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Post by malteser60 on Nov 2, 2011 15:36:31 GMT
malteser60 Rumex acetosa is safe and often given in Germany. I couldn't find anything about Rumex obtusifolious, but wouldn't see a problem to feed it my girls. Trifolium repens only in small amounts because of potential bloating with larger amounts. An update on the white clover Trifolium repens for those that are intrested. My degus went mad over it, almost as much as for oats! There was even squabbling over it. I gave it to them dried as they turn their noses up at anything fresh so far. Now just got to go back out onto my lawn and pick the rest up
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Post by Kins on Nov 2, 2011 15:40:55 GMT
Since I've been feeding my goos a more natural diet they seem to be ignoring their hay? I used to have to top it up most days but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere now.
Has anyone else found this..?
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mel
Foraging Degu
Posts: 100
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Post by mel on Nov 2, 2011 15:54:07 GMT
Kins. I have found the same. When I first got my goos they were used to just eating nuggets. Since I have modified their diet they barely touch their hay (except to pick the marigold petals out of it)!
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Post by fred on Nov 2, 2011 17:45:39 GMT
They generally seem to eat less hay when they have a more balanced, natural diet. In fact, when we discussed this before starting this thread, some of our German members where very surprised how much hay our degus eat. Nothing to the worry about – after all what is hay but dried plants
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Post by malteser60 on Nov 2, 2011 20:03:04 GMT
Yup, all plants help with the wearing down of teeth, etc. Before the only plants they could get was hay, now they get an assortment of food so they don't rely on just hay alone.
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Post by Kins on Nov 2, 2011 21:25:08 GMT
I thought that might be the case but wanted to double check with you lovely, helpful people.
They do like the excel herb mixes I've got for them. But do still enjoy their nuggets though which is good
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Post by fred on Nov 3, 2011 21:40:58 GMT
@nightwishraven – clam shells are mainly calcite. IF your degus digest them, they will somewhat increase their calcium intake. Degus are usually quite good at excreting excess calcium but there are of course limits. If you want to give an otherwise good mix, and I know it's difficult in your part of the world to find seed mixes without such additions, I would monitor their urine. If it became whitish, it would indicates excess calcium. In which case I wouldn't feed this mix long term but wouldn't see a problem to use up the bag in small doses.
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Post by fred on Nov 3, 2011 21:58:02 GMT
abirose – good to hear that you want to give it a go. Probably have already, sorry about the delayed response. Nature's Salad is actually better then the list of ingredients suggests. The bits which are less suited make up only a minor part. I have picked out the maize and the larger flakes and given them as treats. When combined with Herbal Garden and the flowers, it will make up a very nice mix. Gerty Guinea Pig isn't really degu food and can be problematic if your degus pick and choose from it. This is less of an issue when the hard feeds are reduced to 50% of their diet. However, if your goos still eat the nuggets (and not all do so when they are also given the delicious natural stuff ), I would drop Gerty Guinea Pig when you have used up the current bag.
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Post by fred on Nov 3, 2011 22:36:49 GMT
aya0aya – longest wait, apologies, but I was so intrigued by the tea that wanted to look closer into it but just didn't get around In the UK we have it so easy with our natural mixes, we can loose sight that it is much more tricky in other countries. It may be necessary to find the ingredients in products which don't have anything to do with degus by a long way. I would never have thought of tea!! But obviously it can add quite a bit to your natural mix Do you think you could make a complete list of the ingredient in the rodent mix, the quinoa mix and the teas? It think if you put it together like this, it will show nicely what a good mix you actually have.
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Nov 4, 2011 6:41:25 GMT
@nightwishraven – clam shells are mainly calcite. IF your degus digest them, they will somewhat increase their calcium intake. Degus are usually quite good at excreting excess calcium but there are of course limits. If you want to give an otherwise good mix, and I know it's difficult in your part of the world to find seed mixes without such additions, I would monitor their urine. If it became whitish, it would indicates excess calcium. In which case I wouldn't feed this mix long term but wouldn't see a problem to use up the bag in small doses. Thanks Fred ! Will keep an eye on this !
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Post by Maravilla on Nov 4, 2011 18:47:51 GMT
Hey guys, your mixes look really wonderful and tasty and I can imagine that your little friends are enjoying them a lot. I am sure that next spring you will all start to go out, looking for places where you can find high amounts of leaves and weeds. Do use the long winter hours to get yourselves informed. It really helps!! And actually it's fun ;D.
Lots of you are using kitchen herbs to prepare a mix. It's okay but I don't have own experiences with these herbs as they are just too expensive (the fresh ones) to dry and prepare mixes with them. So far, I've only offered fresh basil and fresh and dry lemon balm which they really like. They don't like parsley, and only two go crazy for dill.
Concerning the topic of tea, what kind of tea are we talking about? I don't mean the special types but the size of the leaves? Here, even in tea shops leaves normally are very small. At least my goos don't eat small leaves, they always prefer big(ger) ones, so it would be a waste of money to offer them small or very small things.
