DEGU FEEDING GUIDE

[moletteuk]

Introduction

Degus need a varied and carefully planned diet to obtain all the nutrients they need for optimum physical health, and an interesting diet can also provide mental stimulation, fun, and general enrichment. Degus in the wild spend a lot of their time foraging and eating food, it forms a significant part of their daily life, so it can be beneficial for us to scatter and hide food, and replicate the time element of wild eating behaviour by providing foods like leaves, herbs, flowers and hay, all rich in digestible fibre, which they can spend lots of time eating. We can take our degus’ natural interest in food and use it to our and their advantage for training, taming, bonding and for fun.

Foods are broadly made up of carbohydrate, sugars, fat, protein, digestible fibre (hemicellulose and pectin), and indigestible fibre (lignin, lignified cellulose). In very simple terms, carbohydrates provide easy energy, sugars provide a quick burst of energy but require insulin to regulate, fat provides energy but works the kidneys & liver, protein builds & feeds muscle, digestible fibre provides energy and nutrition in a form that degus are particularly suited to, and indigestible fibre is material that allows gut function and motion. Vitamins and minerals are important for many body and cell functions, in particular calcium & phosphorus for bone and dental health.

In the wild degus usually eat foods high in digestible fibre, low in fat, sugar, carbohydrates and indigestible fibre, and moderate to low in protein. The main part of the diet comes from plant matter including shrubs, herbs, flowers and grasses. They also consume considerable amounts (on average 20-40%) of seeds and nuts consisting mainly of fat, carbohydrates and protein. In captivity we can take this information as a useful guide and reference point and aim to similarly provide leaves, herbs, hay, vegetables etc, rich in digestible fibre, as the main part of the diet and around 25% energy rich foods such as seeds. Commercial nuggets and mixes are usually predominantly made from grain and seed type energy rich foods so it is essential to provide lots of varied plant based forage to supply enough digestible fibre to these diets.

Degu nutrition is a complex subject and the many factors influencing foraging and food selection against environmental constraints in the wild are exhaustive topics of ongoing research. From research on wild degu diets already completed we can gain useful information and helpful insights, but must work out how to apply this information in a practical way for pet degu owners around the world, with their own environmental constraints and differing resources. We can also use observations about commercial degu diets, and consider the priorities and factors influencing ingredient choice in commercial foods. We also look at past and present experimentation in homemade diets and comparative experiences with similar species such as chinchillas, guinea pigs and rabbits to provide additional insights to good degu nutrition.

It is useful to weigh your degus regularly so you can see whether they are eating enough or too much and also for early warning of health problems. Observation of body and coat condition and eating habits are also important. Seasonal variation in weight and behaviour are often observable in degus, with increased appetite and weight gain accompanied by less activity in autumn & winter with a reversal in spring & summer.

[moletteuk]

Commercial Food Based Diet

A popular and simple way to feed you degu is to base the diet on a commercial food (see also here for reviews). Most of the commercial foods have individual advantages and drawbacks, you may wish to bear in mind that many are formulated with profit in mind and closely examine the ingredients. In very general terms, the better commercial foods tend to have more natural ingredients, few or no grains, adequate calcium content, fewer processed ingredients, higher fibre and lower protein. Foods with any type of processed or added sugar are not appropriate, avoid anything listing sugar, molasses, sucrose, glucose or dextrose. Mix type products have the advantage of variety, but homogenised nuggets will eliminate the possibility of selective feeding. To try to get around commercial food drawbacks it can be beneficial to mix two or more different products and this also has the advantage of providing some variety to your degus.

Mix or nuggets can be supplied in different regimes, but a good starting point for quantity is 10g per degu per day. If you feed a mix product, this is important that they eat most of the mix to get the full spread of ingredients, so it’s best to only refill the bowls when they are nearly empty. If you feed nuggets then it's usually OK to top up the bowl as required, unless you find they are putting on too much weight or burying and wasting lots of food. In both cases it can be useful to weigh out the food, at least in the early days, so that you are aware if they are eating and burning off normal amounts of calories, and also so you know you are not overfeeding which can discourage forage consumption. Degus often squabble over food, to avoid this it can help to have a separate food bowl for each degu.

