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[Joyce]

Do any of you give your chins bermuda grass?  (No, I'm not talking about the stuff that grows in our front yards!)   
I have never given it to mine, but do see it sold in bags at the pet shops.  Most of you have heard me talk on other threads about 2 chins I recently adopted from a young woman who could not keep them.  They were given bermuda grass instead of timothy hay.  When they came to live with me I immediately began giving them timothy hay!  I still give them a little bit of their bermuda grass every night as not to disrupt their diet too much right away.  They really like it too! 
Just curious if anyone out there gives bermuda grass and/or what you all might know about giving this to chinchillas.  I know it is definitely NO SUBSTITUTION FOR TIMOTHY HAY. 
  But is it OK to keep giving these 2 chins bermuda grass as a treat?

[ThreeLilChins]

I have heard of some people feeding the chins wheat grass. We don't feed our chins that type of grass. Our love bird Kush never tried it, we keep it in her cage for like a week. If the consistencey of poo changes from what it should be you may want to stop giving them the grass.

[Joyce]

I have been giving these 2 particular chins a little bit of the bermuda grass every night or every other night since I got them.  Of course along with the timothy hay I now give them too.  So as far as the poos look I don't really see any difference.
Did I answer your question?  I mean is that what you were asking me, about how the poos are looking now?   
:-[ Sorry, I usually don't make much sense at this hour, it's late here and I need to go to bed, what a busy day!!!!

  Thanks for your reply!

[chinclub]

We were told by a wonderful breeder that Coastal Bermuda was ok for chinchillas and - even better for the babies. He said that he used to use it exclusively and the only reason he no longer does is because it is not grown in his area. Since he is one of our trusted mentors and since it grows here and everyone sells it soooo cheap we switched.  I haven't done a lot of hay nutritional research but we buy our hay (even our timothy and alfalfa) from a hay farmer near us and trust his education on the subject.  When we asked him for the Coastal Bermuda over the Timothy alfalfa hay we usually get he was surprised and asked why we were going down to a lesser hay.  I soon saw what he meant.  In our herd of 100 + chinchillas health went down hill fast! I noticed no loose poop or anything like that but they began to get really skinny.  My chinchillas get a lot of hay and they were filling up on this stuff and not eatting as much pellets.  I noticed it most in nursing babies and their moms.  They began loosing a lot weight. We switched back to our normal Timothy/alfalfa mix and everything went back to normal.

So if you choose this hay keep close weight records and watch for any dips.  You may want to only give it as a treat instead of as part of the diet. It didn't upset their digrestive system or anything like that, it just cut out a big chunk of their nutrition.  It would be OK to give as a treat though.