What Food do you Feed? How much? And Chin Kitchens?

[konotashi]

I was wondering what you guys all fed. I did a search, but couldn't really find a whole lot.

Seems like the popular brands are Oxbow, Purina show, and a few others.

What size bag of food do you buy, and how long does it last with the number of chins you have?

I was also reading how sometimes poop winds up in the food. When I had sugar gliders, I had a little 'kitchen' for them (just one of those plastic igloos) because they were notorious for flinging their food all over the place. Would something like this (not plastic and chin-safe, of course) be a reasonable solution to poop winding up in the food?

 

[becky12883]

I feed Mazuri because I can get it locally. I get a 25lb bag for 3 chins, and it lasts for 6 months with a little left over. They kind of waste a lot by throwing half eaten pieces on the ground, so a little extra doesn't bother me. I can tell when it's getting close to the 6 month mark for the bad of food, because they throw more and eat less. As far as poop in the food, they're all different. I have an old guy in a cage by himself, he prefers his food bowl to be on the ground, and close to his house door so he can wake up and grab a piece when he pleases. He rarely gets any poop in his bowl, and will pick out the poop and toss it. The other boys have bowls that are actually coconut halves and they hang on the side of the cage. There is always poop in their dishes, always. I can empty and refill the bowl and 5 minutes later there's poop in it. They hang pretty high, and still poop. They don't seem to care at all though. For them, they get less food at a time and I vacuum out the bowls every other day, whether full or empty.

 

[Snickers]

I buy Purina Chow Show 50# bags. I go through 2 bags a month for 60 chins. I free feed them pellets and hay.

 

[Godins Chinchillas]

we free feed Manna Pro Pro here. I go through about 2.5 bags in 1 month for 60 chins. Chins eat their poo. Don't worry about a little poo in their food dish.

 

[Vyxxin]

I feed MannaPro PRO, buy 50lb bags, and normally go through 2 bags per month with roughly 40-55 chins.

As far as the poo goes, it goes everywhere including in the food dish...not an issue and nothing to worry about really

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

I feed alderpark, a pellet milled on Vancouver Island.

 

[javachin]

I use Manna Pro Sho for my chins. For one chin, 5 lbs. lasts a couple months, and that's with free feeding with hay/hay cubes. A "kitchen" in my opinion wouldn't work with chins. They fling poop into everything!

 

[Dreamlite]

I free feed manna pro pro or purina rabbit show depending on what my feed mill has in. I use a 50 lb bag iin about a month with 30 chins.

 

[e.murphy518]

I feed my two chinchillas oxbow essentials. I buy a 10 lb bag for around 17$ off of a website called wag.com and it lasts me a few months. I originally bought that same brand from petsmart but it was the same price for only 5 lbs which was just ridiculously expensive

 

[Vyxxin]

*NOTE* I DO ration my animals, each animal gets a "coffee scoop" (the kind that comes in a Folgers coffee container) which is about 3 tablespoons per night. I ration as I had a large number of animals digging their feeders out...and once the feed was on the floor it was garbage. Lots of waste.

 

[nikkik0720]

I feed Manna Pro Pro. Although I am probably going to try to transition them to another brand because there has been issues with corn in the feed. I have 3 chins, 2 boys and a girl. The boys get about 2 1/2 handfuls of food every night. (My hands are small, but it averages out to about 75g of pellets. They eat most of it, leaving anywhere from dust to 10g. They run all of it off though by bouncing around the cage like they're on fire.
My female gets about 1 1/2 handfuls, averaging 30g of pellets. She tends to leave more in the bowl, but only when she gets a few small grape twigs.

As for poop in the food bowls, Willow is very particular. She barely gets any poop in the bowl, and if she does, she'll either pick it out, or if there's more than like 10 pieces, she'll leave her food (no matter how full it is), and refuse to touch it until I give her fresh. She's a bit of a drama queen.
The boys couldn't care less if there's poop in the bowl, or hay for that matter.