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Post by deguconvert on Dec 21, 2021 9:22:43 GMT
deguworld.proboards.com/post/85255/threadHave a look at the chart I have linked above. There you will find a list of oil seeds that are good nutrition for our degus. The best one are about the top half, from Dill down to Caraway. (Dill, Nigella, Celery, Fennel, Cumin, Coriander, Poppy, Sesame, Anise/Aniseed, Caraway) The rest, Chia to Milk Thistle are safe for them to eat, but are best in smaller/treat amounts. I would recommend getting and making a mix of the best seeds, and offering these to Remi on a daily basis. In fact all your goos will benefit from them, but make sure she is getting a fair share of them. Ladies . . . a bit of advice here because I'm not exactly sure about this, but would a teaspoon of these oil seeds, per degu, per day, be too much for them? You might want to start them a little slower than that so that you don't overwhelm their gut with the new foods. These oil seeds are excellent nutrition and you will see improvements in their condition and their coats as they consistently eat these. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds . . . those need to remain firmly in the treat zone, exactly as you have been doing.
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Post by deguconvert on Dec 21, 2021 9:23:57 GMT
Different question . . . are you in your tiny house now, and do you have all your degus moved in, and are they in their new cages that you were planning to use?
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 21, 2021 11:18:41 GMT
deguworld.proboards.com/post/85255/threadHave a look at the chart I have linked above. There you will find a list of oil seeds that are good nutrition for our degus. The best one are about the top half, from Dill down to Caraway. (Dill, Nigella, Celery, Fennel, Cumin, Coriander, Poppy, Sesame, Anise/Aniseed, Caraway) The rest, Chia to Milk Thistle are safe for them to eat, but are best in smaller/treat amounts. I would recommend getting and making a mix of the best seeds, and offering these to Remi on a daily basis. In fact all your goos will benefit from them, but make sure she is getting a fair share of them. Ladies . . . a bit of advice here because I'm not exactly sure about this, but would a teaspoon of these oil seeds, per degu, per day, be too much for them? You might want to start them a little slower than that so that you don't overwhelm their gut with the new foods. These oil seeds are excellent nutrition and you will see improvements in their condition and their coats as they consistently eat these. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds . . . those need to remain firmly in the treat zone, exactly as you have been doing. I feed them the degu SAB seed mix, I believe al of those seeds are in the mix (Fenugreek, dill, lamb's lettuce, fennel, radish, spinach, basil, blue poppy, clover, coriander, caraway, larch, alfalfa, lettuce, black cumin, celery, chicory.) <- those are in the mix I am feeding all of the goos. But they don't eat all the seeds, A few types of seeds never get eaten. I really should find out what seeds they are, and maybe I could plant them for them.
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 21, 2021 11:53:49 GMT
Different question . . . are you in your tiny house now, and do you have all your degus moved in, and are they in their new cages that you were planning to use? No, the tiny house is not done yet. Me and my pets will move in February/march. The degus are already in the big cage I planned, but there are still some things I want to change, which I plan to do in the summer. Those things are: - add another single critter nation so that the boys have 3 critter nations instead of 2. - Add a big level (90X60) in both of the cages to give them more floor space. - get 2 new wheels, so that both cages will have 2 wheels. - Add more smaller shelves for climbing with little houses (almost like bird houses) - Add (more) perches/small ledges for climbing and hiding food for them to find. - Add more branches for climbing The cage at the moment is big enough according to the recommended minimum cage size from this forum. But with the things I planned to do in the summer both of the cages will be the recommended cage size! About the wheels, I want to add another wheel to both of the cages, but this is more of a luxury since both of the groups are doing very well with one wheel. I always see them running together (even with 3 at one time) and they never argue about the wheel. From what I have read on the internet this is kind of special. I have noticed that Remi and Ethel are running less in the wheel since I moved them to the new cage with the 16" inch wheel, I am not sure if this is because they liked the 12" inch better, or that they just want to run less because they are now in a 180 cm width cage. I have also found a solution to the plastic trays the critter nations comes with. I replaced the those with HPL plate (High Pressure Laminate) which my dad cut to size and I placed it onto the bottom grid so no edges are exposed and it can't be chewed. This works great, it is completely water proof, and chew proof since it is so hard (if they wanted to chew it, I don't think they can) and also safe because it is made from wood and resin. The only downside to this is the price (It is very expensive). And also, I don't have a a edge yet, so the woodshaving always fall out of the cage when I open the doors (when the doors are closed the plexiglass keeps it from falling out). But I want to fix this with using kiln dried pine planks as a ledge (which would get replaced when dirty, or chewed up). Will try and upload some photos of the cage so that you can see it. It is really cool, and like a giant degu wall!
