Throwing food / picky eating?

[Ciceroux]

I'm getting frustrated!

One of my two chins has developed a very bothersome habit. Anytime I put out food or hay, he tears through it with his hands, searching for "acceptable" pieces and throwing all the rest of it out - out of the bowl, usually all the way out of the cage. This wouldn't be a big deal if it were a once-in-a-while thing, but the trouble is that 90% of the food/hay ends up on the floor. The other chin is a normal eater, but since the picky eater is the more dominant of the pair, most of the food is often gone before he gets a chance to check the bowl! Separate bowls helps this, but doesn't solve the underlying problem.

The behavior started gradually and only became really noticable a couple of months ago. They eat from a bowl which is anchored into a shelf - this shelf turns out to be very useful as it catches some of the "cast-off" food which I can scoop into my hand and stick back in the bowl. Their hay is in a hay box which is practically useless as all the hay just gets yanked out. They eat Mazuri (always have), wherein all the pellets are identical, so I'm not sure why the picky chin prefers certain pieces to others. Regular Oxbow hay, too. I've noticed that if I feed him by hand, piece by piece, he doesn't "reject" anything. But who has that kind of time?! He is acting otherwise normally.

Has anybody dealt with this? Obviously it isn't the end of the world, but it's incredibly wasteful and confusing. Thanks in advance for any tips

 

[Mcrew7]

My chin Moja does that and its soooo annoying!! I have automatic feeders but since she scoops out all the food she can I usually just put a couple scoops of food in the feeder in the morning then I put a few more in at night. I'd love to be able to free feed her but she is a psycho with her food. It's a shame she's housed with her mom and sister, they NEVER act that way.

 

[Sdo9396]

Ruby here does that too. I wake up in the morning to find a pile of rejected or half eaten pellets! I think that some of the pellets smell differently to them which is why they get rejected? lol I don't know..we have some picky eaters..it sucks that the food is getting wasted but I can't force her to eat the rejected pellets. Plus, I don't really mind because I buy a 25 lb. bag of food at a time which is more than enough for my chinnies.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

unfortunately a lot of chins do that. I use the bowl in a large bowl with those chins. That way the food often get caught in the outer bowl and I can put it back. As for the hay, I don't think anything can be done about it

 

[mishellyshel]

some chins eat half of the pellet & toss it. remember they are holding it in their little paws so usually they can not eat the whole pellet. look thur what is tossed......are they all little halves or are they whole??

 

[Irishsk8r66]

my guy wont toss pellets but the hay is a disaster every time I come home....and he wont even look at the stuff that he tosses.....its a huge waste

 

[Airyn]

I have the same issue here. From what I've read throughout the forum, it seems to be a very common issue. I started mixing orchard grass in with the western timothy hay about 2 weeks ago to keep things interesting. I've definitely seen an improvement, but when I get below half a bag of timothy, everyone still rejects it, giving me the stink eye in the process. My next step is going to be to incorporate botanical hay in with the mix to see if I can perk more interest that way. I'll be sure to let you know how that works out sometime next week.

 

[Chub_Chub]

One of my boys bites his Mazuri pellets in half, then drops the other half. Sometimes the dropped bits end up back in the bowl, but most of the time it doesn't. Crazy little guy. :wacko:

 

[ChinnyMom]

i store timothy hay in the same bag as botanical hay, so the timothy picks up the smell of the botanical and it seems to make it more appealing to Rhino, and he eats more of it. then again, my fuzzbutt is an incredibly neat eater when it comes to both hay and pellets, so i'm lucky, lol! he'll even eat the hay bits that fall to the floor of his cage.

 

[Airyn]

Oooh... pre-mixing is a great idea! It's always the simple things that we overlook. *lol*

 

[Ciceroux]

I like the bowl-in-a-bowl idea! I'm actually thinking of placing some wire mesh around the outside around the cage in the section where the food bowl is, so that at least it doesn't all end up on the floor.

It isn't even that he's picking up pieces and throwing them away, or nibbling at them at all - he takes one look at the food bowl (which I've learned, of course, not to fill - free-feeding is unfortunately just out of the question now) and sticks both his little arms in, then proceeds to shovel out huge heaps of food, picking at pieces from the bottom. It's bizarre. The hay is a little different - he'll actually put those pieces in his mouth for a moment, then discard them, so I'm guessing those he actually just doesn't like.

 

[Cuddlebug]

One or more of the chins in my colony cage digs through the pellets and gets them all over the place. Lately, I have been placing a terracotta dish underneath the feeder to catch it. Seems to be working well.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

All of my chins dog through their food like this. They prefer the longer bits of pellets and I think it is because they can eat for longer periods of time without getting too close to their paws. I do have one chin, however that likes to cover his piles of poop with wood chips, like dogs do, and constantly kicks bedding out of the cage while doing so. Annoying as heck!
I don't really think there is any one fix to the problem though but there are things that can help and some of what others have done may be worth the try!

 

[GuinChin]

My chin throws like 70% of his hay out of the cage....i dont think its because he doesnt like it, i think hes just playing....annoying how much food he wastes but what can you do?

 

[LibbyLou93]

Sombra just started this annoying little habit... but I think its because she is in her "teenage-I'll-do-what-I-want" stage..:banghead: