Beginner's Guide to Degu Keeping

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Beginners Guide to Degu Keeping

Introduction
The common degu (Octodon degus) is a small mammal originating in the semi-arid, scrubland plains of Chile. They are highly social animals, living in extended family groups with complex vocal and body language communication. They are mainly active in the daytime over wide areas of diverse habitat foraging for a varied plant based diet and retreating to an extensive burrow at night. Degus were introduced as scientific research subjects in the 1960s and have gradually become more popular as pets over the last 25 years. Degus belong to the family Octodontidae, and are a member of the suborder Hystricognatha within the order Rodentia. They live for approximately 6 to 8 years in captivity.

Before You Get Degus
Degus require a long term commitment to care for them for their full lifespan and considerable commitment of time, money and space to provide large housing, a varied diet, vet care and the attention they need. They have a basic temperature requirement which may not be within your control to be kept within approx 17 to 25C (62 to 77F) most of the time. If you have other pets like cats and dogs, which are natural predators of degus, you need to be sure you can keep your degus safe and not stressed by their proximity. You should be prepared for the social complexities, and territorial and hierarchical behaviour which could lead to fighting, which can cause stress for you and extra housing requirements. Vet care for degus around the world is patchy, so check in advance there is a degu experienced vet in your area. You may find that degu housing is too big to move and you may need somebody to come in to your home to provide holiday care.

Choosing Your Degus
National and local rescue organisations are a great place to source your degus as there are usually many degus of all ages looking for new homes. Internet based rehoming sites, facebook groups and degu forums are also good places to look. Second hand sites sometimes offer degus, but do beware of 'backyard' breeders with little knowledge deliberately breeding degus in poor conditions for profit. Most degus sold in shops come from large breeding facilities with little regard to pet health. You may wish to consider that wherever you get your degus from you are supporting and enabling them, be it rescue or business.

If you are buying degus it is strongly recommended that you only buy agouti (brown) degus as these tend to be the most healthy and any other colours or patterns have generally been intensively selectively bred for the colour or pattern with complete disregard for associated health problems.

Degus should live in groups and so young animals should always be sold/ rehomed in groups, and care should be taken to avoid leaving lone degus. Groups of 3 are ideal for beginners, larger groups of 4 or 5 are also great if you can provide adequate housing. Pairs are OK but can leave you vulnerable to having to deal with a lone degu and introductions in case of early death, and may limit some social behaviour. Degus sometimes get split from their group due to fighting and then offered individually for rehoming, it is vital to offer these degus a second chance at a social group. Sometimes the fighting has been overestimated or not dealt with ideally and persistence or a change in degu characters offered and some understanding of degu social dynamics can make a big difference.

How to Sex Your Degus
Always check the gender of your degus for yourself as soon as possible, see our sexing thread for more help. We frequently hear of problems from mis-sexed degus resulting in many unwanted pups and a lot of stress and dilemmas for new owners. This seems to be due to both sexes having a urethral cone which gives the appearance of a male appendage, when in fact you are looking for a larger gap between the two openings for a male, and a smaller gap for females. You can use a sheet of mesh or glass, or a large glass jar or dish to help you get a good look, it can help to take a photo.

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Housing

Cage Size
It is common for people to underestimate cage size requirements and also to be mis-sold seriously inadequate cages in pet shops. There are many inaccurate recommendations on cage size to be found in outdated degu guides and from biased cage manufacturers and sellers. Degus require very large cages in order for them to get along with their group and to be able to express the full range of behaviour. People sometimes mistakenly believe their cage is big enough and only after a cage upgrade are very surprised to find a dramatic increase their degus' wellbeing and happiness.

Suitable housing for three degus should have a total floor and shelf surface area of 1.5 square metres (15,000 sq cm or 16.14 square feet/ 2320 sq inches). Only large shelves over half the footprint of the cage should count towards this. The length of the cage should be 100cm (40") or greater. Surface area and length are far more important than height, degus are ground dwellers and can be clumsy at climbing, the maximum drop at any point in a cage should be 50cm (20") for safety reasons. A typical cage meeting minimum recommendations for three degus would be 100cm (40") long by 50cm (20") deep and 110cm (43") tall, providing the base and two full shelves of surface area running space totalling 1.5 square metres. If you find your degus are not making full use of their cage then try changing the layout and observe to see if you can work out why they are not using certain areas, feeling safe and hiding quickly are big factors for degus as prey animals.

