Degu help

[stelibertine]

Me and my girlfriend saw a pair of Degus in our local pet shop and fell in love straight away and we're considering getting a pair. We have a guinea pig so we have some experience with rodents (if thats what they are!) but I was wondering if some experienced keepers can offer any guidance? Things like diet, cage size etc. Care sheets are good and well but you can't beat the experience of an experienced keeper

Cheers

Ste

[Jacs]

hi, i have to boys myself, did have 3 but one passed of old age about a year ago.

diet wise a degu musnt have sugar as it leads to diabetes. i feed mine on chinchilla nuggets, they also have the odd bit of fresh veg. www.degutopia.co.uk has some great lists of veg etc that is safe for them and safe woods to use, its a great site for any information on degus

they are wonderful pets! once tamed very loving, and they remember who you are so for example if you keep grabbing them they will remember and not be so friendly if you take your time and let them come to you they are more likley to come for cuddles and a play. they will remember who has upset them!

cage wise the bigger the better my boys cage is about 1metre square and 2 metres high they love to climb the bars. also the main surfaces they walk on shouldnt be wire because they can get bumblefoot (sores on feet) and they can get their feet trapped =(. also they love to chew, so lots of chew toys and i use timothy hay to keep their teeth healthy!

[cpiggott22]

Degus do make awesome pets but be careful to google about first as they have reasonably specific dietary needs and many woods are toxic to them.

They need as much space as you can humanly give them, something like a critter3 is NOT a good cage for these guys...although they're tall they simply aren't roomy enough and the mesh floors aren't good for their little feet. I'm told they get bumble foot very easily (although I haven't experienced this myself) which is caused but old urine not being properly cleaned so mesh flooring is a baaaad idea as it's a nightmare to scrub.

They need fully metal cages as they will chew like crazy, plastic bases are a total waste of time. John Hopewell is a very popular chap in the degu world, check out his website for ideas on cages and housing.

They need to dust bathe every day. Many care sheets will tell you a couple of times a week but this is a terrible idea. I study animal behaviour and have seen what happens to creatures which are prevented from performing important natural behaviours such as bathing...it's not nice. I leave one in 24/7 for them, they'll use it as a litter box for the first week or two but soon settle down and get the idea.

They can be quite skittish and difficult to tame down but they are definitely worth it as they have very fun and curious little personalities.

As for diet, these guys are highly proned to diabetes so eat a diet of around 70% good quality hays (not the cheap stuff from pet shops but lush green hay from somewhere like 'the hay experts online'). The rest can be made up of degu foods such as JR Farm (available from Zooplus), scienceplan and there is another one but I can't remember th ename right now. There is some debate as to whether they can produce their own vitamin C so the general consensus is that they also benefit from guinea pig food...ours like gerty guinea but I think that one's under debate now as it contains molasses. Ours get 70% hays (meadow hay, timothy hay, oat hay and orchard hay) and 30% dried (which is 6 scoops gerty, 4 scoops JR Farm & 3 scoops science plan guinea pellets). Treats consist of locust beans, whole peanuts, zero sugar cereals, split peas and dried carrot. You may find they'll eat some fresh like brocolli and dandelion but most are fussy little blighters and turn their noses up.

Most woods are a no for goos so I tend to stick to apple, pear, hazelnut and kiln dried pine.

Their tails are pretty fragile and can shed quite easily so these guys are not to be grabbed at, they have to come to you in their own time really (they're also smart little things so catching them in a hurry is a total nightmare). They need a lot of stimulation and a solid metal wheel is an absolute must as these guys run up to 5km per day.

That's it off the top of my head, sorry for not proof reading my awful spelling. Feel free to ask if I've missed anything out!

ETA: forgot to add that they live solely on grasses, flowers etc in the wild and drink very rarely (sometimes never) so they are highly prone to obesity if fed incorrectly. I believe a healthy adult goo should weigh between 220g and 250g. Also consider that they can be a reasonably long term commitment...I've heard of some living to over 10 but I think average age is about 8.

[vikki21]

degus are great to keep as pets. real little characters. they like company (obv of the same sex unless ur planning on breeding them) i've got 6males.
food - feed them on a complete guinea pig food. i feed excel guinea pig. you have to be careful with what you feed them as they are very prone to diabetes so they must've have any sugar in there diet. hay is essential to them.
cage - either a big glass tank with shavings/peat so they can dig or a large wire cage (something thats suitable for a chinchilla/chipmunk). ive got mine in a wire cage.
make sure you give them loads to do - wooden parrot toys, cardboard tubes/boxes, cotton rope dog toys. an exercise wheel is great fun to watch them play on.
they do need alot of ur time and attention esp for them to become tame. they also live for between 4-8 yrs on average so theyre not like a pet hamster. make sure you do ur research 1st, degus have come very popular and people end up re-homeing them as they dnt realise how much time and space they take up.
rather than buying them from a petshop - like pah - have u luked around - even on her - and see if you can re-home any.
this is just a brief over view on degus, anything else youd like to know/ask then please do

[cpiggott22]

