Can you feed chinchillas hampster and gerbil food?

Question

Can you feed chinchillas hampster and gerbil food?

Answer 1

NO WAY chinchillas are NOT hamsters or gerbils am i right? this is not going to meet the daily nutrition a chinchilla SHOULD have chins will pick and choose what they want resulting in an unbalanced diet get lab blocks for chins a good brand is mazuri and if you dont have the chin dont get one because you obviously are looking for a cheaper way to care for one or you simply just didnt do the research and will probably give less then satisfactory care for the chin and thats not fair is it?

Answer 2

lol! yes! he should enjoy it

Answer 3

no, its mainly the wrong kind of food. your better off buying  chinchilla pellets and alfafa or timothy hay. them and water is all it requires. if your in the uk i can put you in contact with chin food sellers.

Answer 4

No.  Food for other rodents contain sugars and high levels of protein that are not good for chinchillas.  Their diet is more specialised and in the wild consists of grasses and dried plants and seeds and their digestive systems are sensitive because of this.  There is also a risk that chins will eat certain bits of hamster food, like maize and sunflower seeds and leave the rest. This can cause serious health problems.

Stick to using chinchilla pellets and hay as the staple diet.  You can also give small occasional treats like a raisin or pieces of carrots and apple.  If you cannot find a local pet store that sells pellets, try internet suppliers as there are lots that come up when doing a search.

I saw your other question on toys - chins love wood to chew on and the easiest is probably bits of untreated pine.  If you are able to cut them into shapes, your chins will think they're getting a new deal every time! They also like apple bark and willow, but this has to be carefully sourced to ensure that no poisons have got into it.  Many of the wooden toys that can be bought cheaply at pet stores are also suitable.  I would advise that it is best to use wooden chews that are not attached by rope or plastic as some chinchillas may eat them (one of mine does!) and this can cause intestinal problems.

There are a couple of good websites that sell toys and treats suitable for chinchillas in the UK, or at least will be able to give ideas to anyone outside.

Try www.chinchillas4life.co.uk.

      www.nibblesonline.co.uk

      www.summerhillpetsupplies.co.uk

These sites donate profits to chinchilla rescue.

Answer 5

NO NO NO! Please ignore all the people that said yes.

You must feed your chinchilla a high quality chinchilla pellet.  I'd highly recommend Mazuri Chinchilla diet.  It costs about $1 a pound.

You can find it here:  http://www.geocities.com/forchinatechins...

If you have to buy chinchilla food from a pet store, you can't buy a chinchilla food that has any 'goodies' in it.  The chinchillas will only eat the goodies and leave the pellets behind.  The food should be 100% little green pellets.

In addition to this, your chinchilla needs a high quality Timothy Hay.  You should open the bag and inspect it before buying.  It should be a healthy green color and there should be no brown or black.  It should also smell somewhat sweet.  If it smells foul, then it is bad and you shouldn't buy it.

The main difference between hamster/gerbil food and chinchilla food is that hamster and gerbil food contains additives that make for healthier gerbils and hamsters.  These additives are too fattening for chinchillas.  Chinchillas need a very low fat diet or they will have serious digestive problems resulting in loose stool at best.  The extra fattening diet could even be fatal.

Answer 6

yeah should be fine. i mean i wouldn't always do that but i have 4 guinea pigs and i had a hamster and when i ran out of guinea pig food but still had hamster food. i gave the guinea pigs hamster food for a few nights until i got more guinea pig food.

they were fine :))

Answer 7

Yes the food for chinchillas, hamsters, gerbils and rabbits, also very similar animals is all the same idea

Answer 8

Absolutely not.  Chinchillas have special nutritional needs.  Nutriphase makes a food specifically for Chinchillas.  I know because I have one.  Chinchillas can't have a lot of sugar.  It can kill them.  They love raisins as a treat but only give a couple a day because of the sugar contents.  A great thing for Chinchillas is Timothy Hay.

Answer 9

yeah of course, chinchillas are kinda like bigger versions of hamsters/gerbils.