Please see our Cage Size Guide for further information.

DIY Cages
Building a DIY cage or vivarium can be a very rewarding exercise which allows you to create something perfect and unique to your situation that can be sized to suit available space and gets you thinking like a degu! A custom homemade cage can be an ideal way of providing a large enough cage with suitable length that is affordable and optimised for cleaning, layout, fitting in large items like wheels, longevity, optimising space, and looks good in the home. The main advantage is you can design it yourself to get exactly what you want.
Cage building threads can be found here, it is also worth looking at other peoples cages for ideas, some fantastic DIY cages have been produced by forum members and they certainly provide a great source of inspiration, it is advisable to start at the end of the Show us Your Cage Thread and work backwards.


Commercially Available Cages
If DIY is not for you, then it is possible to provide a good home for your degus in a carefully chosen commercial cage with a few minor alterations. Look for all metal construction excepting shelves which may be wooden and replaceable, plastic is not suitable at all and can be chewed right through overnight. Doors should be large to allow good access for cleaning and alterations. Exterior mesh size or bar spacing should be up to 19mm (3/4"), possibly up to 25mm (1") mesh for large adults, or 11mm max for babies, and beware of bars with some flex which could allow escape or abnormal gaps around doors or at the base or top.  Look for good use of volume with carefully placed shelves, it is very common to have to improve or extend the shelves. Mesh floors and ladder type ramps should be altered to solid ones or covered e.g. with cardboard or tiles for comfort and safety reasons. Perimeter splashguards and shelf edging can be fitted to greatly reduce mess.

It can be difficult to find an affordable cage achieving the 100cm minimum length recommended, but there are several just below this that can be acceptable as long as the length does not go below 90cm. Examples that can be suitable with shelf upgrades for 2 to 3 degus are the Aventura, Explorer, Double Critter Nation, Xtrail, and the Savic Royal Suite XL is an example over 100cm in length. It is difficult and costly to find a single commercial cage suitable for more than three degus.

Cages can be joined together to make bigger spaces and allow expansion as money or degu requirements occur, or to create a flexible housing system where temporary separations can be made. This can be done quite creatively and effectively with a few tools. Other housing options can be commercial vivariums normally aimed at reptiles, these can be quite effective if sturdy, chew proof and well enough ventilated, they may need to be stacked to provide a large enough space for degus.

Further help can found here and inspiration in the Show us Your Cage Thread


Cage Location
To ensure your degus are in a stress free healthy environment, their cage should ideally be located in a smoke free room, where they will not be subject to excessive noise and excesses of heat or cold. Their owners also need the same consideration because degus can also be very noisy, sometimes during the night, therefore careful thought should be given before housing them in a bedroom and people with sensitivity to allergens may also find allergies triggered by presence of degus and their cage contents. They need natural daylight so garages and basements are not normally suitable.


Playpen or Safe Room
A solid sided unclimbable playpen or room divider, or fully enclosed playpen is a great way to provide extra space, fun, exercise and interaction opportunity for your degu. Alternatively you can make a whole room safe for them by removing or protecting all cables and wires and protecting any woodwork and furniture from chewing, and covering any cavities and holes. It works best if you can arrange the playpen so the degus can come and go between the cage and playpen at will, if you have to transport the degus, you can use a tube or box.

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Inside the Cage/ Vivarium

Substrate & Nest Material
Depending on where in the world you live you may have many or few options for substrate ranging from wood shavings of different types, to paper and cardboard based products from basic shredded paper or card to pulped recycled products of various particle size, to hemp products, to coconut matting and everything in between. Choice can be influenced by cost, allergies or sensitivities (of human and degus), dust content, particle size and weight, urine absorption, aesthetics. Degus also appreciate toilet or kitchen paper, cardboard and hay to make a nest with. See our bedding review thread for more info and user reviews.

