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[mike]

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and a first time chinchilla owner. I have a 3 month black velvet female. My question is can my chinchilla have a piece of matzos (matzah) cracker ? The ingredients in the cracker are as follows; wheat, flour and water. There is no salt, sugar or anything elese in the cracker. She seems to be very picky with her treats but she loves these crackers.

[Chinchilla_lover1818]

To be safe I'd probably say no, don't want to take any chances. It probably really wouldn't hurt too much, but make sure you're not feeding her the whole cracker at once, maybe split it into little bits. Also at that age, your chin shouldn't be getting many treats if any at all. I recommend that you just stick with apple wood sticks and alfalfa hay for the first half year of her life. These treats are completely safe and good for your growing chins health. Hope this helped.

[GrayRodent]

Congrats on your new pet. That's great.

I agree with Chinchilla lover there. Bread and wheat products are not a recommend treat for chinchillas. I'm not sure exactly why but it is not good for them. I imagine they are quite fattening and may cause liver damage in the long run.

The first couple of weeks when a chinchilla is located to a new place they are stressed and may have digestive upset. This can turn into a serious problem if provoked. There are plenty of alternatives to food treat. Wood sticks and alfalfa are good treats. Alfalfa based pellets should be part of a chin's normal diet and loose alfalfa makes a nice supplement. They will not overeat it. Be careful with wood sticks though because they may eat it to the exclusion of food and loose weight. I've found that an alfalfa pellet from their food dish sometimes works as a treat as well but not as much when they are older.

At 3 months I recommend not giving food treats such as raisins. An adult chinchilla should not have more than two whole raisins a day or equivalent volume. Wait until 6 months. She should be fully grown in about a year. I recommend weighing her weekly and you should see a positive weight trend for about 8 months that will gradually level off.

[kageri]

Plain, sugar free or darn close, wheat cereal is suggested as a treat. Most people break them in to halves or fourths depending on the size.  We feed them most nights between nights/days we feed cheerios (sugar so they don't get them as often) or goji berries.  Goji berries are more training treats for when they are out of their cage.  Chewing wood and certain dried flowers are not considered part of their daily treat limit because these are safe to give in larger or in the case of twigs unlimited amounts.   You have to be very cautious about the amount of treats since chins eat so little.  They need to ingest plenty of hay and enough pellets for all their vitamin/mineral requirements so treats should be very small and only one a day or possibly with tiny pieces of oatmeal about 2-3 a day.  Wood provides fiber, some nutrients, especially fresh young branches with the green layer, and isn't fattening enough they eat it over more nutritious foods like their pellets so it usually doesn't adversely affect the diet in any amount.

[GrayRodent]

I've been warned against using bread products in the past by reputable breeders. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong because part of me thinks if you can feed a cheerio then a small piece of cracker shouldn't be too bad. Is there a big nutritional difference? Would you mind sharing your opinion on that kageri? You probably know more than I do regarding that.

I totally agree that treats need to be tiny compared to their daily food intake which is pretty small. If you combine hay and pellets together they eat about 3 tablespoons for a large adult per day in volume. They have very delicate digestive tracts compared to other animals and need to have a very strict diet or you risk killing them quite easily.

[mike]

Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate it. The Matzah crackers are out. I am gonna place and order with TJs Chinchilla Supplies for her treats. Thanks again