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 21, 2021 12:08:13 GMT
Diet sounds good, so she can have nearly everything unlimited at the moment, it's just the sunflower and pumpkin seeds that you need to ration a bit, but she can have more than usual. She could have some nuts too and don't worry too much about dandelion root quantity at the moment, also dried veg could be fed more freely at the moment.
If you can get good pictures of the seeds, we can tell you which she isn't eating, it's worth checking because they ones they often like the least are the highest calcium ones.
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 21, 2021 12:15:41 GMT
The cage is so big I could not get a picture with the whole cage in it. But now you can at least see how it looks. The girls have the 2 lower cages and the second right cage. The boys have the second and third left cage. The plants are all out of reach (and non toxic (just in case)). I really wanted a natural cage so I have a lot of wood (ash, willow, hazel, alder, beech, birch). Both of the wheels are from tictac wheels (brown is 12", cream is 16"). I attached plexiglass to the bottom of each individual cage to keep the wood shavings inside. The entire left wall is covered with (fly) mesh, and other places where a tail could stick trough is covered with plexiglass (I double checked this after the accident with baby Clio). The wall between the girl and the boy cage has cardboard between it, and on the side of the girls cage is also a piece of wood. I do want a more permanent solution to this, So I am going to see if I can get some white opaque Plexiglas to put in between the walls. The aquarium in the girls cage is filled with wood shaving at the moment because of Clio's tail. When her tail is healed I will switch the wood shavings for bath sand again (they really love having a 50 X 30 cm sandbath!). The boys also have a small aquarium with bath sand (around 10 X 25 cm). So this is the cage at the moment.
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 21, 2021 12:20:10 GMT
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 21, 2021 12:23:33 GMT
Here are 2 pictures of the girls seed bowls. Everyday I put the left over seeds from the blue bowl into the green bowl and a a table spoon of new seeds into the blue bowl. So the green bowl are the left over seeds from multiple days. The seeds they leave most often are those small olive shaped seeds with look like some type of gras seed or carrot seed to me. You can also see some husks in the bowls from the bigger seeds. Oh and please ignore the poops and the forage they left in the bowl, I still need to pick out the poops
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Post by deguconvert on Dec 21, 2021 17:48:03 GMT
I am NOT good at identifying seeds . . . I can some . . . but most of the seeds in the list are things I've not looked at. However . . . I'm thinking, based on the pickling I've done, that the seeds your girls are rejecting are mainly dill seeds. What do you all think?
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Post by savvy on Dec 21, 2021 17:58:30 GMT
The problem is, that unless you count every seed, you've no way of knowing if they are rejecting all or just some of the left over seeds. It is possible that a few are being eaten.
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Post by bouncy on Dec 21, 2021 19:35:22 GMT
I see fennel, sesame......need to look at my bags downstairs to figure out the rest.
Sensible of them to store eating poo in the bowl lol
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Post by deguconvert on Dec 22, 2021 7:52:52 GMT
I think I can see fenugreek in there as well. Yes, fennel, but it is not so bad. Lots of dill, though. The thing is . . . they will go through stages. You may suddenly find a few months along that they are all enthralled with the very seeds they have been rejecting.
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 23, 2021 17:49:39 GMT
Yes, dill is the two tone one with the paler edge. I also see what is probably cumin, the plain olivey brown ones with the grooves along the length, caraway looks similar but slightly darker/browner I think. I alse see some fennel which is the same shape as cumin but green. Bad news is that they are the ones with the highest calcium content, so it might be worth experimenting with leaving the bowl a bit longer before you refill it to see if they will eat them at all.
