Paw Talk - Pet Forums banner
11K views 34 replies 14 participants last post by  afaust 
#1 ·
As most of you know i run my own degu website and i'm trying to get together a list of foods that are available worldwide that are suitable for degus so people have a quick and easy resource that they can look at and double check a food is safe (i.e contains no sugar or mollasses) or look for something new to feed their goo's. Which will be especially good for people new to degus and maybe aren't sure. I already know whats suitable in the UK but i was wondering if any of you could help me with other places around the world? What do you feed your goo's? What brands? Etc..... Thanks :hugg2:
 
#2 ·
As you know, I feed Sun Seed Sunscription Vita Degu Formula and recommend it :). There's also Brisky's here in the US which isn't as good but still fine for degus.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Amethystbelle said:
Thanks :) What guinea pig foods are suitable over there too? As i'm trying to list lots of different options etc... :)
Oh, ok, sorry :).

There's Hagen brand Guinea Pig food which is good since there isn't any sugar...unless they've changed the ingredients. I can't find an ingredients list :confused:.

Other then that every guinea pig food sold where I live contains sugar in some form (usually mollasses).

Oh! And then there is Gerty Guinea Pig food. It's a mix that contains things like ground corn...I would pick out everything besides the pellets and use them as treats instead.
 
#5 ·
Sasami said:
Oh, ok, sorry :).

There's Hagen brand Guinea Pig food which is good since there isn't any sugar...unless they've changed the ingredients. I can't find an ingredients list :confused:.

Other then that every guinea pig food sold where I live contains sugar in some form (usually mollasses).

Oh! And then there is Gerty Guinea Pig food. It's a mix that contains things like ground corn...I would pick out everything besides the pellets and use them as treats instead.
Your a star, thanks :hugg2:

A lady i spoke to mentioned Hagen a few days back and she reckoned it has cane mollasses in it, so would be interesting to find out. Infact it was her email that prompted me to make a list of whats available worldwide so people could have a resource ;) We have Gerty Guinea Pig here in the UK although ours isn't all that bad for degus, but as you know foods vary from country to country. Do you get Burgess supa guinea excel in the US?

Once again thanks for your help its much appreciated :hug4:
 
#6 ·
Amethystbelle said:
Your a star, thanks :hugg2:

A lady i spoke to mentioned Hagen a few days back and she reckoned it has cane mollasses in it, so would be interesting to find out. Infact it was her email that prompted me to make a list of whats available worldwide so people could have a resource ;) We have Gerty Guinea Pig here in the UK although ours isn't all that bad for degus, but as you know foods vary from country to country. Do you get Burgess supa guinea excel in the US?

Once again thanks for your help its much appreciated :hug4:
I've been searching and I just can't find an ingredients list anywhere :confused:. Even on the Hagen website and guinealynx. How weird. Next time I'm at a store that sells it I'll look :). I know for a fact that three or so years ago when I fed it there wasn't sugar of any kind but things could've changed since then.

I've never seen Burgess Supa Guinea Excel for sale here...the only time I hear about it is from people in the UK :). So I don't think we have it here.

Yeah, Gerty Guinea Pig food isn't that bad. But since it's a mix some degus would probably pick through it and not eat the pellets, hehe. I've fed it in the past...just not as a staple. I don't like the fact it has so much corn.
 
#7 ·
I feed Martins Guinea Pig food for pellets.
I used to feed another brand in a yellow bag, and for the life of me I cannot remember the name, But it was an extruded pellet with no molasses in it and the Goos loved it. But they stopped carrying it at Petsmart, and only Petcetera carried the small bags and they were expencive (and i dislike shopping @ Petcetera).
Next to those two brands I was not able to find any other food without some sort of sugar in it.
 
