have never had a problem again in the year they've been on new food. I suggested watching weight and switching food because it worked for me. I never said that it would work for everyone and never said it was the only solution.
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Tulula
JandJChinchillas
I have a girl who ALWAYS digs and throws her food out as soon as I refill her dish. She did it when i fed mazuri and does it on PANR - it's just how she is. and half the time she will dump the dish down to the bottom of the cage when she is done pushing all the food out. I will fill her dish.. walk out of the room and then hear pellets being scattered all over the floor. I've decided she just enjoys throwing her food around and there isnt much I can do about it. She dumps.. I fill - boy does she have me trained