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Post by jessiebelle on Nov 4, 2011 20:08:01 GMT
Just thought I would pop in to say that the natural mix I started the girls on is going down a storm! I mix their dried herbs, plants and flowers, their seeds and their pellets all together in their bowls, and it is always the pellets left at the end! As soon as I top up the bowls they always run up to see what's new, something they never did when it was just pellets. Thank you for introducing this way of feeding degus to me, I'm so glad I found it early on
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Nov 7, 2011 5:06:32 GMT
@ jessiebelle Thanks for sharing your experience with us ! It is so fun to see so many of us walking in the same direction. I believe it is safe to say, degus will always go for the dried plants and flowers before the pellets...this is far more similar to what they eat in the wild.
@ Marlen About next spring...you can bet we will all be ready ;D
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Post by apology72 on Nov 7, 2011 17:13:17 GMT
I'm really excited. Sooo many fantastic creations Some time ago I also mixed a bit again. Then my laptop broke down :-( But now it is repaired again, so look here for my creations: Dried herbs / leaves / grassMallow, plantain, birch, green oats, willow leaves, chickweed, echinacea, lady's mantle, dandelion, lemon balm, nettles Dried flower mixtureMarigold blossoms, cornflower blossoms, chamomile blossoms, sunflower petals, rose petals Sunday mixBased on the feed FP Rodent LineDegu (Parsley stems, celery stalks, dill stalks, parsley stalks, dill pellets, parsley pellets, mallow blossoms, chamomile flowers, marigold flowers, rose petals, cornflower petals, hops, cowslip flowers, celery, carrot chips, green oats pellets, meadow grass pellets, St. John's wort, peppermint, lemon balm, mallow leaves, corn flakes, sage leaves, red pepper flakes) Maybe you´ve seen that there are 4 kinds of pellets in there. For a closer look a photo of the pellets: mixed vegetablesIngredients: celery, eggplant cubes, celery, carrot cubes, parsley, beetroot, tomato flakes, pumpkin cubes, green peppers, zucchini And here all things together We-we-vo-lö-hi-pf mixture<- it´s the german Name It is to no spelling error, just an abbreviation of the ingredients were combined in this mixture. in english it must be named like Wi-chi-chi-da-ra-pe Mixture ;D Cutted willow bark, chicory herb, cutted chickweed, cutted dandelion roots, cutted raspberry leaves, peppermint leaves) mixed together it looks this way The seeds are still the same as ever I am looking for other sources for bark chips from other tree species. Maybe in the winter it is a good alternative, because the collecting outside is more difficult. Each of my mixtures (even this and also older mixes) can be found on my Homepage: apologys.beepworld.de Maybe your interested klick the Link or my Forum signature
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Post by malteser60 on Nov 7, 2011 18:38:27 GMT
Lots of you are using kitchen herbs to prepare a mix. It's okay but I don't have own experiences with these herbs as they are just too expensive (the fresh ones) to dry and prepare mixes with them. So far, I've only offered fresh basil and fresh and dry lemon balm which they really like. They don't like parsley, and only two go crazy for dill. I just wanted to add that mine love parsley, only when dry though.
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Post by fred on Nov 8, 2011 19:20:59 GMT
Your latest mixes are just amazing ;D ;D How do you get your dried veg looking like this??? I am sure my girls also enjoy the shrivelled bits they get, but this looks so different. What is very interesting to see on your homepage is the the progression of your mixes from the early, more basic ones to these current ones. Can't wait for spring to notch up my own mixes....
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Nov 10, 2011 6:05:34 GMT
Your mixes are just fabulous Apology ! I have been wondering the same thing Fred. Apology, do you chop up your vegetables after they have been dehydrated or do you cut them up first for them to dry quickly ? The veggie mix, looks like a tasty fruit salad ;D
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Post by apology72 on Nov 10, 2011 9:37:20 GMT
Thanks for your feedbacks I hardly dare to say it. All the ingredients I can buy at a Shop named Futterparadies. The only thing I had to do is mix it together If someone likes to take a look at the shop -> FutterparadiesGenerally I think little cuts of veggies will dry faster.
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Post by fred on Nov 10, 2011 9:57:22 GMT
Ha - I thought the veg looked too good to be true They probably dry them differently, I suspect using vacuum. It's a shame that we don't have these sources here. However, I would say that from a degu's perspective the visual appearance doesn't matter a bit. Having a mix of four or five shrivelled vegs, varying with what we have available at the time, will be just fine for a 50% or even full natural nutrition.
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Post by davx on Nov 10, 2011 22:24:20 GMT
Good point Fred. Appereance doesn't matter as long as quality and taste fit the degus requirements. Of course it might be that some methods of commercial food processing enables better quality, but in general we should consider that in wild there are natural constraints the animals have to deal with and the quality can vary considerably.
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