Weird stuff in food bowl

[Rascal]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the forum. Well, our chinchilla seems to be okay, but her food bowl is not. Her poop is of good texture, she has fresh water daily and she eats Charlie Chinchilla.

About two weeks ago we began to find that she would eat all the food except for the pellets. After that, we began to find what looked like "chewed" pellets that were spit out. I don't know what she's doing, if she's drinking water and throwing up? But I've heard that chins don't throw up.

Is she drinking water and then spitting it in the bowl? I find it hard to believe an animal would hold water in her mouth and "spit" it in a bowl. Basically, the pellets look like they get wet somehow and swell up from the liquid, and the bowl winds up like a pile of mush.

Any ideas?

[tarita2004]

Can she sit on the bowl at all??
Because my best guess is that she's peeing in the bowl while sitting on it reaching in and eating...dont worry if this is the case, my Andy does that sometimes and i have to wash out the bowl and re=fresh his food Chinchillas, as you know, are very picky eaters...
i'm sure more advice/ideas are on the way

[HaileyS]

i used to have that. it did the same thing. the water-bottle leaked on it and they puffed, but they could be peeing on it. I would not use Charlie, there are too many treats. my babies got diarrhea from it. but i think all chins are different. goodluck. try moving the bowl and see if it still happens.

[Angelnstuff]

I dont know much about chins, But when we first got our rabbit, his food had a bunch of treats in it.. so he would eat all the goodies out of it then pee on the rest, so we would dump it and give him more.. and he'd do it again... little bugger had us trained we switched his food to one that only had pellets, no treats and he stopped peeing in it right away.

[mulder]

my guess would be peeing in the bowl, i have yet to have an animal that won't do that

[tarita2004]

oh yea, i do strongly recommend "mazuri" brand chinny food or other pellet only food and then you can moderate his treats by giving them to him

[Amethystbelle]

Its more then likely she is weeing in the bowl. Could be one of many reasons, but knowing chins its more then likely a case of her trying to tell you she wants more food as she doesn't like the pellets that are left

I agree Charlie Chinchilla isn't the best as chins tend to selective feed and only eat the bits they like and leave the bits that are actually good for them in the long run, leaving them with an unbalanced diet. In my opinion its a food you give as a treat occasionally. A complete high quality pellet feed is much better as it stops them selective feeding and provides them with a balanced diet

[Arf2184]

Starting out using a bad pellet brand is a common mistake. Throw away the Charlie and go for a good brand. Your chinchilla will thank you later on when she doesn't get liver or kidney problems from a poor diet. Mazuri is probably the easiest brand to find locally. The others you may have to buy online and have shipped. Try looking at pet and feed stores first though and always check the mill date before purchase. It should be no older than 3 months from the mill date.

Good brands:
Mazuri
Oxbow
APD (American Pet Diner)
Tradition
Kline