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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2011 17:19:48 GMT
Thank you, that's good to hear Now I can continue my painstaking work of making a rope bridge from scratch I found a bunch of alder branches that someone had cut down, so I thought I'd make something of that instead of buying everything from the pet store, which is insanely over-priced. It looks very nice, too
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 18, 2011 21:57:48 GMT
just a note that alder is different to elder (as in elderberry). Alder tends to grow near water and has funny little cone type fruits and leaves with a rounded end. I've not seen anywhere saying that alder is safe, but I don't think I've seen anywhere other than degutopia saying it's unsafe
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Post by fred on Sept 18, 2011 22:07:54 GMT
Alder is on the safe lists of all major degu information sites in German, and often mentioned as safe on deguforum.de – and I don't think you will find it classified as toxic anywhere other than degutopia .
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2011 22:12:25 GMT
Edit: That was a relief, for a moment there I thought I had to throw away my newly crafted ladders If the German sites says it's okay, I believe them Degutopia is altogether confusing so I try to stay away from it..
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Post by fred on Sept 18, 2011 22:16:53 GMT
Ooops, so sorry, what an embarassing typo I have edited my ealier post and added "genus Alnus" to avoid potential confusion.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 10:25:16 GMT
I have been out foraging again How about these ones: Rowan (European mountain ash) - Sorbus Aucuparia (Rosales order, Rosacea family). Goat willow - Salix Caprea (Malpighiales order, Salicacea family). I see that many of the woods on the new safe list are of the same order and family as these, but then again.. A few infosites in Norwegian lists these two as safe, but I don't know how much any of them can be trusted.
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Post by fred on Sept 22, 2011 10:41:01 GMT
Goat willow is fine. Rowan / mountain ash is debated and is on some German toxic woods lists. There seem to be differences for different rodent species. I wouldn't offer it without further research. The maple example shows that unfortunately one cannot assume that all species even in one genus are either safe or toxic. The new safe list should offer sufficient alternatives to stay clear of the uncertain ones
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2011 10:51:04 GMT
Thanks again, Fred =) I'll try and find some trees on the safe list that are available around here, and just stick to birch for the time being. They didn't like the grey alder I presented them with at all! ^^
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Post by Kat on Oct 3, 2011 12:03:20 GMT
Should we change the title of this thread to woods NOT toxic to degus?
Kat x
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mhb
Burrowing Degu
Mystified and Entertained on a daily basis
Posts: 173
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Post by mhb on Oct 3, 2011 14:14:08 GMT
I have to say I love this site for it's information. My cage is now filled with Silver Birch and Apple and they were so delightfully confused by REAL wood. They are having to learn the difference of how to balance along the branches now as opposed to flat, manufactured shelves. lol
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Post by winic1 on Oct 14, 2011 15:47:09 GMT
What about Elm? (Ulmus sp)
Pretty sure what I have is Slippery Elm, Ulmus rubra, but it could be one of several other kinds that grow in the northeast US. Will have to go look more closely, I have tons of small trees growing like weeds all around the yard. Do not know where the parent tree is that is sending these things my way, must be in a neighbor's yard or woods. Without the seeds handy may be hard to tell which species it really is.
Tried to search the forum for "elm", but it requires a search term to be at least 4 letters long.
Now that I think of that, searching for "ash" is also going to be forbidden. Has ash, Fraxinus, been mentioned yet? Think the ones I have are Fraxinus pennsylvanica, Green Ash, but could be another species.
Don't suppose that being able to see that the deer eat them means anything for degus. Of course, the deer here will eat most anything, all kinds of stuff they're not supposed to.
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Post by beckycarter22 on Oct 30, 2011 20:18:48 GMT
Hi everyone - relatively new degu owner here so trying to make sense of it all! Am I right in understanding that some willow is ok and some is not?
What kind of willow are all the toys in Pets at Home made of? Because they do a lot of them, including chewing sticks and bridges etc that would be great to use but I'm too scared!
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Post by davx on Oct 30, 2011 20:59:08 GMT
No, as I know common willow species are suitable. If there are also little known problematic ones... I don't know. Also the deer have to deal with some restrictions given to high amounts of indigestible or even harmful secondary plant compounds. Therefore what the deer eat might be a coarse indication what also might be good for the degus. Of course, it needs further investigations like checking the contained plant compounds, are there any toxic ones? and checking if the plant is listed as toxic plant. If so, why? Which parts are toxic, in which quantities and what are the intoxication symptoms? We actually try to create a more comprehensive list here: www.octodons.ch/index.php/WoodsBut most of the american species are missing now. Fred and Jordan try to fill this gap... At least european Ulmus species seem to be suitable. Experience with degus is scarce, but for domestic rabbits it is suitable and the wild rabbits use it as food.
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Post by fred on Oct 31, 2011 10:38:04 GMT
beckycarter22 Hi there, and welcome to the forum The chewing sticks, toys etc will be made from weeping willow wood and are absolutely safe! There is no reason to believe that any of the willow species (genus Salix) might be problematic. There are about 400 species of willow (source Wikipedia) and of course most of these haven't been given to degus yet. If several species of a genus (here weeping, white and goat willow) have been found suitable for degus, and no reports of toxicity to other mammals for any other species can be found, the whole genus should be considered safe. Sorry if this sounds very technical, bottom line is that I would not hesitate to give any willow to my degus
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Post by Ady on Jan 4, 2012 21:55:28 GMT
I wonder about rose hip bushes? Is it safe for degu? Even in bigger quantities? I feed them dried rose hips occasionaly but wonder about the wood. It's this one. Tx Attachments:
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Post by fred on Jan 4, 2012 22:11:14 GMT
The wood is safe but you should remover any thorns. I wouldn't trust any energetic degu to be careful enough.
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Post by weejock on Mar 13, 2012 22:10:44 GMT
Hey all, does anybody have any idea about fresh, growing, green bamboo? I've seen plenty of advice that says bamboo is fine, but I've always assumed that this is talking about items made from dead, dry bamboo. I know there can be a difference in the toxicity of plants depending on whether they're shooting, fresh-cut or dead and was wondering if you had any thoughts on this? We went to the garden centre and bought a small growing bamboo this afternoon (because it looks pretty, not with the intention of feeding it to ravenous goos) and found that they tore into it - particularly the fresh shoots growing from the sides of the canes. Any advice greatly appreciated
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 13, 2012 23:09:55 GMT
That's a great question!! I'm hoping that Davx or Fred will be able to direct us either with the answer, or where to find it?
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Post by davx on Mar 15, 2012 0:50:36 GMT
Hi,
Fresh bamboo is fine. German pet owners feed it their rabbits, Guinea pigs, chinchillas and also degus.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 16, 2012 4:31:29 GMT
HOW COOL!! So . . . how do they get fresh bamboo? Where would you purchase it, is what I mean.
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