#8 ·
Thanks both of you, your help is really appreciated :hugg2:

Would you say degu "safe" food is hard to find where you are? Do you have trouble finding new things for your degus? We have quite a bit of choice over here in the UK and more and more degu foods are coming onto the market, we have 4 or 5 available at present although one i personally wouldn't feed as it contains fruit. We also have various guinea pig and chinchilla pellets that are safe to use as well as guinea pig mix. Also more and more products are listing themselves as suitable for guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus which i think is a big step :)
 
#9 · (Edited)
I feed the girls a mix of Ridestra chinchilla pellets and Kay-Tee's (I think I have the correct vendor) Cavy Cuisine for guinea pig pellets. We also give them some Hagen Timothy Hay or Fresh Meadow Hay (the meadow hay usually makes them sneeze a bit more). The same vendor also has guinea pig pellets for younger guinea pigs, so maybe they can be used with younger degus.

Did you want to know what I give them for treats as well?

I find it really hard to find dust for their bath, the local pet stores are starting to stock nothing but sand. I think the sand would be too course for their coats.
 
#10 ·
KLocke said:
I feed the girls a mix of Ridestra chinchilla pellets and Kay-Tee's (I think I have the correct vendor) Cavy Cuisine for guinea pig pellets. We also give them some Hagen Timothy Hay or Fresh Meadow Hay (the meadow hay usually makes them sneeze a bit more). The same vendor also has guinea pig pellets for younger guinea pigs, so maybe they can be used with younger degus.

Did you want to know what I give them for treats as well?

I find it really hard to find dust for their bath, the local pet stores are starting to stock nothing but sand. I think the sand would be too course for their coats.
Thanks :hug4: I'm just looking for foods that are available worldwide so i can make a list of country by country so people can just look where they are and find foods that are available there and know they are degu safe :)
 
#11 ·
Amethystbelle said:
Thanks both of you, your help is really appreciated :hugg2:

Would you say degu "safe" food is hard to find where you are? Do you have trouble finding new things for your degus? We have quite a bit of choice over here in the UK and more and more degu foods are coming onto the market, we have 4 or 5 available at present although one i personally wouldn't feed as it contains fruit. We also have various guinea pig and chinchilla pellets that are safe to use as well as guinea pig mix. Also more and more products are listing themselves as suitable for guinea pigs, chinchillas and degus which i think is a big step :)
It's definately harder to find degu-safe stuff, yes. I'm lucky that I have an exotics petstore here...they have food for all different animals including prairie dogs, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, etc. They have two brands of degu pellets...Brisky's and Sun Seed. I know I used to buy the Hagen pellets and Gerty Guinea Pig food there but I'm not sure if they still carry them.

Many chains don't carry degu-safe food and grocery stores rarely do.

Also, I know Kaytee was mentioned but I don't consider that food degu-safe. Those foods contain molasses...unless maybe they came out with a new one.
 
#12 ·
My bad on the vendor with the guniea pig pellets. :( They're Oxbow Cavy Cusine and not Kay-Tee. Kay-Tee's Healthy Toppings are pretty good though for our girls...they love them! :)
 
#13 ·
Thanks all of you :hug4: Its really interesting to see whats available around the world for degus and how countries vary. For example i really thought the US being a much bigger country would have more food aimed specifically for degus then here in the UK, i also thought degus would be much better known over there too....

If anyone else has any foods they would like to add feel free :)
 
#14 ·
Degus are so new here, not many people even know what they are, including vet staff in areas.

Finding even bath 'sand' can be diffucult, nevermind toys adn treats. I buy alot bulk in grocery stores for treats and that works well.
 
#15 ·
Yeah, most people don't know what degus are in the US. Actually, the only people I've known that knew about them were petstore owners...lol.

Oh! And today I was in the store and looked at the Hagen ingredients. I didn't get a chance to copy them or anything but there wasn't any sugar, including mollasses.
 
#16 ·
I don't get to visit pet stores much, so I mostly only know what's at my grocery store. (Being in Canada, Specifically Ottawa, Ontario)
I try different guinea pig foods, but I'll have to get back to you for the brand I found with no sugars.

