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Degu with previous history or diabetes, new cagemate?

2628 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  bluedreamer, 
J
I adopted 2 degus about a month ago. A boy and girl roughly 2 years old. The boy Eddie had been fed a bad diet with lots of sugar from first owner, 2nd owner got him and took great care of him, got him a friend Bella but was unable to keep them when she moved. I saw them on craiglist and I always wanted some so this was a great opportunity. The cage they were in was filthy disgusting on one level, she said never to clean the area the sleep? Other than she gave me gave me good advice, carrots, guinea pig food, avoid sugar, playtime, big cage....

So they went in a temp cage and and somehow they opened the door, or maybe we left it open? They both got out. We got Eddie back. Bellas been gone a week but has touched the food and water we put out. I have cats but they all could care less. I think they are just used to fact I have glider, gerbils, hamsters, chins, (now or in past) She sprung the have a heart trap 2 days ago, but we never saw her... just droppings etc. But I am kinda giving up hope.

Eddie isn't crying or seems upset... But I don't want to get another and then he dies and then I have another lone one. I am really frustrated because I can't find anything about D in a degu, other than no sugar, how to prevent...

Any advice??


Jen
11 gliders, 3 cats, 2 dogs, 1 gerbil, 1 bunny, 1 degu (maybe more?)
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B
Hello :wavey:
You could try "Degus international" for tons of information about Degu.

Glad to hear you adopted degus, previous owner took too literally fact that degus don t like their "buildings" destroyed when cleaning a cage. I personally just leave a few papers, hay or something that has their scent on after cleaning the cage.

Maybe, (if it is portable) you could put that temp cage in the centre of the room with some sunflower seeds (or another treat) in it and Bella could go into the cage by herself eventually (My goos do that all the time).

Good luck!
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Hope you find Bella soon.

Carrots should only be fed in moderation and occassionally. On the Deguworld forum they have a chart showing how much sugar different vegetables contain.

None of my degus have diabetes (knock on wood) but I have heard that a degu that has diabetes drinks alot of water. I've also read that you can test if your degu is diabetic using the same testing stick that you can buy to test humans. Also, diabetic degus are prone to developing cataracts. I've also read that if they become overweight, they can develop diabetes. I think the degus originally imported to North America (from whom most of the degus kept as pets in NA are descendents) were brought here for labs researching diabetes in humans.
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B
The info on Degu world about sugar levels is great.

Thank you
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