Unlimited hay should be provided for your degu to eat, it is the traditional husbandry technique to provide fibre for gut function and sufficient dental wear on their ever growing teeth. There are lots of types of hay, from plain meadow hay, to timothy hay, alfalfa hay, rye & oat hay, hay supplemented with herbs or flowers, compressed hay cakes and also dried grass products. Most people feed meadow or timothy hay as the main hay, it can very much help with encouraging your degu to eat enough hay to try different types and brands and supply some variety in the hay, you may need to try a few different hays to find one that your degus like. It can also help to try feeding the hay from different bowls or racks in different positions, and you may find a greater interest in hay if you top up bowls/racks frequently.

A variety of forage in the form of wild and hedgerow plants, tree leaves, weeds, herbs and other safe garden plants, flowers, etc, all fresh or dried, are an essential part of all degu diets. They provide perfectly balanced nutrition that is crucial for full body degu health, they are a great way to add interest to the diet in a positively healthy way, we should always remember that leaves and plants make up the main part of the wild degu diet. A variety of plant, leaf and flower mixes made from things like parsley, dandelion, ribwort, berry leaves, marigold & roses can be bought ready made in some countries. Of course herbs, leaves and flowers can also be collected outdoors or grown in the garden or windowsill and fed fresh or dried, there is more information around the forum on which leaves and flowers are safe for degus, and how to make your own mixes.

Oil seeds can be an important supplement in commercial food based diets. High calcium oil seeds are a way to ensure your degu is getting enough calcium, which should be around 1% of the total diet, and to try to correct the calcium phosphorus ratio in the diet (which should be two parts calcium to one part phosphorus), this is important for dental health but are often not supplied adequately in commercial foods. A mix of oil seeds can also visibly improve their skin and fur.

Vegetables can make convenient and relatively healthy treats, but are not essential if a sufficient variety and quantity of forage is supplied. Degus often show more interest in dried vegetables than fresh, but either is fine if you start with small amounts. Leafy egetables and those with low sugar content are best, these include celery, salad leaves, courgette/zucchini, broccoli & cauliflower (including stalk and leaves), green beans, carrot leaves.


Nuts, other seeds and grains can be fed in small quantities as treats for training and taming or for building up weak degus. Grains should normally be avoided, particularly if they are already in any of the commercial foods chosen and if your degu has cataracts.


Safe trees giving us twigs, branches, leaves, flowers and bark are also very much enjoyed by degus, providing good enrichment and dental wear on the wood & bark.

[moletteuk]

Natural Nutrition Introduction

Some dedicated and adventurous degu owners in Europe have been experimenting for many years with feeding their degus a more natural diet, something closer to what degus eat in the wild. Around two years ago, the concept of natural nutrition arrived on our forum, and since then there has been much discussion and interest in the subject, and a significant number of forum members have been including various natural foods in the diet of their degus. The results have been very positive with much fun, excitement and happiness from degus and their owners alike!

Natural nutrition is still in the early stages of being widely adopted, so it is important to embrace it carefully and with your eyes wide open. We hope you will find it useful to not only ask for help on the forum, but also to report back your findings so that the community can learn as a whole. Natural nutrition requires a degree of commitment and effort from a degu owner to learn and understand enough to put together a safe and healthy diet. Due to variability in availability of bought natural foods and variation through the year and around the world of hand collected natural foods, it is impossible to say exactly what the diet should contain. We can only present relevant information and ideas for degu foods, and it is then up to you to put together a suitable variety of foods in healthy proportions for your degus.

Degus will often select high energy foods if given a choice, which is not good for them long term, but conversely, once they are used to natural nutrition they can be observed selecting leaves in ways which suggest they do have some sense of which nutrients they require. This suggests that it is good to keep fairly close control of some food groups, for example offering measured quantities of grain and seed, and to offer a great variety of greenery and leaves so that they can select for the nutrients they need and also avoid over-eating leaves containing compounds which can become troublesome in larger quantities.

Degu World Forum supports the 50% natural nutrition project, which would mean that your degus' diet is made up of approximately half commercial feed, and half natural foods in their fresh or dried state. For most people interested in natural foods, it makes sense to make a gradual switch, starting off with the new foods at the level of generous supplements. This gives you time to learn about the new foods, and gives you the opportunity to develop familiarity and understanding of nutritional properties as you add each food. It also gives your degus chance to taste and try out the new foods without them having to rely on them. You and your degus can learn together while you get the opportunity to fully observe your degus' reactions to all the new foods, see any changes in behaviour and also monitor degu weight changes.

