[sammyc]

Hi all,

We have recently had to separate our two female degus due to some crazy fighting and bloody feet (their first breeding season). They are now in a two story cage and we are in the middle of rehabilitation/reintroduction where we swap them over once a week etc......anyway....we got them two of those large exercise wheels for rats and put one in each cage and they have gone absolutely spare for them. Now, barely 1 minute goes by without them running on them...fast!!!....and one of them has actually become really hyper and never calms down, and lost quite a bit of weight (she has also stopped eating so much) but teeth/fur/injured feet etc. are all in good condition. Basically I'm a little worried that they are actually using the wheel too much. So the question is...is there such a thing as too much exercise for a Degu?

Should we only put the wheel in there a couple of times a week?

Thanks

Sam

 

[Sasami]

Nah, they can't really over-exercise, mine use the wheel all the time too .

 

[Charlotron]

My female degu loves the wheel I had for them, the male never got near it. He was only really allowed to stand beside it trying to catch it with his paws and chewing it. Even when he gets a look-in, he never really seems interested in using it for anything but chewing. Maybe it's a female thing? Wallace (the male) is skinnier anyway, and he seems to enjoy climbing and jumping a lot more.

I don't really think there is any danger in them over-exercising at all, as long as they have enough water and food to keep their energy up it should be fine.

 

[bubblehart]

my degus have never touched their wheel apart from sitting on top of it