Answer 10

NOOOOO!!!

Chinchillas, while they look like hamsters and gerbils only bigger, are NOT the same!!  Gerbils came from the desert, like some mice, and..well, I'm not sure where hamsters came from, but more than likely, some place warm considering their thin coats.

To top it off, chinchillas came from the MOUNTAINS.  Not the desert.  Therefore, their diet is automatically different in that sense.

A chinchilla will probably eat the hamster food and gerbil food, it'll probably eat it without any problem, but it will more than likely get sick and cost you $120 to take it to the vet, get told off, get medicine, and have to switch its diet, which will not make it happy.  It would be cheaper and wiser to buy chinchilla food to save your chinchilla the pain of taking medicine.  Most medicine for rodents is either given in the water supply or orally.  If you have to give it to it orally (shoving an eye dropper down its throat) don't expect it to forgive you soon.  It will more than likely begin to bite you, and hard at that, when it learns the routine.  

Finally, switching the diet will be hard since you cannot just switch it like that or else your chinchilla may stop eating.  You have to mix it in for awhile and then switch over.

If you want your chinchilla to stay healthy, stay happy, and maintain a good relationship with it, you would not feed it hamster//gerbil food.

Answer 11

Hi ! if your in the shop and have the packet i think it should say on it : suitable for hamsters etc

if it doesnt say chinchillas dont buy it, im sure you can get food especially for them

i have a mouse and i feed it rabbit and hamster food and shes fine ! but ive never had a chincilla ! :)

anyway ! hope ive helped

Answer 12

Of course... I mean they like the same things... I gave my hamster  Guinea Pig food and he ended up liking it... but you should check the ingredients and do a little research... maybe some of them are bad for chinchillas but I doubt it.

I think you should just stick to normal chinchilla food, see chinchillas need nutrients that other types of food won't be able to give them.

Answer 13

i wouldnt recommend it hun. stick to chinchilla food,at least it will have all the nutrients and things for a healthy diet for your chinchilla. you dont know what is in hamster or gerbil food. it may have ingredients that chincillas cannot have. dont risk it.

Answer 14

NO.

Feed them CHINCHILLA food.

Hamster and gerbil food doesn't have what a chinchilla needs.

For example, chinchillas need low sugar as they're prone to diabetes- gerbil and hamster food doesn't take that into consideration. They also need lower fat based food (like not too many sunflowers) because they can easily become obese.

So feed them the food they're meant to be fed, or you will end up facing the consequences of a chinchilla blind from diabetes or with breathing problems due to obesity.

Answer 15

That's one for Richard Gere to answer.

Answer 16

I am guessing so! When you go buy the food, ask the people at the pet store!

Answer 17

No. Chinchillas are different from gerbils and hamsters. They have different nutritional needs. Short term, the hamster/gerbil food won't harm much. However, in the long run, it's not good.

Your chinchilla may eat it and enjoy it, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's good for it. For example, people eat fast food all the time and it's good, but it's not healthy for us in the long run.

Get your chinchilla a good quality chinchilla food.

Answer 18

no, feeding them other small animal food can cause health problems and can even kill them

A high quality pellet is the staple to any chin diet. I use Mazuri Chinchilla Diet. Mazuri specializes in exotic animal food.

A constant supply of hay should be kept in the chinchilla's cage at all times. Hay is important for many reasons. It is a wonderful source of fiber, as well as calcium and protein.

With chinchillas though, it is also important for helping them to keep their back teeth from overgrowing and causing health issues. Cube hay will not help back teeth nearly as much as loose hay does.Timothy, alfalfa and oat hay are all good for chins. Alfalfa is much higher in calcium and protein, which an be harsh on chin's digestive systems, especially if the pellet portion of the diet is alfalfa based.

Also make sure you always provide plenty of different sizes of chew sticks for their teeth as well. A basic rule of thumb is that if your pellets are alfalfa based, as Mazuri is, you need to feed timothy hay. If the pellets are timothy based then feed a alfalfa hay.

Answer 19

yea but i dont think hey will like it.