Hi! Are There Any Brits Out There Who Have Degus? - Page 2 - Paw Talk

degu mad · #16 12-01-2004, 08:42 AM

thats what im worried about!! my boy has been neutered now so i should be ok!! i tried to post a pic earlier, dont know if it worked though. you can see a photo of my boy on my profile. my female is still camera shy at the minute

Purplebunny · #17 12-01-2004, 08:48 AM

My degus are very fussy eaters.. But they do so love shredded wheat .. Can I ask you guys a quick question? Where do you get your degus food from, I used to get WAGG GUINEA PIG food from Pets at home, but they have now stopped selling it. So all I can buy from there now are the guinea pig pellets.. What do you feed yours.. And do you give them alfafa hay/pellets/cubes?

degu mad · #18 12-01-2004, 08:56 AM

i give mine alfalfa hay and cubes sometimes, i used to mix g/pig pellets with chin pellets but my degus dont eat it anymore so now i feed gerty g/pig and they seem to be ok with it.

Purplebunny · #19 12-01-2004, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by degu mad


	i give mine alfalfa hay and cubes sometimes, i used to mix g/pig pellets with chin pellets but my degus dont eat it anymore so now i feed gerty g/pig and they seem to be ok with it.

The only reason why I asked is because I was reading an old post, and it said Alfafa is not good for degus..
Here is the post...

http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5199

degu mad · #20 12-01-2004, 09:01 AM

some people say it good, some say it is bad, thats why i give mine as a treat. i think timothy hay is best.

Purplebunny · #21 12-01-2004, 09:04 AM

I give mine Excel Hay, thanks for the tip on Gerty Guinea pig food.. Pets at home only sell pellets now, and my degus love to eat other bits also, so what I do is mix 5 parts GP pellets to 1 part GP food..

Amethystbelle · #22 12-01-2004, 10:02 AM

I feed mine the gunea pig excel biscuits from pets at home (pets at home also do there own brand which are the same) and i mix that with gerty guinea pig or pet shop guinea pig food (as i sometimes get the one with dried carrots in it as they love that) and i sometimes throw in some chinchilla pellets too. I have also started buying Vitakraft degu menu food, its about £1.50 for a 600g box and supposed to be like there natural diet and it lasts a fair while if mixed with the other stuff and mine seem to love it as its full of vitamins and minerals which are good for them. I give mine the excel hay too and i have a bag of alfalfa cubes which they seem to like. I haven't heard any bad stuff about alfalfa myself till i read the thread but i will still give it mine as a treat now and then, i suppose its moderation like with raisons

Brant · #23 01-10-2005, 05:52 AM

Hi,

I am a Brit.

On Saturday I got 3 female Degus, and they have got wood chippings, hay, water bottle, hanging toys with wood on to chew and a toilet role to have a chew on and a food bowl of course with food in. The wood I gave them are wood that is suitable for Chinchillas.

Is there anything people could recommend me giving my Degus.

I know that they like a dust bath add I am planning to give them this once a week.

The sand I am going to use is the same that is suitable for
Chinchillas.

I know that Degus should not have much sugar, but is it ok to give them dried carrotts.

Any infor would be useful, thanks in advance

Amethystbelle · #24 01-10-2005, 04:13 PM

Hello and welcome to PT

! Yes dried carrot is ok for them in small quantities, i buy it for mine as making my own didn't go to plan and the degus were struggling to see my efforts. The key with degus is little and not often if you follow that you can't be wrong and if your unsure asking on somewhere like this is a great start! As for the dust bath i personally think you should let them have it once a day as keeps their coat in tip top condition if not once a day a few times a week as they absolutely love to bathe and its a frenzy when they get in there! A tip on the toilet tube front as well cut them down the middle as they can get stuck in them, mine did and i had a very angry degu on my hands who had to be cut out

Goodluck with you new pets, hope they bring you a lot of joy

Brant · #25 01-12-2005, 09:11 AM

Thank you for the info on the carrotts. I did not think that they might get stuck in it.

I decided to give them a hanging hay ball, so they could pull hay out of it. At the time I decided to place a toilet role over the chain so they could not get their claws stuck in it, but one managed to get inside the tube and look over the top of it. She was not a happy Dagu. She did manage to get out of it herself, but she was not hapy so I decided it would be best not to place anything over the chain.

I havenot got around to giving them a bath yet, as I would like to clean them out first.

Brant · #26 01-12-2005, 09:14 AM

Forgot to mention that I do try veg and fruit myself as my girlfriend keeps Chinchillas and they seem to like dried apple, bananna etc. I have also dried carrots for other animals. I have not tried my Degus on carrot or apply yet, but I do intend doing so

Brant · #27 01-12-2005, 09:19 AM

My Degus mostly have Guinea pig pellets that come from Pets at Home. I can't remember who they are made by, but they come in an orange bag. They seem to like this as food.

I have been told that you can also give them a mixture of guinea pig pellets and chinchilla pellets, I have not ried them with any Chinchilla food yet.

Amethystbelle · #28 01-12-2005, 04:28 PM

They sound like the pellets i get mine the guinea pig excel pellets, mine love them too. As far as chinchilla food goes only give them the chinchilla pellets the food made for chins isn't good for degus as normally contains raisons which aren't good for degus in large amounts and are only suitable to give as the odd treat. I give mine a mixture of the guinea pig excel biscuits mixed with chinchilla pellets and a handful of guinea pig food plus they have fresh hay etc and grass

Brant · #29 01-13-2005, 04:30 AM

They are the excel ones. I had a look on the packaging when I got home last night.

How do people in the UK clean their Degus out. I tried the first time last night by putting them in a large plastic box, with a wire mesh over the top.

They made allot of droppings and wee in it considering the length of time they were in there (20 - 30 minutes).

I have bee giving a suggestion that I could let them out in a room where they can go in to run around and stuff.

Due to the amount of mess they made in the box I don't really want to do this in a room with carpet, but I was thinking a could use a bathroom due to the covering on the floor being easy to wipe, and there is nothing they can get to which they could chew on etc. The only thing I would have to do is make sure that the toilt lid is down.

Also I have given my Degus some hanging toys to play with, which contain wood that is OK for the to have. They seem to like this. Also I have given them a hanging hay ball that can be filled with hay and then they can pull it out. They seem to enjoy their toys.

My Degus seem to get moody very quickly and squawk at the items in the cage, if they want move to where they want them to be.

Amethystbelle · #30 01-13-2005, 04:49 PM

I always let mine out when i clean them out as they love to have a run or sometimes if times not on my side then i will seperate the cage and place them in the top half whilst i clean bottom half out and then wripe the shelves around them etc..... I've never had any problems letting mine out although they once tried to hide a peanut in the living room carpet and pulled a tuft out (although looked cute at the time when they was doing it till i saw what they had done) so after that i only let them out in the hallway as have a wooden floor in there thats easy to clean. Sounds like you have set up a good set up for your degus and they seem very lucky with all those toys, i find degus make a lot of use out of the smallest thing and they have so many cute habits which i'm sure you will find out very soon

Degus tend to be pretty vocal and they are set off at anything so don't worry to much about them appearing moody they are probably talking to each other