|
Post by drummer on Feb 18, 2015 21:48:22 GMT
I have just bought 2 male degus with cage from a guy who said he had to get rid as his son had asthma, he fed them on hamster food, had two big carrots in the cage and had straw and a bit of cat litter in the bottom, he also said they like nuts, and pine cones, is all of this correct, cos I have read articles on the internet that contradicts some of what he was doing, the degus are one year old and he had them from last November, thanks foe any info on looking after my new pets.
|
|
|
Post by Maravilla on Feb 19, 2015 8:20:29 GMT
Hi, and welcome to the fantastic world of keeping degus!
I suppose that we talk about a mix of cereals (wheat, rye, oats) and seeds. In this case it is not appropriate. Seeds (especially oil seeds) can be fed but make only part of a good degu nutrition. All the plant stuff is missing. There are threads in the nutrition area about this, where I would ask you to have a closer look.
Fresh carrots? Can be fed in small amounts, but not whole carrots.
What about hay? Straw can be used but hay is more important as it is food and digging material.
Nuts in their shells are great. Degus have to work to get to them, so it is fun and food. I also offered pine cones some time ago but my degus were not that fond of them.
What kind of cat litter as there are different types. Anorganic material (like bentonite) is dangerous. I suppose that in the housing section there are threads about types of bedding.
How big is their cage? As the other things the former owner was offering or doing were wrong I fear that their cage might be too small as well.
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Feb 19, 2015 12:07:06 GMT
Maravilla has covered most things, but I'll just add a few things. It's really best to ignore what the former owner said and start from scatch, we have tons of information on the forum. Two degus need a floor area of 1.2 square metres, but I see from your other thread you have already given this some thought Here's a thread about bedding deguworld.proboards.com/thread/8754/cage-bedding-reviewsYou have lots of options for feeding, but most people mix two or three carefully chosen commercial foods and then feed lots of forage, including hay, grasses, flowers, tree leaves, herbs, safe weeds and garden plants, it's the forage that is crucial for their health. Then you can add a selection of oil seeds, including high calcium ones, for further benefit to their health and also because they love them so they are good for taming. See these threads: deguworld.proboards.com/thread/17365/commercial-food-chartdeguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-chartsAlso they benefit from having sticks to eat and play with deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15617/safe-tree-wood-list?page=1Have fun!
|
|
|
Post by ferris on Apr 15, 2015 18:17:47 GMT
What kind of plants would be good to put in their cage
|
|
|
Post by moletteuk on Apr 16, 2015 10:10:31 GMT
|
|