amounts

[snusbaum]

I am going to be ordering some food and hay and dust. I am trying to figure out how much to order. And how long it will stay fresh.


I am not sure how much Mazuir he eats in a month yet, so how much does 1 chin usually eat in a month. I would like to order 5lbs but I am not sure if it will go bad before we get it used. And the same with hay. I bought a bag of Kaytee when I first got him, but I want to order him some better hay, so how long would 15 oz last 1 chin?

Does dust go bad???

[mistywaterwoman]

Dust doesn't go bad, you can stock up on that. The Mazuri will keep for 3-6 months, depending on the mill date when you get it. Hay can stay fresh for a LONG time as long as you store it where it can "breathe". I dump mine into a big open bin and pull it apart to fluff it out, and it stays fresh a long time that way.

I used to buy Mazuri in the 2.5 lb bag for just Sally and that lasted me about a month, maybe longer. 5 lbs will probably last you maybe 3 months or so.

I don't remember how much hay I used to buy for just Sally, I just grabbed one of those little $5 bags of Kaytee every now and then, and I never had to throw any out, so she was going through it pretty steadily. It's hard for me to remember back that far, and I only had ONE chin for about a month before I went back and got Amy. Maybe more like 3 weeks...

[saras]

hehe... I buy my babies 25 lbs of hay and we go through that before it goes bad. I also buy pellets in 50 lb bags now that I have eight of the little devils! Those 15 oz bags of hay should last long enough for one chin to get through it before it goes bad.... there really isn't that much hay in those things. I would say that you would almost certainly use the hay before it went bad if you bought it in 15 oz bags and the same with the food if you bought it in 2.5 lb bags. For my eight chinchillas a 5 lb bag of oxbow pellets lasted about two weeks and that was measured out at about 2.5 T per chinchilla per day (if that gives you an idea).

[Inked Up Tara]

I have 3 chins and I get a 12 lb box at a time and that seems to work here, for quite some time and it is cheaper with shipping that way.

[gretling]

I buy 5 lbs of food at a time for Bruce, and it lasts about three months. Like Kara said, pellets should keep for 3-6 months, depending on mill date. As for hay, I prefer to buy him about 5 lbs of timothy hay at a time (plus however much of whatever else hay...I only buy the 15 oz in a pinch for timothy hay and if I'd like to try a new type of hay for Bruce). The 5 lbs hay lasts a few months (Bruce goes through periods where he eats more hay, then pellets, then hay again, etc...but he always goes through at least one handful of hay a day). So long as the hay is stored correctly, it shouldn't go bad for a very long time. I keep my timothy hay in boxes with small holes punched on its sides. The 15 ounce of hay probably won't last long--I did buy him 15 oz. timothy hay and the only reason it lasted as long as it did (About a month/month and a half) was because he didn't like it so much.

[snusbaum]

Thank you so much. I think I will buy 5lbs of food and not sure yet about hay, I have a storage issue. lol. Thank you again so much....

[Inked Up Tara]

It is all trial and error ( i errored a lt lol and had to throw a ton of it away)

[chinaddiction]

if you think that 5lbs will last more tham a few months you can freeze it, one of our adoptive parents buys 5lbs and then she seperates it into 1lb bags and she uses one of those food saver vaccum sealers to make the bags, when she opened a bag it smelled just like opening a regular bag of pellets, as far as hay i do the same as kara keep it in a open box and seperate it so that its fluffy and air can get into all of it,

[snusbaum]

That's a great idea. Thanks..