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Post by deguconvert on Mar 1, 2012 4:56:00 GMT
I feed our degus Living Creatures Guinea Pig Extrusion, as it is one they will eat but isn't too nasty. The chinchilla feeds, Degu Sunseed food, which are really all I have access to, are completely ignored by our degus. A bird seed mix that has white millet, red millet, barley, quinoa, Nigre, and black sunflower seeds in it. Cherry Tomatoes Kale Romain lettuce Occasional dried carrot Oat flakes (as a treat) Occasional dried pasta for treat Occasional pecan, walnut, hazelnut, for treats That's about it for now. During summer when I have leaves to draw on etc, I also add; Dandelion flower, stems, leaves Raspberry leaves Black Currant tree leaves Birch tree leaves and stems/branches Small bits of grass . . . dry not damp Yukka plant I know I am forgetting some . . . but will have to add them in if they re-occur to me. So . . . what do you feed? After reading Karma's list I realized I completely forgot hay!! Timothy Hay Oat Hay Specialty hay mixes that have marigolds, clover, dandelion, and . . . hmmm . . . can't remember the last thing.
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Post by Karma on Mar 1, 2012 5:12:39 GMT
Bear with me as I'm still learning all this degu nutrition stuff lol * Versele-Laga Degu/Chin Pro pellets and degu nature in about half (they have to find where I hide the nature everyday ) * Basic seed mix with sunflower seeds, millet, saffron etc as a treat in the toys I make * spray millet so far only once because I've been too lazy to buy more * typical hay as usual * finally convinced them dried carrot was good, working on the zuchinni now * odd nut here and there Hoepfully once spring comes they will go for the dandelions I'll have access too and I'm growing some of the bird seed and my cat's oat grass again to see if they will go for that. So far that is it ... -sigh-
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 1, 2012 16:16:19 GMT
Mine get science selective squares, Pets@home nuggets, a few buckwheat, mostly JR Farm Degu, and a little Gerty Guinea or Beaphar Xtravital in the morning at about 5g each. I feed Bob Martin meadow hay or Burgess timothy hay with dandelion & marigold about 4 times a day - for some reason they eat much more hay when I freshly top up their bowls frequently. They get small handfuls of various herb mixes, like JR Farm Ribwort, JRF Garden Herbs, Burgess Country Garden Herbs throughout the day, scattered over a small area of their pen. They also get wild foraged (dried) greenery like dandelions, plantain, blackberry leaves etc every day depending on what I have and how much I have. I hand feed some of the foraged herbs as treats and also home grown (dried) herbs (chives & parsley). The only thing they will eat fresh is the odd tiny bit of brocolli. The usually get a twig every day of hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn, birch prefereably with leaves on, whatever I have found locally. I hand feed dried veg, usually brocolli, cauliflower, courgette, small amounts of carrot, parsnip, peppers, all home dried except peppers that I can buy at the supermarket. Also dandelion roots, and very rarely dried hawthorn berries and rosehips. I scatter small quantities of buckwheat, brown rice flakes, canary seed mix, grass seed, maybe a couple from this list once a day. Also small amounts of millet spray. I scatter small quantities of flowers and hand feed pieces of larger flowers for treat/training. I use JRFarm chinchilla flower garden and Mucki blossom mix. They will rarely get a small piece of nut or a sunflower or pumpkin seed or a few small oil seed.
Sorry that sounds complicated, I just wanted to give lots of detail, it's not that complicated in practice, honestly!
PS We'd like lots of people to get involved in this thread. It doesn't matter what you feed, how simple or complicated it is, we'd like to hear about it, we are gathering info for future projects.
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Mar 1, 2012 18:31:57 GMT
I feed mine JR farm Degu Premium food, and hay with Calendula. I ocasionally give them bits of fresh vegetables which they ignore, lol. They also get the odd hazelnut or sunflower seed each.