Cage Cleaning
Cleaning depends on the habits of your degus, your cage design and substrate choices. Degu poo is usually innocuous, just unsightly in large quantities, but urine is more of a trigger for cleaning as smells, bacteria and ammonia intensify. Degus often develop favourite places for toilet activities and then you can put saucers or tiles down and deeper substrate and do spot cleaning of that area more often. You can use pet safe disinfectant, or diluted white vinegar or lemon juice as a cleaning agent. Ease of cleaning depends entirely on the surface material. There is no easy way to clean wooden shelves, it is often a case of scrubbing with the cleaning agent, wiping thoroughly and then allowing the surfaces to dry and replacing or sanding the shelves regularly to avoid build up of smells. The nesting area can often be left for two or three weeks fairly easily as long it looks clean enough, there is always the option of partially removing and replacing some of the bedding. Some degus are highly territorial and object to a full cage cleanout removing all their familiar scents, it can even cause instability in some groups, so it can be a good idea to clean in stages on different days. Make sure you have facilities for disposal of all cage waste either through composting, community recycling or waste collection or disposal.

Wheels and Running Saucers
Degus have large territories and cover long distances in the wild, and therefore some form of wheel or running saucer is an essential item in a degu cage to allow regular exercise for proper health and fitness. Wheels and saucers can sometimes be a source of conflict so if possible providing two or more is a good solution, but bear in mind they can take up quite a lot of cage space. Wheels should be a minimum of 300mm in diameter and preferably larger to prevent arching of the spine. Never use an open runged wheel as these can break legs, and try to avoid any mesh wheel with open support as these can also cause tails and toes to be trapped. Suitable solid backed wheels and large saucers can be difficult to find in shops, some links for DIY alternatives can be found here.

Nest/bed/sleeping location - Degus tend to sleep as a single group in a well made nest, although occasionally in a large group a degu or two may split off on their own. The nest should be in a location chosen for safety and defence from the degu point of view, and easy for them to retain body heat, a low roofed box or shelf helps with this. The lowest cage level is not a bad starting place but you will soon know if they want the nest elsewhere because they will just start to build their own mound and relocate the bedding materials. It is common for them to completely ignore a nest box if they do not like the size, shape or position, it is up to you to figure out which! They do frequently nap on the edge of shelves, in hammocks and other comfortable vantage points, so a few options that allow them to relax around the cage are also worthwhile.

Food Bowls and Water Bottle
Food can be scattered but you may wish to use bowls made of metal, ceramic or glass and you should normally provide a bowl per degu to avoid fighting. Hay and forage are normally best placed in two or three locations often near where your degus like to hang out; racks, bowls, or platforms are good options. Water is normally provided in a chew proof water bottle, occasionally a degu will prefer a water bowl but they tend to get knocked over and substrate in them. Occasionally you may see territorial behaviour over the water source and might need to provide more than one.

Dust Bath
A dust bath is essential for maintaining a naturally healthy coat and sloughing off old skin cells. Degus will not over bathe and therefore the permanent presence of a dust bath should not be a cause for concern unless it ends up purely as a potty, in which case you can try adding a second bath in a different location or only provide the bath at certain times. Dust baths are sometimes found to be a source of aggression with degu groups. To try to reduce this you can provide more than one dust bath and sift and top up the sand and keep complete changes of the sand to an absolute minimum. Appropriate sand is anything from a fairly coarse sepiolite clay (chinchilla dust) to fine sand or ideally a mix so you have a range of particle sizes.

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Diet and Feeding

Knowledge and experience of good degu diets has improved greatly over the last few years. Providing a varied and healthy diet for your degus is the best thing you can do for their health and overall wellbeing and is also a great way for you to forge a good relationship with them and win their trust. There is much more to degu feeding than pellets and hay these days.

We have learned that degus need to eat lots of forage and a variety of plant matter as this is what their teeth and digestive system is designed for. This can be meadow and hedgerow plants, safe weeds and garden plants, flowers, tree leaves, grasses and hays, herbs etc and all this can be fresh or dried and bought or collected so you have lots of options to find a system that suits you and your degus. Start gradually offering forage in small amounts until your degus have chance to test everything for themselves and get used to new tastes and allow their gut flora to adapt, and work up to regularly offering large handfuls.

The ingredients of commercial foods should be examined carefully and two or three should be carefully selected, see our commercial food chart for more help with this.