[moletteuk]

50% Natural Nutrition Diet

Leaves and greenery in the form of tree leaves, various wild growing plants, garden plants, weeds, flowers, herbs, hay and grasses make up a large proportion of a 50% natural nutrition diet. We have a safe tree list on the forum and links to safe plant lists to help you find appropriate foods. Leaves and greenery, sometimes called forage, provide mainly digestible fibre and vitamins & minerals to degus. They make up the main part of wild diets and are crucial for tooth wear, gut motility and also mental enrichment. They can be bought as individual ingredients, or more usually in 'herb' or plant mixes, or hand collected and mixed and then usually dried for safe storage. All forage can be fed fresh or dried and you may find it useful to experiment with which foods are preferred fresh and which dried. All new foods should be introduced gradually, but this is even more important with fresh foods, as bloat or diarrhoea can be caused.

It is necessary to feed a variety of plants to ensure your degus get the full range of vitamins & minerals. The variety is also important to avoid over-eating of plants with certain chemical compounds like oxalic acid, which can be harmful in excess. Degus are herbivores with some specialised capabilities to deal with and digest plant compounds which are problematic for other animals, this allows them to occupy an ecological niche where there is less competition for food. We are still learning about the safe boundaries, new plants are being frequently added to the list of safe foods. Plant nutrition varies considerably through the yearly growth cycle, with higher levels of carbs and sometimes sugars early in the growth period, switching to higher levels of less digestible compounds as plants mature. In some ways this could be seen as adding another layer of enrichment to the degu diet, varying the plant types and fibre & nutrition content with the seasons.

Hay should be offered freely as with full commercial diets and again it can be useful to try different ones. You may find that as you increase the quantity and variety of other forms of forage, that hay consumption declines. You may also find that consumption varies with the seasons, with less hay eaten in the summer.

Vegetables are important in natural diets, they can be a great food resource as they are available to everyone in ordinary shops and markets or home grown. They can even be cost effective as degus like parts of vegetables that humans wouldn’t normally eat like broccoli and cauliflower stalks and carrot leaves. Vegetables are a good source of vitamins & minerals, they also contain carbohydrates and fibre together, providing energy in an easily digestible form for degus. The forum’s vegetable chart shows a good choice of vegetables which are suitable for degus, the top of the table showing low sugar choices which can be given in a mix fairly freely, and lower down higher sugar choices can be given in smaller quantities to increase variety. As with herbs and other plants, vegetables can be given fresh or dried and you may improve consumption by experimenting with this, many degus prefer dried. There are several methods of drying vegetables, depending on the type and the climate where you live, the key is to slice them thinly. You can start the drying process in a low oven, or dry completely using an oven, or you can use a sunny place, or radiator or airing cupboard or boiler room. The important thing is to reduce the water content before significant bacterial decay can occur. As usual, beware of digestive issues from suddenly introducing new foods.

Trees can be very useful in natural diets, in most cases wood, bark, leaves and flowers are all suitable, providing good scope for helping you to provide variety and enrichment in the diet. You will also find branches are dual purpose in providing food and good cage accessories, generally a fresh branch complete with leaves will cause much excitement. There is little nutritional data for parts of trees, and the nutrition varies dramatically through the yearly cycle, for example fresh leaf buds are higher in nutrition and easier to digest than old autumnal leaves which have developed higher levels of poorly digestible lignins and tannins.

Grains, starchy seeds and oil seeds form a crucial part of a natural diet. You will probably have already seen the charts on the forum showing essential nutritional information on grains and seeds to help you choose a good variety. Commercial food aside, grains, starch seeds and oil seeds are the main source of carbohydrates and fats providing energy to your degus. It is highly likely that you will need to experiment and try different varieties, quantities and proportions of grains and seeds to find a mix that will provide the correct energy for the activity levels of your degus. If we assume that a typical degu requires 10g of commercial food on a commercial food only diet, then for a 50% natural diet, still containing 5g of commercial food, then we could estimate that once you account for the weight of forage and veg, a starting point for the seeds could be 2 or 3g per degu per day. It is essential that you monitor the weight of your degus and adjust the quantities and proportions to maintain your degus at healthy weights. You may also need to monitor degu activity levels, as sometimes degus will adjust their activity in response to calories provided.

Nuts in shells make an enriching and time consuming food for degus on natural nutrition diets, after a while you may find that they hoard them and use them as a longer term food reserve.

I hope you have found this guide a useful starting point for helping you decide what to feed your degus. Please get involved with diet & food topics on the forum and help us to gather more information and learn together about the best ways to feed our degus.


_{Thanks to Davx for information and guidance.}