How much weight should my degus gain as they grow?

[shimsky]

Bit worried that I'm not feeding my goos right and they're not really growing, so here's the info for advice...

I got my 2 goos at 4 months and they weighed 200 grams and 205 grams. They're now 8 months old and weigh 205 grams and 215 grams.

Each morning and evening I give them:
• A soup bowl filled with timothy hay and sprinkled with Woodlands dried herbs or dandelions or salad feast.
• 5 grams each of Pets @ home hard feed.

Once or twice day I also hand feed them each a treat of either:
A few oats
An ear of millet
A dried rose bud
A dried marigold flower

I do try fresh vegetables/herbs with them but after a sniff and sometimes a test bite, they just leave it. They'd much rather eat anything inedible including my socks, hair, zips and the TV remote!

Blossom usually eats her nuggets in one go, whereas Lily stores a few in between eating hers. They both spend a minute or so searching me for more before spending the next hour running/digging etc.

They also get through all the Woodland bits, and forage and munch their way through lots of hay during the day/eve.

Sometimes I've noticed half-eaten poos which I've read is a sign they're hungry, but there's always hay available.

I don't want to overfeed them and give them diabetes , but am concerned they haven't grown much.

Does anyone think I'm under feeding them, and if so, what can I safely give them more of?

[Maravilla]

Hi,
well, an adult degu normally weighs 180-300 g, most degus seem to weigh 220-260 g. It strongly depends on their size. There are bigger degus and smaller ones.
200 g for a 4 months old degus seems too much for me.

About 14 months ago I got 2 degus, both about 20 months old at that time... both only weighing around 100 g!!! They were far too small and underweight. This was due to the poor nutrition they got: only hay and sometimes a little bit of vegetables.
Now they have the choice between lots of hay (which they don't eat often), dried flowers, leaves, weeds and seeds. I do not limit these things at all. Both degus were growing considerably and after about 8 months they weighed 240 g each!!! Remember... these were adult animals when I got them.

I have no idea how much 5 g of pellets actually is as I never fed them. But it's possible that this is too little. Can you purchase more of the dried flowers and herbs? These are things you could give them in higher amounts without any problem. What about other seeds than just millet? These are also things they could eat in more often.

In any case, weigh them regularly.

[deguconvert]

I agree with Maravilla, 200 grams at four months of age is just not right. I suspect that you were told the wrong age for your degus. I am thinking they were already adults, somewhere between 6-12 months of age. That they haven't gained weight may not mean anything bad. Can you estimate how long they are from nose to tail? Have you noticed any change in their bodies, as in a loss of muscle mass, or a gain?

[Ady]

Well, I have 4 months old now and she's 200 grams. She seems just right weight-wise. (Her mum is 250grams and 10months old).

[fred]

My two girls weighed 195g and 170g at 4 months. By 7 months they had gained another 20%, and kept that weight. I also suspect that your goos may have been older than 4 months when you got them.

[maisymoo]

It might be easier to just leave the food bowls in the cage?
My boys are really big, they are not overweight they just look very big which is i think a good sign?
I fill up 2 small bowls with pets at home pellets (filled right to the top) with a few pieces of carrot on lop and a few mini shredded wheats which my boys go crazy for, also I buy millet spray in the long sticks and just put one in the cage every now and then. My boys are not greedy they will only eat when they are hungry and once they have finished their food they tip the bowl over to let me know to fill it up...clever and very cheeky boys!!

So just give them a lot of food that is good for them and a few little treats and they should eat until they are full, usually 2 bowls of food and a bowl of hay will last my boys about 3 days.
A sign that they are hungry is usually is they snatch food and eat it straight away with my 3 if they are not they tend to hide it somewhere for later.

In pets at home they also sell calcium sticks which they say are suitable for degu's, my boys love these as a treat and i put them in the cage for about 10 minutes every month and then take it back out as they probably are not good as an everyday treat.

I hope this is helpful because I realised I was not giving mine enough at the start and now they seem to be a healthy weight

[nuttz]

lol, mine all do the same......they almost chuck their bowl at me if they want it re-filled...........very hard not to notice ;D
i feed mine a large breakfast bowl almost full every other day with hard feed, the reason why i stopped feeding them everyday is because they were getting really bad at selective feeding, now i do not have that problem and they eat all their nuggets, which is good! (i never leave their bowl empty, and if it needs re-filling before the second day, i will do so).
the days in-between that i dont feed them hard food, i give them plenty of hay, some herbs (parsley is their favorite) maybe some broccoli and coli.. along with the odd treat.. maybe a pumpkin seed or a shredded wheat etc.. water is changed and filled everyday, in the summer twice a day.
they all seem to be doing really well since ive changed the way i feed them

[scoobos]

my 2 cents - I fed my goos 8g of pellets each, with hay and anything fresh they would eat (dandelion heads and leaves, but sparingly) - as "children"

Now they are more adult, I give them 8g in the bowl and 2g by hand as treats.

Don't worry about them eating their own poos, in fact finding half eaten ones is showing that they aren't finishing them - all rodents do this - "coprophagia".

Not a very nice topic but:

A vet told me that a healthy well fed goo will re-digest around 5-10% of its faeces (SP?) its a natural thing. I also thought it was due to stress or malnutrition but apparantely their digestive system can need 2 goes sometimes. (My goos dont seem to eat this much, but who knows)

[shimsky]

Thanks everyone for your info. Not checked this thread since posting as my girls have had a few health probs .

First prob was Lily getting a swollen eye. Immediate trip to the vet and cream twice daily sorted that out quickly .

Second new prob . They've both lost their appetites over the last few days, and yesterday morning I discovered wee with blood in. Another immediate trip to the vets confirmed it was blood, and that they'd lost weight: Lily -26g and Blossom -10g. Haven't seen who's weeing blood or if it's both, so they've had an injection each of Baytril, and I've got oral solution to give them for the next 7 days.

I'm going to star a new post on their poorlyness in the health section now, and will come back to this post when they're better (fingers and toes crossed).
x

[deguconvert]

Thanks for letting us know, Shimsky. I do hope they will improve and be restored to full good health.

[Deleted]

My baby is about 3 or 4 weeks old and weighs 16 grams is this normal?

[Maravilla]

It is a website in German but you can have a look: degu.re4.ch/ratgeber/fortpflanzung_zucht.html (you have to scroll down a little bit) (Alter in Tagen = age in days) (Männchen = male) (Weibchen = female) (Gewicht in g = weight in grams).
What is missing in my opinion is an information about the size of litter as this is an important factor for the development of weight (especially during the first days). The age of the mother and her general health status is also relevant.
As a personal information: We had 2 pups from an experienced, about 4 years old mother (I am not breeding and the litter was neither wanted nor expected). On day 4, the pups weighed 24g and 25g. On day 7, 29g and 31g. Day 14, 42g and 46g. Day 21, 55g and 61g. Day 28, 70g and 76g. ...