Teeth Worries

[Bexi87]

I've just been giving my girls some treats and I've noticed that their feeth aren't orange, in fact they are pretty pale.

They get constant access to science select food, plus meadow and Timothy hay. I've just started them on Natures touch too to make sure they have enough variety. They also get fresh greens most days (dandelion, spinach and fresh parsley so far), and alternate seed mix or dried mix each day so I'm not sure how they aren't getting enough vitamins.

I'm still weighing them weekly and they are all putting on weight so they are clearly eating.

Pip and Flo constantly chewing the cage (metal air vents, running their teeth up and down the glass doors, shelf ending - anything they shouldn't chew!) which has ended up with them both having patches on their nose, thankfully no wounds so far.

I've not got a clue what to do, I don't know if I should take all 3 to the vets for a health check to make sure everyone is okay? What do you think?

[moletteuk]

The orange is probably still developing, from memory it takes about 3 months or so usually for the dark orange to develop, your girls are still younger than this, aren't they? Are they a bit darker on Flo, she's the slightly older one I think?

Maybe somebody else with similar aged goos could report how quickly their teeth are changing colour?

[Bexi87]

I guessed when I got them that they were around 3/4 months so they'll be nearly 5 months now.

Nobody has darker teeth that I can see, they weren't keen on letting me look properly. Holding a treat up didn't work either

[deguconvert]

While it does seem a bit unusual, don't panic just yet. Give them a little more time and see if it develops more. From what I remember of our little ones, it can take a while.

[Bexi87]

Thanks, I'm a lot calmer today than I was last night.

I'm going to go out at the weekend and pick some more fresh greens and start building their selection up more.

I need to order some more degu seed mix from Ratrations so I'll get some other high calcium/iron seeds for them.

Hopefully things will start improving soon

[moletteuk]

That sounds like a good plan. If you want forage for the winter as well as seeds, it might be worth doing a Hansemanns order because the postage is only about £6 and Ratrations postage can be that much deguworld.proboards.com/thread/19090/hansemanns-german-food-shop

For what it's worth, degutopia says it can take up to 6 months for teeth to go fully orange, and bear in mind it's only the fronts that go orange.

[Bexi87]

Thanks, I've found some dandelion seeds on eBay so I'm just looking to see if they do any other edible plant seeds so I can start growing some of my own. I gave them a small handful of clover earlier too so I'll see how they get in with that.

I just need to figure out how to stop them chewing the cage now because that can't be helping their teeth, it certainly doesn't help me when I'm trying to watch TV

[moletteuk]

You need Shelledwarriors for seeds to grow, their own website or ebay shop. As far as I know all the seeds they do for tortoises are safe for degus

Show us a pic if you want a second opinion on figuring how to reduce their illegal chewing.

[Bexi87]

Thanks - I'll get buying some this weekend

[Bexi87]

Well when I fed the girls this morning I saw flashes of orange going to have a proper look tonight but hopefully things are going in the right direction!

[moletteuk]

Great

[deguconvert]

Woo Hoo! Good to hear!