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abirose
Burrowing Degu
Forum Helper
Posts: 276
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Post by abirose on Mar 1, 2012 18:57:56 GMT
Mine have pets at home nuggets mixed with a little gertie guinea pig food with excel country herbs which has dandelion, milk thistle, plantain, chicory, mint, marigold, cornflower and jerusalem artichokes ( I would recommend this herb mix its very popular!) I try and get chinchillas2shop flower power mix as well and dried carrot and pepper. For treats mine adore dried flat peas, oats, sunflower seeds and mini shredded wheat. They occasionally get the odd monkey nut and hazelnut or bit of rivita. I once gave them walnut in its shell which took them along time to work out but kept them amused for ages
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Post by bijett on Mar 1, 2012 19:02:50 GMT
Mine get xtravital, dried plants and flowers like plantain, dandelion, camomille, respberry leaves etc etc Dried carrots, hay and occasionally fresh veg like brocoli, sweet potatoe millet grain and the occasional dried pasta too, sunflowers seed. For Christmas they had a hazelnut each.
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Post by Ady on Mar 1, 2012 22:06:49 GMT
I feed them dried plants mix, seeds mix, dried veggies mix, fresh greens, hay daily. I get bags of Burns meadow mix, Burns dandelion, Burgess meadow herbs, Burgess garden herbs, Boredom Breaker Nature's salad, Boredom Breaker Ginkgo plus on VioVet.co.uk and mix it all together in one bag. I have some home-dried mix as well. Seeds mix - quiona, buckwheat, millet, amaranth and smaller part is linseed and sesame seeds. For veggie mix I dry broccoli, eggplant, celery, chicory. I also dry beetroot, parsnip, carrot but hand-feed those. Treats - sunflower, pumpkin seeds, monkey nut, hazelnut, almonds, flower mixes, dandelion roots. Fresh greens - usually dandelion picked up outside or mint, basil bought in my local shop and other safe plants/branches/tree leaves. Occasionally I buy them pure veggie juice.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2012 22:35:52 GMT
Mine get a few handfuls of the JR Farm Degu Special mix morning and evening. They get a little nuggets from Versele-Laga too - I'm phasing that out to empty the bag, then I won't buy them anymore (they are very picky about them now anyway). They always have access to millet seeds and alpine meadow hay, but I give them a few handfuls of new hay every day anyway, since they like it best when it's fresh. I also give them leaves from berry bushes, and the JR Farm Herbs of the Meadow blend. I have also experimented with more greens, such as salad and tomato, but Elune and Jadzia doesn't like fresh stuff. The celery was, however, warmly welcomed by Xena and Hermione. I'm going to try more fresh stuff with them For treats they get dried carrot, pea flakes, oats, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts (very few, with shell) and fresh herbs (basil and sage has been most popular). Just today I got some snack sticks from JR with fennel and carrot, which they seemed to like quite well. I've been looking for more seeds to make my own mix, but the range in our stores is very limited - so far I have only found millets, linseeds and sunflower seeds. I'm going to Sweden soon, so I might have more luck there
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 1, 2012 23:36:33 GMT
I feed them dried plants mix, seeds mix, dried veggies mix, fresh greens, hay daily. I get bags of Burns meadow mix, Burns dandelion, Burgess meadow herbs, Burgess garden herbs, Boredom Breaker Nature's salad, Boredom Breaker Ginkgo plus on VioVet.co.uk and mix it all together in one bag. I have some home-dried mix as well. Seeds mix - quiona, buckwheat, millet, amaranth and smaller part is linseed and sesame seeds. For veggie mix I dry broccoli, eggplant, celery, chicory. I also dry beetroot, parsnip, carrot but hand-feed those. Treats - sunflower, pumpkin seeds, monkey nut, hazelnut, almonds, flower mixes, dandelion roots. Fresh greens - usually dandelion picked up outside or mint, basil bought in my local shop and other safe plants/branches/tree leaves. Occasionally I buy them pure veggie juice. Pure veggie juice?? Really? What do you do with it, or how do you "serve" it to them?
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Post by Ady on Mar 1, 2012 23:42:47 GMT
Well, I just pour it in the bowl and they drink it. They go crazy for it.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 1, 2012 23:53:05 GMT
LOL! I love that idea!! This juice you give, is it a national brand, has any particular ingredients?
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Post by Ady on Mar 2, 2012 8:40:54 GMT
It's tomato, carrot, celery, cucumber, beetroot and 1 more I can't remember. It's a bit high in sugar so I don't give it too often. I buy it in my local market but something similar would be in any supermarket, health shop. Only thing is to check there are no additives like salt, fruit (often used to make veggie juice taste better).
