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Chinchillas are cute and furry animals that tend to be picky when eating food. These finicky animals need a diet based on hay with a small addition of species-specific high-quality pellets. They also tend to enjoy eating twigs, bark, and grass. However, even though they can be offered various healthy snacks as an addition to their nutritional intake and healthy life, it’s important to be very careful regarding the choice of treats, as many may cause more harm than good.
But just because your chinchilla will eat a certain food does not mean they should. So, can chinchillas safely be offered foods like almonds? Not really. Chinchillas shouldn’t eat almonds, and many other snack options are healthier and more appropriate for this animal. Here is everything you need to know about feeding your chinchilla.
Chinchillas Can Technically Eat Almonds, But Should They?
Chinchillas can technically eat almonds, but that does not mean almonds should make any part of their diet. Almonds are high in calories and fat, both of which can contribute to obesity as well as digestive, dental, and other health problems. Feeding almonds to a chinchilla leaves less room in their diet for healthier and less calorie-dense snack options.
Also, almonds contain cyanogenic glycosides. If chinchillas consume this substance regularly, it could lead to the development of hepatic pathologies, which are ailments of the liver. These pathologies could lead to serious illness or even death. It’s unlikely that a small piece of almond accidentally eaten by your Chichilla will cause them significant harm. However, it is important to ensure that almonds are not included in your chinchilla’s commercial food and are not included in the animal’s regular snack offerings.
Other Foods That Chinchillas Should Not Eat
All nuts and seeds should be avoided as snacks for your chinchilla. Fresh fruits should not be offered to chinchillas either because they contain high amounts of water and sugar, which are inadequate for chinchillas’ digestion.
Most vegetables should also be avoided for the most part because they can result in bloat and digestive discomfort. Commercial pellet food not designed specifically for chinchillas and seed mixes should always be avoided because they are not formulated to meet the nutritional needs of this specific species.
Healthier Snack Options for Chinchilla Owners to Consider
Most “human” food, particularly processed one, should not be offered to your pet chinchilla at any time. About 80-90% of your pet’s diet should be composed of hay that can be sourced from the livestock supply shop, with a small addition of high-quality pellets formulated specifically for chinchillas. However, less than 10% of their diet can be made up of healthy snacks, some of which can be found in your kitchen or easily sourced from grocery or health food stores.
- Twigs from safe and untreated trees, such as apple, willow, hazelnut, and mulberry
- Dried Dandelion leaves
- Dried Chamomile
- Dried Nettle
- Rosehips
It is important to keep in mind that your chinchilla needs only a very small amount of these foods on a weekly basis to gain any nutritional benefits. Too many of these foods can be harmful to your chinchilla’s health overall. Therefore, your chinchilla should not get more than one teaspoon’s worth of snacks every few days. That isn’t much for humans, but plenty for a small chinchilla.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes referred to as pocket pets, chinchillas do not need much food to thrive. This is why it is important to ensure that every bite your pet chinchilla takes counts. There is no room for “junk food” like there might be for humans. Their diet should be based on hay, and there is no room for almonds here. If possible, keep track of the snacks you offer your chinchilla weekly, so you know what has and hasn’t been offered recently.
This should make it easy to figure out which foods to lay off to avoid overfeeding. It will also enable you to identify which foods have not been offered to your chinchilla recently, so they can be safely put into the snack rotation again.
Featured Image Credit: Pixabay