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 24, 2021 16:42:19 GMT
Wednesday Remi had an appointment at the vet. The vet checked her back teeth (Remi did not like this at all), felt her belly, listened to her heart and lungs, and asked a lot of questions. He was very confident working with her, and it was clear has experience with exotic animals.
Since everything looked normal he said that it is probably related to her pregnancy and we decided that I am going to focus on getting Remi to eat more by proving more feeding spots. And if her weight drops below 200 grams, I can go back with a poop sample so he can test it and see if she has worms. And she would get pain medication (he said that an animal often improves when they get pain medication) and anitbiotics.
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 24, 2021 20:09:09 GMT
Nice to find a competent vet and them not find anything wrong I was just thinking that a little bit of fresh forage would be good for her, anything you can get hold of, any clean and fresh looking grass, dandelions, plantain, bramble leaves or you could offer the odd fresh kitchen herb or carrot tops.
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 25, 2021 13:40:32 GMT
Yep it is like we won the vet lotery, because he works at the vet office nearby were we always go to with our other animals.
When Remi was pregnant I also took her a the vet (I already had an appointment for my guinea pig and could also take her), but that vet was not that great although she said that she worked with degus before. (this vet had done some extra training with guinea pigs so that is why choose for her since the appointment was originally only for my guinea pig)
But after doing some research to find a better vet for the degus, I found out that a vet that works at the vet office we normally go to also accompanies/guides a nearby zoo. And is experienced working with exotic animals!
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Dec 25, 2021 13:44:37 GMT
Nice to find a competent vet and them not find anything wrong I was just thinking that a little bit of fresh forage would be good for her, anything you can get hold of, any clean and fresh looking grass, dandelions, plantain, bramble leaves or you could offer the odd fresh kitchen herb or carrot tops. I have given them some fresh basil a few days back, We have a few herb plants in the kitchen, Which herbs would be best?
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 25, 2021 17:03:31 GMT
They are all safe, probably the less pungent the better, but just try them and see, just offer a little bit at first.
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lindie
Foraging Degu
Posts: 107
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Post by lindie on Jan 5, 2022 12:43:16 GMT
Hi, I have some good and some exciting news.
First the good news. Remi has gained weight! After the vet appointment, her weight was a few days stable, then her weight dropped to 206 grams. I then started to "force feed" her every day with my own version of critical care (I blended their pellets, some oats, a bunch of seeds, a walnut, and a few pieces of dried vegetable into powder which I then added water to) and this helped, because after a couple of days her weight was miraculously up to 223 grams! after that, I stopped "force feeding" her because she did not like it very much, and our bond went downhill. She especially disliked me chasing her around the cage to get her (before I had no trouble getting her out of the cage). She would voluntarily eat after she had a taste of it. But it was quite the struggle to get her to taste it. I have not weighed her in a couple of days, but she looks healthier so I am not in a rush to weigh her.
Now the exciting news!! I am adopting two male degus!! I don't know if you know Stacy from Belgiandegupile. But on the 9th of December, she posted that she has 2 foster boys looking for a home. I immediately fell in love with them and messaged her about them. But because of personal reasons I was not sure about it and decided not to. But I just could not get them out of my head, So after +3 weeks of thinking about them and considering it. I messaged her again and decided that it was the right choice to adopt them after all! I am picking them up on Saturday. I have already ordered the sixth critter nation unit and some other things. I am a bit nervous about introducing them to the baby boys but also look forward to the process. I know it is very sudden and might not seem like the wisest decision to adopt two new degus when I got my first degus only half a year ago, kept all 5 of the surprise babies which were born 3 months after I got them. But I have truly fallen in love with degus, and they bring me so much joy and purpose in life! I am thinking about creating a thread on the blogs and journals page so I can continue to share our story.
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Post by teemu on Jan 5, 2022 13:43:03 GMT
Ooh, exciting times! Degus do seem to be the kind of pet that, after you get your first ones, they just mysteriously multiply - even without surprise pregnancies I wish you all the best with the boys. It seems to vary quite a bit as to how introducing new degus into the pack will go, but as long as there's enough space for them and you gauge everyone's reactions carefully and adjust based on that, you can't go too wrong
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