Can Chinchillas Eat Oats?

If you’ve just gotten a chinchilla, you’re probably worried about what to feed it. A lot of food choices must have crossed your mind, and since chinchillas are herbivores, you may have thought of oats.

However, it wouldn’t be sensible to just feed your chinchilla whatever you think it would like. You need to carry out some research first. And that’s what this article is all about. 

So, can chinchillas eat oat? Yes, chinchillas can eat oats. However, like all other food, it’s important that you give them oats in moderation. Too much is certainly not good for your chin.

Summary of today article’s:

• Are oats safe for chinchillas
• Can chinchillas eat rolled oats?
• How to feed chinchillas oats
• Conclusion

Are Oats Safe For Chinchillas

The short answer to this question is yes. Chinchillas can eat oats. Oats are considered safe foods, and chinchillas can eat them if they want to.

However, there’s a condition attached. They cannot take too much.

If you want to give oats to chinchillas, make sure you don’t give them too much. When fed to chinchillas in large quantities, they can cause bloating. And you surely don’t want that for your chinchilla.

If you’ve spoken to someone who owns a chinchilla before, you’d notice them say things about safe foods for chinchillas. This isn’t a mistake.

Chinchillas have very unique and sensitive stomachs, so they don’t eat all kinds of food. They are loads of foods that wouldn’t be considered safe for chinchillas.

Some of them include cabbage, corn, banana, and nuts. That’s why it’s very important to carry out proper research before settling down what sort of food to feed your chinchilla. 

Oats are good for chinchillas for several reasons. For one, they won’t give your chinchilla diarrhoea, and they won’t give it gastrointestinal stasis.

They also won’t make your chinchilla choke. Well, at least no more than other food choices.

They also aren’t poisonous, whether cooked or not. Importantly, they meet the dietary requirements of chinchillas, so they will keep your furry little animal in great shape.

Now, this isn’t to say that chinchillas can’t live without oats. You don’t have to feed them oat snacks, as they are capable of living without it.

But if you do feed it to them, there’s no problem. 

Oats are a healthy snack, and they are good for chinchillas. But like most foods, it’s possible to abuse oats.

If you allow your chinchilla, it could easily eat too many oats, and get fat as a result. As long as you tightly control the number of oats your chinchilla eats, there’s no problem. Read our popular post about chinchilla diet to find out more!

What Are The Nutrients In Oats

If you want to completely understand why oats are good for your chinchilla, it’s important to take a look at the nutrients they contain. Rolled oats, which are the most common kind of oats you can find, contain about 67.7g of carbohydrates per a hundred grams of oat.

They also have about 6 grams of fat per hundred grams of oat. In addition to this, they also contain fibre, water, and protein in huge quantities. 

All in all, this shows that oats are perfect for chinchillas. 

Do Chinchillas Like Oats?

There’s a marked difference between being able to eat something and liking it. For example, most human beings can eat raisins.

But many will give a terrible look if they bite into a cookie and find raisins in them. 

So, yes, chinchillas can eat oats. But do they like oats?

Well, chinchillas generally like anything that tastes new. If you offer them new treats that they haven’t tasted before, they’ll gobble it up.

This includes sweet stuff like certain fruits and vegetables. It also includes stuff that is sweet and savory like oats. 

The answer to the question is yes. As long as you give chinchillas a small portion of oats, they’ll enjoy it.

But why do chinchillas even like oats? The answer is probably the dense nature of oats. Chinchillas in the wild have to spend most of their time eating just to get enough calories to live long.

In the wild, they prefer dense foods that are sugary, fatty, and full of protein. However, this sort of food is difficult to find.

In fact, it’s near impossible to find them.  So when they do find food like that, they tend to have their fill.

It’s basically the same reason why human beings tend to gorge themselves on sugary and fatty food.

Sadly, this instinct isn’t always great for chinchillas. Sometimes, it allows them to gorge on food that isn’t especially good for them.

Thankfully, this isn’t the case with chinchillas. They have the right level of nutrients good for your furry pet.

However, if they eat too much, they may get overweight. That’s why it’s important to give it to them in small portions. Read this post to find out more about the ideal chinchilla weight.

Can Chinchillas Eat Rolled Oats?

Rolled oats are a kind of lightly processed cereal. They are made when oat groats are dehusked, steamed and rolled flat.

This is how the oats we eat have been made for hundreds of years, and they are perfectly safe for chinchillas to eat. 

Chinchillas can basically eat any kind of oat. This includes steel cut oats. Some say that steel-cut oats are even better for your chinchilla because they contain more fiber. 

What Of Oatmeal?

Porridge oats (known by some as oatmeal) is a kind of oats that are made by taking rolled oats through more processing and then cooking them. The oats are usually cooked in milk for a creamier texture.

Other times, they are cooked with water. Most people add flavorings like sugar and salt to their oatmeal to make it taste better. 

Is it advisable to give oatmeal to chinchillas? The answer is no.

And this isn’t because of the oatmeal itself. It’s because chinchillas don’t usually like hot food. Even if you served them cold, they still wouldn’t be great for chinchillas.

This is because the process of cooking breaks down the fibre in the oats into simple sugars. And you certainly don’t want to reduce your chinchilla’s fibre intake.

You want to give it more, not less.

Another reason why you shouldn’t feed your chinchilla oatmeal is that they are basically lactose intolerant animals. Oatmeal would also make a mess of your chinchilla’s cage, and the water in them will reduce the nutritional value for your chin. 

We would also advise against giving your chin instant oatmeal. These kinds of oatmeal are the Quaker brand instant porridge oats.

These oats are highly processed and ground until they are indistinguishable from rough powder. In this sort of form, they wouldn’t be enjoyable or suitable for your furry little pet to eat.

It’s also important that you do not cook the instant oat as you would for a regular person and then give it to your chin. The reasons why you shouldn’t do it are the same reasons why you shouldn’t give it oatmeal.

So if you want to feed your chin oat, make sure it’s the dry raw oats that are not mixed with anything else. 

How To Feed Chinchillas Oats

There are lots of ways you could feed your chinchilla oats. The first way, and perhaps the most popular, is to sprinkle the oats over your chinchilla’s hay.

This will ensure that your chin’s cage stays neat and tidy. It also means that you won’t have to get a separate food bowl for your chinchilla.

You could also mix the oats with the hay, as this will encourage the chinchilla to forage as it does in the wild. 

Or, you could put the oats in a small food bowl. Most people wouldn’t leave a bowl in a chinchilla’s cage because it could be easily knocked over, but if you think that you can manage, you should go for it.

Another con of this kind of feeding is that your chinchilla could go in it, making it inedible. You could buy a bowl that clamps to the edge of the chinchilla’s cage.

That way, it won’t be able to knock it off. 

Or, you could feed your chinchilla from your hand. If your chinchilla trusts you, this will be a fairly easy process.

If it doesn’t, it may be a tad difficult.  However, it’s important that you don’t feed your chinchilla by hand through its cage bars.

The reason why you shouldn’t do this is that it makes your chinchilla associate fingers with food. If this happens, you won’t be able to tickle your chinchilla. It will bite your fingers anytime it sees it— which is a decidedly bad experience.

Conclusion 

Can your chinchilla eat oats? The answer is clear— yes.

Chinchillas can eat oats. In fact, oats are good for your chinchilla. They have the right nutrients that your chinchilla needs and they are suitable for it.

In fact, oats are one of the safest snacks for chinchillas. However, you should try not to feed your chinchilla too many oats.

If you do, it will get overweight and bloated— and that’s something you don’t want to see.