Chinchillas are rare animals and have an extremely sensitive digestive system. Being the owner of a chinchilla, you need to take special care of the food that you feed to your pet chinchilla.

It is important for you to know about the foods that chinchillas cannot eat. Feeding the wrong foods to chinchillas can lead them to have serious health issues, including diarrhea, liver damage, bloating and tooth decay.

Therefore, you must feed your pet chinchilla the correct diet to avoid health problems.

When adopting a pet chinchilla, you must do thorough research about the foods chinchillas cannot eat. In this guide, I will tell you about the foods that you need to avoid feeding your pet.

Please be Noted that this list is NOT complete, if you have new ideas, please let us know at once, we will keep updating the list.

Essential diet facts about chinchillas

Being herbivores, the diet of chinchillas must contain foods that are enriched with protein and fibers.

You need to avoid foods that contain high sugar levels and water. Chinchillas can be incredibly picky about what they eat. Thus you need to make sure that you feed them what they like; otherwise, they will get cranky.

Chinchillas’ diet in the wild

Even in the wild chinchillas would mostly eat plants, leaves, grass, and roots to fill up their stomachs.

They usually stay away from foods that contain fats, sugars, and water. According to my observations, most pet owners feed their pet chinchillas grass hay.

They also like to drink fresh water but in small quantities as drinking a great amount of water would cause their stomach to bloat.

Foods to avoid

Here is a list of food items that you should not feed to your pet chinchillas under any condition.

However, there are some foods that you can feed your pet occasionally in small amounts as treats since chinchillas love to eat treats.

I have also mentioned why it is necessary to avoid these food items for your knowledge.


As chinchillas are herbivores, they prefer eating plants instead of meat. Eating non-vegetarian food can affect their digestive system.


You should avoid feeding corn to your pet chinchilla as it can cause their stomach to bloat. Bloating can be fatal to a chinchilla, which is why you need to keep corn away from your pet. Other than this, corn is prone to fungus during the manufacturing process, which makes it toxic for chinchillas.


Chocolate is a must avoid food item for chinchillas as it is enriched with a large number of fats, protein, sugars, and oils which can be extremely toxic for chinchillas. Eating chocolate will not only damage their digestive tracts, but it will cause harm to their nervous systems.

Кора дерева

Even though chinchillas are herbivores, still you need to avoid feeding tree bark to your pet chinchilla as it may be contaminated with different plant diseases.

There is a high chance that there would be parasites attached to the tree bark along with leftover toxic spray material.

However, there are some trees which are safe for your pet chinchilla so do proper research about it before feeding tree barks to your pet.


Chinchillas can eat fruits as they are good for their health, but there are some fruits which contain a great amount of water and have high sugar levels that can be harmful to the health of chinchillas.

Taking too much water can cause your pet chinchilla to suffer from bloating and diarrhea. There are fruits such as grapes which contain hints of phosphorus and calcium that makes them acidic which is why they must be avoided at all costs since chinchillas can’t eat foods that have a high acidity level.

Other than this, fruits also contain a large number of fats and sugars, which can make their digestive system upset.

Thus, you should avoid feeding watermelon, grapes, lemons, oranges to your pet chinchilla.

However, there are some pet owners that feed their chinchillas fruits every now and then as treats in small amounts which help in not causing them any health issues. Eating too many fruits can cause damage to their vital organs as well.


Dairy products such as milk, ice cream, eggs, cheese, etc. can cause harmful effects to their digestive systems, which is why you should not feed foods that contain animal ingredients to your pet chinchilla.


Nuts are enriched with fats, oils, and protein, which can cause calcium deficiency in your pet chinchilla, which is why you should avoid feeding nuts and seeds to them. Other than this, they can also damage their liver, which makes nuts fatal for chinchillas.

Recooked food

You should also avoid giving them recooked food as they don’t do well with them and eating recooked food on a regular basis can damage their already sensitive digestive systems.

What Food Chinchillas Can't Eat (Long List)


Just like grapes, raisins are also rich in sugar and water, which can cause chinchillas’ diarrhea and bloat. Furthermore, raisins are acidic in nature and chinchillas can’t eat foods that are acidic. You can feed them raisins occasionally once or twice a week as a treat.

Dried fruits

Don’t feed large amounts of dried fruits to your pet chinchilla as it can cause dental illnesses to your pet.

Final Thoughts

Chinchillas are very picky eaters, and you can’t just feed anything to them as it may upset their digestive systems.

Try avoiding treats that are high in sugar, oils, and fats. You should also make sure that their treats don’t contain preservatives or additives as it may cause them health problems such as liver damage, diarrhea, bloating and dental pain.

Other than this, you should avoid feeding fruits and vegetables that contain too much water.

Avoid feeding cabbage, asparagus, avocado, lettuce, bananas, sunflower seeds, spinach, rhubarb, and broccoli to your pet chinchilla to make sure that they stay healthy and happy.

If your pet chinchilla consumes any of these food items in a large amount, then other than different illnesses, it would also make them upset and uncomfortable, which would lead them to become aggressive with you.
