Post by davx on Sept 24, 2011 20:26:19 GMT
Hello,
I'd like to mention a probably important topic. I thought about this some times ago...
Some years ago we also had problems with good food for our degus. When I started in 1999, there was no degu food in the nearby pet shops, mostly I used guinea pig food as main food. Later we were unhappy with the degu foods offered in the shops, so we started to add herbs and made our first steps with seeds as enrichment. I bought organic grains (wheat, oat, barley, but also buckwheat, quinoa or amaranth), later I discovered whole nuts (with shell) and bird food (seed mixtures). We had to be creative.
In recent times I discussed with chinchilla owners about more natural feeding and I also started to dry herbs for them. I think there are interesting opportunities to enrich the degu diet probably also interesting for regions, where natural pet products sometimes are hard to find.
I give some suggestions:
- Think about human usage: organic shops or health food shops may be an interesting idea, perhaps also in the supermarkets there exists a organic corner or something like that. Open your eyes, check different grocer's shops, perhaps you find something that could be interesting for your degus.
- Use online market communities like ebay etc. Products often are cheaper and the offer is more divers.
- Use specialised online shops: e.g. herbs are sold for different purposes, medical plants, herbal tea, wild herb / wild veg (for human diet), etc.
- Ask your friends, colleague etc.: your social network might be useful to get fresh branches, blackberry twigs, vegs, herbs etc.
Garden owners often like to give away cuttings form woods, perennial herbs, vegs, annual herbs, etc. and sometimes can offer in big quantities. Left overs, the degus can't eat fresh, can be dried and stored as winter food or shared with other pet owners and traded for other food stuff.
- Use pots and plant your own fodder plants or check out if there is a possibility to rent a garden. Sometimes it is also possible to ask the owner of a savaged garden or land if he agree with the usage of the land when you maintain it in return.
I'd like to mention a probably important topic. I thought about this some times ago...
Some years ago we also had problems with good food for our degus. When I started in 1999, there was no degu food in the nearby pet shops, mostly I used guinea pig food as main food. Later we were unhappy with the degu foods offered in the shops, so we started to add herbs and made our first steps with seeds as enrichment. I bought organic grains (wheat, oat, barley, but also buckwheat, quinoa or amaranth), later I discovered whole nuts (with shell) and bird food (seed mixtures). We had to be creative.
In recent times I discussed with chinchilla owners about more natural feeding and I also started to dry herbs for them. I think there are interesting opportunities to enrich the degu diet probably also interesting for regions, where natural pet products sometimes are hard to find.
I give some suggestions:
- Think about human usage: organic shops or health food shops may be an interesting idea, perhaps also in the supermarkets there exists a organic corner or something like that. Open your eyes, check different grocer's shops, perhaps you find something that could be interesting for your degus.
- Use online market communities like ebay etc. Products often are cheaper and the offer is more divers.
- Use specialised online shops: e.g. herbs are sold for different purposes, medical plants, herbal tea, wild herb / wild veg (for human diet), etc.
- Ask your friends, colleague etc.: your social network might be useful to get fresh branches, blackberry twigs, vegs, herbs etc.
Garden owners often like to give away cuttings form woods, perennial herbs, vegs, annual herbs, etc. and sometimes can offer in big quantities. Left overs, the degus can't eat fresh, can be dried and stored as winter food or shared with other pet owners and traded for other food stuff.
- Use pots and plant your own fodder plants or check out if there is a possibility to rent a garden. Sometimes it is also possible to ask the owner of a savaged garden or land if he agree with the usage of the land when you maintain it in return.
