Can Chinchillas Eat Celery?
Celery is a nutritious food. It contains fiber, vitamins and minerals and is healthy for human beings. But foods that are healthy for humans aren’t necessarily going to be healthy for their pets.
Can chinchillas eat celery? Chinchillas should not eat celery. It can damage their digestive system, cause deficiency of nutrients, and further lead to diarrhea, bloating and even death.
Is celery poisonous to chinchillas?
Celery itself is not a poisonous food for your chinchilla. He would not choke eating it but the major problem is the nutritional content of celery.
Celery contains an excessive amount of water and very small amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and fiber. This mixture of nutrients can cause diarrhea in chinchillas.
Chinchillas’ natural diets consist of very dry and fibrous foods so their bodies are not designed to handle this kind of a balance of nutrients.
What if chinchillas eat celery?
If your chinchilla eats a small amount of celery by accident, there isn’t too much to worry about. But if they get into a large amount of celery, it could cause bloating and a lot of pain to them because of the excessive amount of water content.
You can easily make out that your lovely chinchilla is feeling uncomfortable; he may rub his body against the wall to reduce his restlessness or you may even be able to make out the little changes in the size of his stomach.
In that case; don’t waste time, take quick action and visit the veterinarian.
What vegetables can chinchillas eat?
Chinchillas mostly consume plants in their diet. They can have vegetables but in small portions and a balanced amount. Some vegetables are not safe for your chinchilla; therefore you must avoid giving them.
Here is the list of vegetables to provide and avoid giving your chinchilla:
| Provide | Avoid |
| Potato | Avocado |
| Carrot | Broccoli |
| Chard | Cabbage |
| Kale | Cucumber |
| Pumpkin | Dates |
| Squash | Chamomile |
| Parley | Peas |
| Alfalfa | Pistachio |
| Lettuce (some) | Apple |
Treats for chinchillas
Maintaining a healthy diet as well as offering treats from time to time can be a difficult task. You should be very careful when providing them with different kinds of food.
Chinchillas are very sensitive to sugar. They cannot have a large amount of it in their diet. Sometimes, even a small amount of sugar causes them trouble.
You also can’t offer your chinchilla tons of fresh fruits and vegetables the way that people do for their guinea pigs and rabbits.
Unfortunately, a chinchillas diet does need to be pretty simple consisting mostly of just hay and pellets.
Here is the list of some great food items to provide them instead of celery (all in careful moderation):
- Oats
- Dried Flowers
- Rose Hips
- Yogurt Drops
- Dried Fruits
Final thoughts
It is important to know what kinds of foods are healthy to feed to your chinchilla. You want them to bond with you but you also want to make sure they are getting all the healthy nutrients they need.
Celery does not meet the nutrient requirements that chinchillas have for a healthy diet and can cause diarrhea and bloating which can be catastrophic for chinchillas.
Most people experiment by giving different food items to their pets to see how they respond. Do not do this with your chinchilla because unlike guinea pigs and rabbits, chinchillas are very sensitive and they can’t digest all food items.
Visit a veterinarian annually or if you think something seems off with your chinchilla.
Chinchillas are special animals that need special love and care, so treat them well.
Let me know if you found this article helpful. If you have any questions regarding chinchillas feel free to leave them in the comments section.
Resources
These are the sources used in this article:
- https://smallpetshq.com/can-chinchillas-eat-celery/
- https://planetchinchilla.com/can-chinchillas-eat-vegetables/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LADZmrQExvw
- https://neeness.com/can-chinchillas-eat-celery/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0IAcllwT2I
- https://lovemychinchilla.com/can-chinchillas-eat-celery/
- https://chinchillacaregroup.com/can-chinchillas-eat-celery/
