Food

My Chin was on a pretty poor diet ( IMHO) when I got him. The owner before me fed him sunflower seeds and some rabbit food that was mixed. It looks like to me he only eats the sunflowers out of the mix and the normal sunflowers that he was given. He really likes them. He also eats the hay+alfalfa cubes but not a lot of it.

I tried given him the vitakraft pellets but he ate them for 2 days and stop.

I picked up some seeds mix from the pet store that has peanuts sunflowers seeds some ofthe nuts and seeds in there and it looks like he like some of the newer stuff.

Does anyone have any recomendation for food?

I do give him the occasioal grape or banana from time to time as well as a raisin. I also put a vitakraft chin log in there once a week which he eats.

Hi I've had chin for years and always have fed them Sunseed Sunscription Vita Chinchilla formula and they love it, sometimes I add a pinch of old fashion oatmeal or give them a grape. I did have to rescue an older chin who had the same problem, but they will eat unless something is wrong.

[Becki]

I would recommend an all pellet food, Mazuri (what I use, it's good, cheap and easier to get) and the Kline diet are usually regarded as the best. From what I've read sunflower seeds and peanuts are too fatty for a chin to have much if at all, but I personally give them to my chins as treats occasionally. Here is an awsome nutrition article that Jorgha wrote about chinchilla food; http://chins.paw-talk.net/nutrition.htm

[Runt]

I also feed the Mazuri as well as most chin owners here.Mine do very well with it along with a few oats added, Calf Manna in small quantities,and I also feed loose Timothy hay and timothy/Alfafa hay cubes which they also need.I give them raisins and they get other treats like pineapple yogurt drops,Papya,Apple logs.(not all at one time on treats) I switch off with each one occasinally.

I keep hearing about Mazuri chin pellets, are they really better than the Sunseed brand I'm feeding my chins? The sunseed seems to be the best I've found available. Where can I find Mazuri? I've never seen it in stores.

[Sassy]

I also feed and recommend Mazuri Chinchilla Pellets. I get mine from a Purina dealer. You can order them online from Chinworld.com and Lonestar Chinchilla.

[Runt]

I found that a feed store in my area carries Purina products and they now keep a few bags on hand.

[ChinchillaCrzy]

Honestly I believe Mazuri is the best food for it's content and your $ (not that $ should be an issue). Mazuri is milled every few months and has a milling date to insure freshness. The stuff you buy from pet stores can sit on the shelves for months, even years while the vitamin content seeps out (I went to a petstore and saw that there were bags of Chinchilla Gold that the red on the bag had faded to pink and almost white on some bags! BLEH). Also most pet store foods are treat based and cause selective eating. They also are quite deficient in nutritional content since none of them I have seen have even come near to a chins nutritional requirements. The best way to find Mazuri is to find a dealer by going to www.mazuri.com and typing in your zip code. It's about $10-$12 for 25 lbs of food and you know it's fresh. Once you open a bag and smell you'll realize how much the store brands suck JMHO

anyone know a better site to order mazuri food and blue cloud dust from? www.chinworld.com shipping rates are crazy.

[ChinchillaCrzy]

go to www.mazuri.com to find a dealer near you. As for blue cloud dust I don't know of anywhere cheaper than Chinworld. You may wanna try LoneStar Chinchillas.

[Christi]

Michelle,

Sunseed is not good for your chinchilla. Try going to www.mazuri.com and searching for a deal near you. In addition to Mazuri being better, it's also much cheaper. I pay about $10 for 25lbs.

[Jade]

As for dust, I know Seward Breeders carries Blue Sparkle, which is comparable to Blue Cloud.

Gave pikachi loss hay and alfalfa and he seems to like it alot better then those cubes!