picky eater.

brandiandmychin · Jul 9, 2010

I've noticed lately my chin is starting to dig through his food and only eat what he wants, but the chinchilla food i buy normally has a lot of different things mixed in should i start buying just pellets or is it just a phase hes going through?

tunes · Jul 9, 2010

He's eating only what he wants because it's junk food. He's leaving the pellets behind, I assume?

You need to get rid of that food and get a good quality feed like Nutrena Naturewise 16%, Oxbow, APD, Tradition, or Mazuri. There are a couple other rabbit feeds as well, but I can never remember what all the initials stand for.

A chin is always going to go for the junk over the good stuff, much like a kid would go for a candy bar over broccoli. You need to take away food that has junk in it and provide the nutritionally complete food that he needs.

caiti · Jul 9, 2010

Yes you should invest in a food that is all pellets. That way you know exactly what your chin is eating. If you read the guaranteed analysis (GA) you'll know what percentages of fiber, protein, fat etc your chin is getting. If they're only eating part of the food, they'll only get part of the nutrients.

There are lots of good foods out there and lots of bad foods. Good ones are Oxbow Chinchilla Deluxe, Mazuri, APD, Purina has a couple show rabbit foods that are good for chins. If you read around the forum, you'll find more names of good foods. Oxbow and Mazuri you can buy at some pet stores. Also Sandi on here sells Oxbow at a good price.

Some chins are picky eaters and may go through phases, but regardless you should definitely switch to an all pellet food. Maybe you'll have to try out a couple to see which one your chin likes if he's really that picky or he might just love the first one you buy.

EDIT: whoops, posted at same time as tunes, but the idea's the same.

mishellyshel · Jul 9, 2010

I also recommend buying from someone here. Buying from Petsmart/Petco/Pets Plus etc only gets you old overpriced feed. Even with the shipping the cost is lower and the feed is way fresher.

Where in PA are you? Maybe there is someone local you can pick up from.

brandiandmychin · Jul 11, 2010

sunbury

Ash · Jul 11, 2010

You may have to drive, but there are two breeders about an hour and a half from you that could possibly sell you food. Or if you have any feed stores (like agricultural feed, sell horse/chicken/etc) they usually sell the good rabbit feeds that can be used as chinchilla food.