A mix of oil seeds is a great way of providing essential minerals, fatty acids (like omegas), and other nutrition for dental health, good skin and coats, approx half a teaspoon each per day is a good starting point. Nuts and roots like dandelion and burdock are also good supplements or treats. See our nutrition charts for more information.

All sugars should be avoided, including artificial additives and fruit, and vegetables with high sugar content should be limited, in fact vegetables can be considered more as treats if enough forage is supplied. Cereal grains should ideally be avoided or kept to a minimum, perhaps only used as a boost for sick degus, cereal carbohydrate content is turned quickly to glucose on digestion.

Thought should be given to overall calcium content of any diet (ideally it should be around 1.2%), calcium to phosphorus ratio is something to be aware of (ideally 2:1 twice as much calcium as phosphorus) and adequate provision of vitamin D in high percentage natural diets. Full natural diets are an excellent option if you are able to provide enough varied forage, but vitamin D supplementation is then required.

Most degus will not overeat although selective feeding can be a problem and many degus will show a preference for high calorie items, and may bury large amounts of food, so you may need to work around this. Young degus actually require more food than adult degus for body growth and development and also due to their high levels of activity. As a guide, adult degus usually eat around 15g total of food a day and youngsters can eat over 20g.

Weighing your degus regularly is a good way to monitor their response to diet and in particular any changes you make to their diet.

For more information about diet please see our Feeding Guide which also provides many more links.

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Dominance, Fighting and Introductions

Fighting can occur at any age and in any group, but is significantly more likely in groups up to around 18 months of age when hormones tend to be at high levels. There is also said to be a fighting season over the winter months, which seems to be borne out by increased reporting of fighting from October to March. Degus express a great variety of discontent and aggression ranging from whining, squealing and squeaking noises, to mounting issues, boxing and chasing, to scrapping and kick boxing, up to the full on so called 'fur ball of death' where they lock together and try to do each other serious harm.

Many of the aggressive behaviours including all noises, mounting and boxing are completely normal and essential for degus to establish hierarchy. The main piece of advice is to observe and get to know your degus well so that you can interpret any dominance and aggressive behaviour so you are best placed to deal with it effectively. Often it is possible to identify triggers like wheels, sharing food bowls, cleanouts or new sand causing territory aggression that you can make changes to eliminate or reduce. Sometimes you can make a difference by inserting yourself into the group and asserting your position by telling them off and moving them apart or distracting them. As far as possible you should let them get on with squabbling up to the point where you see real injuries occurring and 'fur ball of death' when you should intervene. Sometimes temporary separations from minutes to a few days can be effective as a time out and giving emotions chance to subside. Degus may be positioned separated only by mesh or with a certain amount of distance or completely isolated so that they cannot see, hear or smell other degus.

Mounting and 'humping' in same sex groups is common and normal for degus and is often done as an expression of dominance. Males may do this often and also indulge in masturbation, females are particularly likely to mount each other if they want to assert dominance or if they are in heat. You may also see chasing and bum sniffing associated with these behaviours.

If aggression continues then extended re-introductions can take a lot of time and determination, please see our detailed guide and quick guide, and seek further advice on the forum.

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Health

Vets
You are likely to need to visit a vet with your degus at some point, so it is important to find a vet that is familiar with the species and best to do some research before you need a vet. A list of vets that members have had personal experience with are given in our Vet Guide along with tips on going to the vet. Pet insurance is not normally an option for degus so it is a good idea to save up your own vet fund.

Fighting Injuries
With their complex social structures, unfortunately fighting injuries are one of the most common health problems. If injuries such as tail degloving, damaged toes or claws and bite wounds occur the best thing you can do is try to keep injuries clean, you may bathe with cool boiled water with salt or safe disinfectant added if there is obvious debris in the wound, and remove any bathing sand. Take your degu to the vet straight away if you are concerned or if there is any sign of infection like redness, heat, or abscess lumps.

