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Chinchilla food in the Chinchilla Webshop
You can order chinchilla food easily and quickly at DRD Knaagdierwinkel® The Chinchilla Webshop for your Chinchilla!
You can order chinchilla food for your Chinchilla easily and quickly from DRD Rodent Shop. Would you like to spoil your Chinchilla with healthy, balanced chinchilla food? Here you will find different types of food for an attractive price. Versele-Laga, Witte Molen, Hope Farms, Supreme, etc. Ordering is quick and easy at DRD Knaagdierwinkel!
Chinchillas are small, folivorous/herbivorous (herbivorous) mammals and belong to the rodent order. Chinchillas feed on plant foods and are able to process them optimally.
Teeth
There are two incisors in the upper and lower jaws, which, just like the molars, continue to grow for life. A rough fiber structure in the diet is necessary for tooth wear.
Stomach
The stomach is only moderately muscular and therefore cannot independently transport the food to the next part of the intestine. The following nutritional portions take over that task.
Cecum
Fine dietary fibers end up in the voluminous appendix, which are converted into proteins, vitamin B complex and vitamin K by special bacteria. That is why the appendix is also called the fermentation chamber. The cecal droppings formed are reabsorbed by chinchillas.
Ratio of crude fiber and starch
Crude Fiber: Crude fiber is very important for health. They support digestion, the appendix and, with their rough fiber structure, tooth wear.
Starch: Starch is mainly an energy supplier and should be present in limited quantities in the feed.
A shift in the crude fiber-starch ratio can lead to long-term health damage:
Too little crude fiber leads to intestinal sluggishness, changes in intestinal flora and disturbed functioning of the appendix.
Too much starch leads to eating breaks, changes in intestinal flora, swelling, diarrhea, fermentation, adiposity.
That's why veterinarians recommend a minimum crude fiber-to-starch ratio of 3:1.
How do I actually know how much starch my food contains?
The composition is very useful: whole grain grains (with starchy flour body), field beans, potatoes or peas are an indication that a higher starch content should be taken into account.
Chinchillas have a very sensitive digestive system. The food should not contain too much moisture. In addition to special chinchilla chunks, chinchillas need unlimited hay. Chinchillas eat their appendix feces just like rabbits. They mainly get vitamin B12 from this. In nature, the chinchilla eats dried plant parts. The diet must be low in energy and rich in fiber. The chinchilla's gastrointestinal tract is weakly muscled. The chinchilla should therefore not have too long eating breaks. Hay in particular must be available in an unlimited manner.
Fiber: Fiber is extremely important for chinchillas. The chinchilla's teeth grow throughout its life. It is therefore important that the teeth and molars wear sufficiently. This is done by eating raw fibers, mainly from hay. By chewing the long fibers from the hay for a long time, the chinchilla produces saliva. This saliva contains enzymes that start digestion. In addition to wearing down the teeth, fibers are also important for digestion.
Protein: The food should not contain too much protein. The appendix stool must be eaten again by the chinchilla. This is rich in vitamins and protein. If the chinchilla consumes too much protein through its diet, this may prevent it from eating the appendix stool.
Fats: Chinchillas should not consume too much fat. If the food contains too much fat, this can cause the chinchilla to take eating breaks. This can lead to digestive problems. A diet that is too fatty can also cause the chinchilla to become too fat.
Calcium: The chinchilla excretes the excess calcium through the feces, and not through the urine, as is the case with many other rodents. This significantly reduces the risk of bladder and kidney stones. An excess of calcium is therefore not immediately dangerous. A calcium deficiency is harmful to the teeth and skeleton. Young growing animals and pregnant animals need a calcium content of 0.9%. For adult animals, a content of 0.6% is sufficient. The Calcium:Phosphorus ratio should be between 1.5:1 and 2:1.
Chinchillas can eat these plants
Wild Plants |
Branches and Leaves |
Vegetable |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberry leaf Bindweed Amaranth Mountain savory Mugwort Buckwheat Chives Nettle (dried) Goldenrod Canadian fleabane Wild garlic Deadnettle Yarrow Speedwell Angelica Cow parsley Great wall Plantain Cat's tail Big poppy Common agrimony Marigold Just pig grass Ordinary rocket Common hogweed Hedge bindweed Horsetail Herik Box peat Ground trot Shepherd's purse Hop Hawkweed Hornflower Deer hay Hedge vetch Incarnate clover Japanese knotweed Mallow/Malva Chamomile Cleavers Nodding nailwort Knapweed Knapweed Cucumber herb Compass lettuce Queen's herb Rapeseed Cornflower blue Cornflower Red Coltsfoot Clover Wood sorrel Burdock Look-without-look Lathyrus violet Daisy Margriet Report Milk Thistle/Milk Thistle Avensis Cranesbill Dandelion Bee bread Arrowwort cherry Penningwort Burnet Roller clover Comfrey coleus Stripe seed Narrow plantain Evening primrose Torch Valerian Lamb's lettuce Field cherry Five-fingerwort Fodder vetch Chickweed Flax Snapdragon Lady's mantle Bedstraw Chicory Wild carrot Winter purslane White Krodde Watercress Zenegreen Ground elder Silver beauty Sunflower Coneflower/Echinacea Sorrel |
Currant bush |
Endive Celery Broccoli Zucchini Iceberg lettuce Cucumber Head lettuce Bell pepper Parsnip Parsley root Pumpkin Purslane |
