Does anyone else have Degus ?

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HOWsMom

HOWsMom

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Just wondering if anyone else here keeps degus ?

We currently have 9.

3 males in one cage.

4 females in another cage.

2 in another - a bonded pair.

All are getting up there in years though - I think the youngest is 4, but I'm not 100% sure as we don't have birth dates, just general guesses from previous owners.
 
Nope! Interesting looking little critters- they look similar to chinchillas.

cmfarm":3ge8on0v said:
Can you tell us about them, I would love to learn. :D
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:yeahthat:
 
I had degus. I always said if gerbils were stronger they'd eat through metal. My degus ate the rim off an aquarium and started on the glass.
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This was the preliminary design of my tank. The bottle was very temporary. I got them a glass bottle with metal cap with metal sleeve. :lol:
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It's got to fit somehow
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I know lots of people say no nuts and you gotta watch fat and sugar carefully with degus but it would take them a long time to get much out of a brazil nut. I usually had to crack the corner to get them started. You can see the dusting tank next to him. I set a 5g on 2 bricks so they also had underneath it and filled it with a soft, small grain sand.
 
Degus are rodents that are from Chile.
Octodon degus - they live about 5-7 years.
VERY prone to diabetes - almost all of mine have cataracts, most did when I got them.

They are friendly and curious critters, and they chatter and chirp (quietly, thankfully).

We never meant to have as many as we do (and no, we did not breed them!) - but we had 6, and a friend had 6 totally unrelated 'goos. She was moving cross country and asked us to take her 'goos, as they do not transition well.

We lost 3 within a couple of weeks of taking in her 'goos :( They stress of a new home was too much.
The others I was able to have bond to ours.

Her mated pair has not bred here, though we have kept them together and away from the rest.
 
They come from about the same area as chinchillas and guinea pigs. The south american rodents all make very good pets. The larger ones are generally only found in zoos but I have seen people who acquired the license to keep them as a pet.
 
the videos of them are great! they are like climbing running guinea-pig-hamsters!
before I got the guinea pigs I was actually on the lookout for hamsters to try breeding when a bunch of guinea pigs needing rehomed kept popping up and they kinda happened. but degus caught my eye. they are very cute and very adorable.

so if they easily get diabetes what do they eat? I mean most rodents do good on a grain/nut mix from what I know (which I cant say is terribly all that much) but I am curious now.
I haven't seen or heard of any locally.
 
ohiogoatgirl":2hb40s5l said:
so if they easily get diabetes what do they eat? I mean most rodents do good on a grain/nut mix from what I know (which I cant say is terribly all that much) but I am curious now.
I haven't seen or heard of any locally.
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We feed mainly a guinea pig pellet, and add in fresh and dried herbs and leaves, a few nuts, grains, etc.
We avoid outright sugar, any pellet diet with molasses, etc.
 
Usually one of the more expensive guinea pig pellets is used. Chinchilla pellets can be used but low grain and sugar high quality chin pellets didn't really exist when I was keeping degus.

Where are you getting a molasses free pellet? Oxbow is not, km pellets are not, not mazuri, exotic nutrition has corn which is worse than feeding a little molasses... Unless there's someone making just a degu pellet it would have to be one of the companies generally considered lower quality for all other animals. I think I see sunseed actually doesn't have sugar and a plain pellet for once when they normally love their seed and sugary crap mixes.
 
one site I was reading said a lot about what they should eat and not eat and some in small small amounts once a month maybe. also said the degus diet should be about 15% protein ((I was like whaaaaaat?!)) fat/oil of 4% or less and fiber 15% or more and total sugars less than 5%. moderate diet being protein 16-17%, fat/oil 5-6%, fiber 10-14%. then 'poor levels' as protein 18% or more, fat/oil 7% or more, fiber 9% or less, and total sugars more than 5%.

and degus require a 2:1 of Ca:p and you have to watch guinea pig pellets if that's what you use because some brands change and it wouldn't matter so much for a guinea pig but it puts it in unhealthy ratio for the degus.

makes me wonder if actually degus are a lot more adapted to be moved to a natural diet than other animals. they digest protein so well that you worry more about too much than grasping to find higher protein feeds. actually it says to not use alfalfa (or if you do, do so VERY sparingly because the Ca:p ratio and too much calcium) and that its too much protein for them. and that in wild degus the hay % of their diet is actually around 30% or something to keep their guts active.
 
Most herbivores only need a protein around 12-14% for normal growth, health, and moderate breeding. We feed more to animals like rabbits and large livestock because we are pushing performance. We want them to grow faster, expend more energy in activities or breeding, and put on more flesh. An animal on a natural diet can't be bred as heavily as an animal on a high protein processed feed diet and tend to be leaner. I actually did poorly on the show table with my pellet free rabbits because they were solid lean muscle and did not look like they were carrying as much flesh as rabbits confined to small cages with 18% pellets. The companies considered to produce the higher quality pet rabbit pellets are only 14% for adults.
 
Plants have protein. Legumes like beans humans eat, peanuts, and what some hays are made of like alfalfa have lots of protein. Most plants have at least a little protein. Generally a diet of grasses and/or brush from a pasture in the US would give livestock around 12% protein.
 

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