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 2, 2012 15:17:39 GMT
Right . . . I'll have to see if I can find a similar thing!!
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Post by yasmin on Mar 2, 2012 22:57:25 GMT
Mine get a mixture of Sunseed Sunscription Vita Degu pellets and Versele-Laga Degu Nature food twice a day (though they never finish off their food totally ever especially the pellets). As well, they get handfuls of Timothy Hay twice daily. They also get special treats two out of three days. These consist of any of the following: Dry Foods: alfalfa hay (in moderation), rosehips, puffed rice, rolled oats, spray millet, a sunflower seed each, a pumpkin seed each. Fresh foods (most of my degus love fresh veggies): broccoli, carrot, sweet potato all in moderation; zucchini, cucumber, dandelion leaves, green beans, green peas, red pepper. I cut everything up in strips (except the peas) and I handfeed each degu a treat one at a time to make sure everyone gets their share.
This is a good thread. Gives one more ideas of what to feed them. I'd like to have them try kale and quinoa.
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Post by harpic01 on Mar 6, 2012 19:20:56 GMT
My boys alternate between - P&H nuggetts JR Farm Premium Foods and Vitalite mixed food. Porridge as treat lettuce, basil, nettles, dandalions, clover, apple leaves, hazel nut leaves, Timothy Hay, Camomile Hay for the fussy ones sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds walnut - treat as the noise drives me nuts Millet seeds for treat Dandalion roots rose petals fresh and dried umm my fingers if thats not enough
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Post by Jus on Mar 28, 2012 17:50:30 GMT
Ours feed mainly on Xtravital, hay available all the time. For common treats which they get a bit of probabaly at least every other day they have a mix box containing P@H Herbal Heaven, Flower garden (or something) and beetroot and parsnip flakes. These things seem to be similar to combinations I've seen people use for complete natural feeds. For occasional treats (once or twice a week) they get a small handful of oats to share, nuts and seeds or their all time favorite, tiny lumps of bread. Over christmas when we had peanuts in the house we discovered another favorite (only once I'd sucked all the salt off them!)
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luna1
Burrowing Degu
Nozzle, my miracle!
Posts: 143
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Post by luna1 on Mar 28, 2012 18:57:31 GMT
Mine get half a shredded wheat first thing in the morning. Mid morning they get JR Farm premium or Science Selective biscuits, or Beapher Xtravital Loads of organic dust free hay with various mixes that comprise of margold, chamomile, quinoa, buckwheat, black sunflower, yellow millet red dari, red millet seeds,. Then there are the natural leave mixes that I buy like clover, plantain, cone flower, naturals herbal garden, JR Farm herbs of the field, marshmallow leaf, barley&plantain, parsley, unmolassed beet pulp, dandelion, blackcurrent and strawberry leaf.I don't mix it in all at the same time but a few different ones over the course of a week. I know there are more but without looking in my huge store cupboard I cannot remember them all. They get various fresh veg which if I am lucky they will eat the beetroot and red pepper they prefer dried veg which I buy from an online herbal shop as drying them myself was a disaster. Hazelnuts are given once every 2 or 3 months and monkey nuts are given weekly, 1 half each. I also oven bake high fibre natural organic, from the bakers, brown bread, once per month and they love this as a treat. Organic jumbo oats are given once a week but at the moment I am having eating issues so oats are on the menu more often for weight gain. I think that is about it but will probably add more when I remember something. I really must write a rota as although my memory is fairly good, I only manage to feed them all this because I rotate my feed boxes, which takes me nearly as long to do as to feed them all!!
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Post by chelle9181 on Sept 6, 2012 3:27:37 GMT
Is fresh veggies ok for them? I have been giving them each one "baby" carrot a day or every other day.... is this ok or do they need to be dried out?
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 6, 2012 9:05:31 GMT
Fresh veg is great, some degus just prefer dried, that's all. Carrot isn't the best choice though as it is quite high in sugar. Have a look at the veg chart in veg/ seed/ nut sticky thread above for some more info and ideas. You can also collect wild plants or garden plants, there's a sticky thread with a very comprehensive list of safe species for usa.
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Post by chelle9181 on Sept 6, 2012 18:03:23 GMT
Great Thanks!
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