Originally Posted by vikki21

degus are great to keep as pets. real little characters. they like company (obv of the same sex unless ur planning on breeding them) i've got 6males.
food - feed them on a complete guinea pig food. i feed excel guinea pig. you have to be careful with what you feed them as they are very prone to diabetes so they must've have any sugar in there diet. hay is essential to them.
cage - either a big glass tank with shavings/peat so they can dig or a large wire cage (something thats suitable for a chinchilla/chipmunk). ive got mine in a wire cage.
make sure you give them loads to do - wooden parrot toys, cardboard tubes/boxes, cotton rope dog toys. an exercise wheel is great fun to watch them play on.
they do need alot of ur time and attention esp for them to become tame. they also live for between 4-8 yrs on average so theyre not like a pet hamster. make sure you do ur research 1st, degus have come very popular and people end up re-homeing them as they dnt realise how much time and space they take up.
rather than buying them from a petshop - like pah - have u luked around - even on her - and see if you can re-home any.
this is just a brief over view on degus, anything else youd like to know/ask then please do

I was of the understanding that wood shavings are dangerous for their respiratory systems because many of them are dusty and/or contain phenols which agitate the respiratory tract and can cause infection. For this reason I also avoid glass tanks, partly because I would worry about ammonia build-up and respiratory infections but also because they need plenty of things to climb (so most vivs aren't tall enough and you can't attach things to them anyway).

I use a variety of substrates to make life interesting for them...an assortment of hays, shredded paper, bits of cardboard, finacard and safebed.

I definitely agree that cardboard tubes are a must, these guys live in shallow burrows in the wild so they like to be well hidden when they're at ground level.

Also worth mentioning is that they are so amazingly talkative and have a huge repertoire of communications. They're fascinating to watch and listen to and are very social little beasts so you'll get to see loads of interaction. I love making little guinea pig noises at them cos they coming running up to my feet and gaze up with the cutest look on their faces

[stelibertine]

Hi, thanks for all your advice. We have quite a few pets (mostly reps) and we spend pretty much all of our spare time caring for them and we love it so spending time taming degus isn't a problem.

They sound quite straight forward and it will probably be our next venture but probably not until after xmas.

As for purchasing them, i will probably look into re-homing or buying from a breeder. We seen them at PAH and they were stunning but i know enough not to get animals from there

Thanks again for the advice, it's much appreciated

[Jacs]

Originally Posted by cpiggott22

I was of the understanding that wood shavings are dangerous for their respiratory systems because many of them are dusty and/or contain phenols which agitate the respiratory tract and can cause infection. For this reason I also avoid glass tanks, partly because I would worry about ammonia build-up and respiratory infections but also because they need plenty of things to climb (so most vivs aren't tall enough and you can't attach things to them anyway).

I use a variety of substrates to make life interesting for them...an assortment of hays, shredded paper, bits of cardboard, finacard and safebed.

I definitely agree that cardboard tubes are a must, these guys live in shallow burrows in the wild so they like to be well hidden when they're at ground level.

Also worth mentioning is that they are so amazingly talkative and have a huge repertoire of communications. They're fascinating to watch and listen to and are very social little beasts so you'll get to see loads of interaction. I love making little guinea pig noises at them cos they coming running up to my feet and gaze up with the cutest look on their faces

i have always used dust extracted shavings, never had a problem i use that and timothy hay then they shred paper/tissue over it lol

[cpiggott22]

Originally Posted by Jacs

i have always used dust extracted shavings, never had a problem i use that and timothy hay then they shred paper/tissue over it lol

I see what you're saying but I just mean as an overall average. For instance, many years ago when I first got rats I kept them on wood shavings. They were all fine and healthy and I didn't have a single health problem in 3.5 years. I then discovered that lots of people had had health problems with shavings at that they were generally considered a higher risk substrate. Basically I'm getting at the point that many of us may never have a problem with something but based on the needs of the animal, these things carry a higher risk of health problems than other things. Does that make sense?? I tend to just steer clear of the stuff now, I'm too scared to ruin my record with perfect respiratory health!

[Jacs]

lol yea it makes sence. there are many things i dont use for the same reason hehe

[corny girl]

Goos need a NO Fat, NO Sugar diet (you must check labels of everything you wish to feed to check it hasn't got sugar or fat in it). I feed Gerty Guinea & also a bit of Russell Rabbit Carrot & Leek to mine. If they get fat they will become diabetic which isn't good. As for a substrate i use the wood Cat Litter pellets for mine, have had no problems with this. Height is the important thing they need for a cage as they love climbing (many cages don't have the height which is sad as they do love to climb up), i have a wooden hammock/bridge type thing strung across the cage so if he should fall he won't fall far as this will catch him. They are very social animals & live in groups, mine is only on his own as his siblings & Dad have passed over the Bridge & he is now at an age where it would be hard to introduce another & he is doing ok on his own (he's in my Sons bedroom so gets company all day as Son is on his X-box all day!!!). There's a good Forum for Goo owners too (link will be on the Degutopia website as it's run by the same person). You'll get plenty of good advice from there .