What Does A Chinchilla Eat? - Feeding Your Pet Nutritious Food For A Long And Healthy Life

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Chris_Arkell]Chris Arkell
You'll need a good understanding of what your chinchilla's digestive system can and cannot handle in order to keep your new pet chinchilla healthy, happy and full of energy. You might be surprised to learn that chinchillas have sensitive digestive systems and are unable to digest certain things properly. Making sure that your chinchilla eats a diet that's appropriate for its digestive system is essential. So, what does a chinchilla eat? Keep reading and you will find out the answer to this very important question.
What Wild Chinchillas Eat
Wild chinchillas typically eat mostly vegetation that includes a lot of roughage. The digestive system of a chinchilla is simply not designed to handle rich or fatty foods. You'll need to feed your pet special chinchilla pellets, but you'll want to supplement that diet with plenty of fresh grass hay in order to help him live a long life.
Changing Your Chinchilla's Diet
If you need to change your chinchilla's food, make sure you do it gradually, so that your pet doesn't notice and its digestive system doesn't react adversely.
A number of professional chinchilla breeders use the following "secret" when they change their chinchilla's food: Begin changing the food by mixing a tiny amount of the new food into the old. The amount of new food might be so small that your pet won't even realize he's eating anything different. Then, each time you feed your chinchilla, introduce a slightly larger amount of new food into the food your chinchilla is used to eating, reducing the amount of old food by the same amount. The process will be gradual, but don't worry about how long it takes. Eventually you'll have completely changed your chinchilla's food. And even more importantly, you'll have changed your chinchilla's food without causing your pet any digestive problems.
Treats
Many pets love treats, and chinchillas aren't any different. But just because your chinchilla loves eating treats doesn't mean it should have as many treats as it wants. Although it's fine to give your chinchilla treats, don't give it so many that they basically become part of your chinchilla's food.
Pellets And Loose Food
You can feed your chinchilla either pellets or loose food. Although the loose food is nutritionally balanced, feeding pellets to your chinchilla is an easy way to make sure its diet is perfectly balanced. Mixing loose food into your chinchilla's food is fine, but only for supplementing its diet. If your chinchilla only eats loose food, it won't be receiving a nutritionally complete diet. Chinchillas typically eat one to two tablespoons of pellets every day.
Hay
Although pellets will give your chinchilla all the nutrients it needs, they do not provide the fiber that is required for your pet to stay healthy. That's where a constant supply of hay comes into play. Chinchillas love hay, but they also need it for their digestive systems, so make sure your pet always has fresh hay available. Ideally, a chinchilla should eat a handful of hay every day.
Water
You also need to make sure that your chinchilla always has fresh, room temperature drinking water available. Cold water could upset his digestive system.
These are the basics you need to know about a chinchilla's food. You might want to do some additional research to understand why some types of hay are not good for chinchillas and why some pellets don't provide all the nutrition they promise.
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Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Does-A-Chinchilla-Eat?---Feeding-Your-Pet-Nutritious-Food-For-A-Long-And-Healthy-Life&id=6626274] What Does A Chinchilla Eat? - Feeding Your Pet Nutritious Food For A Long And Healthy Life