Recently, though, my dad picked up some stuff called Suncrunch. My Goos INHALED it!
Despite what my dad said, I think it turned out to have molasses in it, but it was still a big hit. Actually, they liked it so much they kept emptying their bowl, so I switched them off it. xD

It has regular pellets with lots of seeds, dried fruits and veggies and other goodies, with some kind of special kibbles mixed in for a treat. Of course, my guys threw all the green kibbles out through the bars! xD


Good luck with your list! I'll try and remember to get back with the brand for the other one. :)
 
#17 ·
I found a brand of Guinea Pig food called "Small World Guinea Pig food". I actually found it at Wal-Mart. It has no sugar whatsoever. Everybody else was right, Degus are not well known in the US. I have only met a couple people who knew relativly about them: Pet stores, and exotic pet owners. I am doing pretty good at finding stuff for them: sand, toys, etc...
 
#18 ·
Thanks :)

Degus aren't relatively well known in the UK but there popularity is growing and we do have a few degu mixes available now although i personally wouldn't feed them as a main diet as i don't feel they have them 100% right yet as they bulk them out with seeds etc...
 
#19 ·
I use Sunscriptions (in a yellow bag) for both guinea pig and chinchilla food. I just have to pick out the fruit from the chin food to use it with the Degus. They also came out with a Degu food, but it's expensive, and I have chins too :p
 
#21 ·
Kirsty, I do know that the JR foods that are sold on Zooplus are suitable for degus, I've had them before and they are very good. They are a German food, and on a degu forum I used to go on (a Germany-based-one) they were highly recommended.

Seeing how big the German cages are and how well cared for their degus are I would certainly trust their judgement! Degus seem to have been pets there for much longer than here. The link for them is Here although that's the UK version of the shop, it is a German / European site.

I'm thinking of switching back to the JR foods as my degus seem a bit rotund, they're currently on Burgess Excel Guinea Pig pellets with a little bit of Tesco Guinea Pig mix mixed in (the Tesco food is much the same as the Gerty Guinea, no molasses). I've tried cutting down portions and treats, but they still seem a bit podgy to me.

You may already know about the JR food but just thought I'd mention it just in case! Hope you and your brood are well. :)
 
#23 ·
aaaawwww its great to see you around again, its been ages :D

I do feed the JR farm one myself, i have one of the large bags and they all love it and i have to say its one of the better ones the others are just bulked out too much for my liking whereas the JR one seems to be bulked out with dried dandelions ;)
 
#24 ·
speaking of degu foods in ottawa, the bayshore mall's pet store sells AWFUL degu food. its a worldwide brand covered in different languages (thats not the issue) and its in a purple bag. it has molasses, corn, banana chips, all this ridiculous stuff that they cant have
 
#25 ·
Thats so sad/mean that they would actually sell that stuff and lable it for degus. Someone who knows completely nothing about goos and bought them on spur of the moment could buy that and could really harm the degus. But I guess all that some stores care about is making money, and not about the actual health of the animal. ALthough not so much the stores as in the people who actually made the food. They're the ones who don't care about the animal. GRRRR
 
#26 ·
Look what I got.....



I have mixed it in with my boys regular mix and they HATE it :(
I saw Bruce take one sniff and bite it, put it back in the dish and now they eat everything but those new pellets.... :rolleyes:
It's $8.99 for that little container too, not a real deal.
 
#28 ·
We've had it a while, and they will keep getting it until it's done. :p
They have always been healthy little guys with their regular diet, but I wanted to try something 'degu specific' since this is the first time I've seen a product specially for degus out here.
 
#29 ·
Just mixing it with the old food isn't going to work. Believe me, I tried that when I first got degus and they always ignored the new stuff :lol:.

You need to ONLY offer the new pellets. Keep hay in the cage and offer some vegetables but don't give them multiple options as far as the pellets go.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top