What Not to Feed a Chinchilla

Video Transcript

"The questions is, what not to feed a Chinchilla? Well, Chinchillas are herbivores and so they primarily subsist on hay, Timothy hay and Timothy hay pellets for their general diet. They eat many many times a day and produce a lot of stool. So, therefore, getting off of a diet like that usually causes trouble. Meats and fats and things like that do not work well with this guys, they do not digest it properly, so you have to stay away from that. They do eat little fruits likes raisins and things as treats but you've gotta stay away from things like lettuce, that can be contaminated bacterially that can cause severe gastrointestinal problems. Other things that we try to stay away with any animals would be candy like chocolates, sweets, anything like that is usually not good for them. So, you have to stick with your primary diet and not stray from that because especially since these guys eat many times a day, if you start introducing things that they're not used to, that can really upset their system. In the wild, they've been known to eat insects but usually in captivity they're on a hay based diet only, so stick with that."