Than to feed chinchillas at home is tasty, useful and varied?

Correctly choose a diet for chinchillas- a responsible task. The health of the animal, the shine of fur and the duration of life depends entirely on food.

Food for the rodent is very diverse, but there are characteristic features in how to feed the pet, especially at home.

What likes to eat chinchilla?

Chinchilla is a herbivore. The basis of the ration of animals is considered to be food of plant origin.

In the wild, the main food for them iscereals and legumes, cacti, shrubs, tree bark, small fruit, shoots, mosses and other vegetation.

In a home environmentfor the ration of the animal is responsible man. Food should be diverse and balanced to ensure all the needs of the body with the right ingredients, vitamins, nutrients.

Moreover, luxurious fur and irrepressible energy require a large expenditure of nutrients. Chinchillas are fastidious in eating. From the proposed food, they will choose the most tasty pieces.

But for full developmentthe animal needs to receive various microelements and vitamins, so you need to try to ensure that the animal fully consumes its portion.

In the event that the pet began to throw food out of the trough, it is necessary to reduce the food given out. You can give pet pet food in small parts, cut in the diet of goodies.

When choosing food for a rodent, it is worth considering thatthey, like all herbivorous, sensitive digestion.

First, they have a long intestine. Secondly, herbivorous animals recycle the heavily digested plant tissue. From it they receive the necessary nutrients.

Chinshill is better not to feed a little, than to overfeedgoodies. Proposed food must be:

• qualitative;
• fresh;
• without trace and smell of rot, mold, mustiness.

Green feed should be collected away from busy places, roadside roads, factories. Greens, vegetables and fruits before feeding the rodent is well washed and dried. The food should be absolutely dry.

Young animals and those individuals that did not receive green forage in the winter season should gradually become accustomed to them. Initially, you need to offer the pet such food in small portions, gradually increasing the dose.

In this case, you need to closely monitor the health of the chinchilla.

So animals get used to the established time of feeding, which has a positive effect on the digestibility of food. If in the morning all the food is eaten, then additional feeding is possible.

Before pouring a new portion of the feed to the pet, it is necessary to discard the uneaten remains and rinse the bowls with running water without adding detergents and cleaning agents.

The daily portion of the main pet food - 1 teaspoon, hay - 20-30 g, a snack to choose from - 1 piece. An animal's pointer should always have boiled or filtered clean water.

Than you can feed a rodent at home

The animal living in your home eats coarse dry and juicy forages, nutritious mixes, needs vitamin additives and goodies.

Food is coarse and juicy

To succulent fodder carryfruits, vegetables, greens and twigs of shrubs, trees. They are full of useful microelements, vitamins, organic substances.

During the whole year, branches, snags, twigs of various bushes and tree species are available. Eating solid wood, the animals will grind off constantly growing incisors.

From vegetables to chinchillas you can offer tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, carrots, pumpkin, lettuce, zucchini.

Of fruits, they prefer pears, apples, melons, berries, bananas, grapes, from dried fruits - apples, plums, raisins, hawthorn, dried apricots, cherries, barberry and dogrose. Fruits of large size it is desirable to cut into small pieces.

From the green it is worth givingclover, tops of carrots, peas, dandelions.

Treats must be offered systematically. For example, 1-2 times a week, one berry, 2-3 times a week, other yummies - fruits, dried fruits.

Vegetables should be fed in moderation - a small slice 1-2 times a week along with the main food. Because of sensitive digestion, chinchillas can not eat large amounts of vegetables and fruits.

After the introduction of a new type of food should closely monitor the reaction of the animal's body. Perhaps indigestion, then from the juicy food should be discarded. If the pet feels well, then the food is right for him.

The food is dry and rough

This refers to foodhay. It is an important component of the ration of the animal and saturates the body with the necessary fiber.

Dried grass helps to advance food in the intestines, not allowing it to stagnate, cause fermentation. Also hay is a rich source of microelements, vitamins, fiber, protein.

Hay must be of good quality, fresh, not wet and not musty. Properly prepared food smells nice, without foreign garbage, sticks and other inclusions. It can be purchased at pet stores or collected independently.

It is better, when food chinchilla is offeredhay from forbs- Different types of grass. Billets from leguminous plants (alfalfa, clover) contain the necessary vitamins and minerals. They are mowed during the flowering period of legumes.

Cereal feed by nutritional composition is slightly inferior to the first, because it contains less mineral substances and protein.

To cereals, which like chinchillas, include fescue fescue, Sudan, timothy grass, wheatgrass, meadow grassland, hedgehog. They have a lot of nutritional value of grass, mown down to the first flowering.

In a day it is necessary to give chinchilla from 20-30 to 70-80 grams of fresh hay.

These herbs are poisonousand in herbal food for animals should not fall into any case:

• fern;
• horsetail;
• Sitnik;
• black nightshade;
• dope;
• white chaff;
• cornflower;
• crow's eye.

Do I need to give nutritional formulas?

For the correct development of the rodent, it needs elements contained in nutrient mixtures. Chinchillas should be given different mixtures to saturate their body with as many vitamins, microelements, proteins, fats, amino acids as possible.

Such types of food can be purchased at the pet store or manufactured by yourself. Most often they are sold in granular form. They contain all the necessary useful ingredients in the right proportions.

Of the crops, rodents are suitable:

• oats- contains a large amount of protein, fat, but does not cause obesity. Often, it is oats that make up 75% of the mixture;
• corn- should be given in small portions, as it can cause bloating;
• barley- offer it is worth it in the grinded form, better for adults. This grain product is very hard;
• wheat- it contains a lot of carbohydrates, proteins, little fat.

In feeding chinchillasIt is worth noting the rye- it is difficult to digest animals.

What food can not eat chinchillas?

Because of the sensitive digestion of chinchillasthey should not be given the following products:

• food from the general table (salty, spicy, fatty, spicy, smoked);
• meat and meat products;
• Bread and buns (bread, pastries);
• flour (pasta, noodles);
• potatoes, fresh cabbage, lettuce;
• sweets (biscuits, chocolate, sugar, sweets, other confectionery);
• eggs;
• fried nuts, seeds, grains;
• mushrooms;
• fermented milk products;
• fast food, chips, popcorn;
• stale and spoiled products.

The list does not contain absolutely any useful substances for the correct growth and development of the rodent. The listed products are high-calorie and fat, resulting in a pet can develop obesity.

This will adversely affect the mobility of the animal, its ability to reproduce, life expectancy.

Perhaps, from one eating the animal will not perish, butsystematic eating of such delicacies will lead to serious health problems of chinchilla.

Vitamin supplements in addition to nutrition

With an unbalanced diet of chinchillas, young individuals, pregnant and lactating rodents, sick and weakenedit is necessary to give vitamin complexes. They can be in liquid form, in the form of tablets and powders.

Liquid vitaminized feed can be given along with water, so enriching the diet of a pet will not be difficult. Powders and tablets are very difficult to offer to pets.

In a cage the animal is desirablehang a mineral and salt stone, which the animal will eat as necessary.

You can buy immediately vitaminized food. In the most common are carrots, pumpkin, nettle hay, mountain ash, dog rose. To replenish the stores of protein and B vitamins in the food, pour a little dry yeast (2-5 g).

It is not difficult to teach chinchillas to proper nutrition, but it is absolutely necessary. Only getting all the useful microelements, vitamins and other useful compounds the animal will be healthy, full of energy and will live a long life.