Hello again from NWI volunteer Chris!
I'm writing today to talk to you about chinchilla food! Feeding your chinchilla quality pellets is one of the best things that you can do for your pet. It's also one of the things that is the most confusing for new owners!
It can be so intimidating to walk into the pet store and see soooo many different bags of food! You want to trust that anything with a picture of a chinchilla on it is safe for chinchillas, right? Unfortunately...wrong!
If you look closely at these bags, many of them have "extras" mixed in with the brown pellets, like seeds, nuts, or dried fruits. These things are not good for chinchillas, even though they like them! I like to compare these types of food to "Lucky Charms" cereal. Isn't it much healthier to feed kids "Cheerios", without all those extra sweets?? The same idea applies to chinchillas.
"But all my chinchilla will eat is the food with treats! So I HAVE to give it to him!" No, you do not. YOU are the owner, YOU are in charge, not the chinchilla. If a human toddler only wants to eat candy, do you submit to them and only give them candy? No of course not! You give them healthy food and know that they won't starve themselves, eventually they will eat the healthy food. Chinchillas are the same way.
"What are the best foods?" Your best bet as a pet owner are Oxbow Essentials, Mazuri, and Tradition (a.k.a. Hubbard Life). Oxbow Essentials and Mazuri are commonly found in pet stores, though a little pricey! Many well-known breeders (such as NWI!) feed Tradition to their own herd, and lucky for you, sell it as well! Since breeders purchase in bulk, the prices you pay buying from them is often FAR cheaper than pet stores! Yay!! Cheaper, and healthier... Why WOULDN'T you go that route?!
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