Dental issues
Dental problems are the single biggest ongoing health risk in degus. Degus teeth grow continuously, so any slight misalignment or growth issue can cause serious problems. Most commonly the cheek teeth (molars) may start producing small areas of growth in odd directions called spurs which the degu cannot grind away themselves and so can cause serious injury, so these need to be regularly trimmed by your vet. Front teeth occasionally break or become misaligned or you may see a 'V' shape develop where top and bottom meet which can progress to forcing a gap between the indented pair, trimming may be needed. Teeth can also overgrow in the direction of the roots, this is often accompanied by spurs, sometimes bumps can be felt on the lower jaw or pain is shown in the sinuses when the nose is pressed or eye or breathing issues may be evident, x-rays may be needed for diagnosis.

If you see any weight loss, struggling to eat different shapes or hardnesses of food, wet fur around the mouth or degus are seen pawing at their mouths, breathing or eye issues it is essential to take your degu to the vet as soon as possible before they lose condition. Sedation is usually needed to do a full mouth examination and to trim teeth or to get an x-ray, and sometimes vets or owners may be reluctant to do this but as it becomes more common it seems it is usually quite a safe procedure and usually worth the risk for degus exhibiting head/ mouth symptoms.

We always recommend a re-examination of the full diet for any degu with dental issues. Ensuring adequate calcium intake and adding more forage to the diet can improve or slow down dental issues and increase intervals between trims.

Cataracts
Another common issue encountered in degus is the presence of cataracts, which can be genetic, caused via old age, or through poor diet (glucose or diabetes related). Cereal grains and all sugary vegetables should normally be eliminated from the diet of degus with cataracts in case they are glucose related. Degus usually cope well with limited vision particularly if you limit changes to cage layout.

Breathing Difficulties
Breathing difficulties can arise due to dust or allergen inhalation, so if the degu seems otherwise well the first thing to do is trial elimination of substrate, hay, cardboard or anything new in the cage or room. Always consult a vet if you suspect a respiratory infection, a vet would normally listen to the degu's breathing and may be able to identify if the problem is in the sinuses or chest, and antibiotics may be prescribed. Sometimes respiratory issues can be a side effect of serious dental disease. If the nasal passages become completely blocked the degu will be forced to breath through the mouth, this normally causes air to be swallowed bloating the degu's stomach and is an indication of a serious breathing problem.

Medication
Medication is best given on food, some degus accept it more readily than others so you may need to experiment with various treats, preferably something absorbent or strong smelling or that your degu particularly likes, try things like a tiny piece of shredded wheat, a slice of nut, nut butter, or soaking onto a few oats. Occasionally it may be necessary to syringe feed medication to ensure they get an effective dose. Recovery foods such as Oxbow Critical Care or Supreme Recovery can be very useful in keeping digestion functioning during or after antibiotics or when there is any break to normal eating.

Weight
Degus can vary quite substantially in terms of weight, with a range from 170g up to 350g for adult degus, or most often between 200g-300g. Young degus should show a steady gain in weight which gradually plateaus as they reach adulthood. The most important thing is to be aware of changes in weight which can often indicate health/dental issues. It is worth weighing degus on a regular basis and recording their weights, which will allow you to see any substantial variation. This is best done on a digital kitchen scale with the use of treats to keep them still. It is normal for weight to slightly increase in autumn for winter, and decrease in spring.


Neutering
Where some degus have experienced aggression or social issues with casemates of the same sex, it has been found that by having them neutered it is possible to introduce them more successfully to a cagemates of the opposite sex. There is little to suggest that neutering reduces aggressive behaviour, particularly as degus produce testosterone in their adrenal glands as well as the testes. Neutering in degus is only really an option for males, and even then carries significant risks due to the anaesthetic and post-surgery complications such as infection or prolapsed penis. The testes on male degus are located within the abdominal cavity, therefore it is important that a vet with experience of the procedure and species is used. Neutering should not be a first choice, but can enable some degus that would have lived alone a potential future with other degus.


Breeding
Breeding is not recommended as there are already too many degus looking for homes in most parts of the world. It is generally impossible to be sure you have healthy and unrelated stock and long lifespans make it almost impossible to breed responsibly for health and monitor this for long enough.

If you find you accidentally have a pregnant degu or suddenly discover babies, it is vital to immediately remove the father as degus are fertile immediately after giving birth and a second pregnancy is very hard on the mother and can lead to an unmanageable quantity of degus very quickly.



There are no silly questions when it comes to degus, so do not hesitate to ask any questions on the forum.