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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Oct 5, 2011 20:37:01 GMT
This is great Kat ! Love the homemade plant mix ! Thanks for sharing
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Post by fred on Oct 5, 2011 20:48:19 GMT
The dandelion look huge. And so much nicer dried than the stuff one can buy. No wonder that your boys like it
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Post by Kat on Oct 6, 2011 11:10:54 GMT
It's official
I'M HAVING 2 BABIES.
Degu babies of course. They are from violetfae and we are just working out when is best for them to come and live here. These little boys will hopefully be joining my 2 single degus. Yay
Kat x
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 6, 2011 15:09:05 GMT
HOORAY!!! I look forward to their arrival in your home, Kat!
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Post by degualot on Oct 6, 2011 19:56:50 GMT
wow those look amazing, are you also looking into seed mixes, i'm having a problem with seeds, I tried getting bird seeds from P@H but they always have other seeds i'm not to sure about, anyone got any suggestions regarding seeds?
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Post by Kat on Oct 7, 2011 8:40:18 GMT
I have bought a few bags of seed. Not enough for a full mix yet, but I am out shopping today. I got my seeds from small local pet shops. They usually know what is in the mix AND the price is a lot better too. I got 800g of canary seed for £1. I spotted a big bag of Nyger that was £1.29. I think I will get that today and add some to my mix. My biggest tip would be to not get any mixes with tonic or conditioner written on the bag. They have bird vitamins in.
Kat x
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Post by Kat on Oct 7, 2011 18:52:27 GMT
I am now aiming to go to about 75% natural. I am still hesitant to take away the "conventional" food at the moment. Although my boys are not eating very much of it anymore. I have been slowly buying seeds and today I have got the last ones. This is my mix It contains different millets dari canary seeds pearl barley grass seed niger linseed hemp I spilt the seeds I had into low fat and higher fat bags. I then mixed 2/3 of the low fat seeds and 1/3 of the higher fat seeds. I have also added a small amount of the following to this mix. pumpkin mung beans sunflower It does look like there is a lot of these ones in it but I hadn't mixed properly when I took the photo. What does everyone think of this mix? Kat x
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Post by fred on Oct 7, 2011 19:16:44 GMT
This looks great Kat Mung beans are an interesting addition; they seem to be very low in fat. I'll try to verify this and add them to the seeds table. 75%?? We'll see what Gerrard and Scrat have to say about that Honestly, your mixes are perfectly fine for 100%
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 7, 2011 19:59:11 GMT
Wow kat, that is really nice. You are definitley inspiring me for my more natural mixes. At the moment I'm slowly working through all the food I have, which is taking longer as I'm mixing in more dried plants in with it to 'dilute' it.
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Post by Kat on Oct 8, 2011 9:53:05 GMT
Aww Shucks!! Thank you Fred and Malteser60
Fred Your prediction regarding the boys chosing the dried food was right last time and I'm sure you will be correct this time. I have a modest amount of packaged food left, I won't be buying more.
Malteser60 I fear that you may end up like me and struggling to use up this food as your degus lose interest in it.
Kat x
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Post by Kat on Oct 8, 2011 10:39:50 GMT
I have a bit of a black thumb so please don't get too excited about this project. I have tried to grow some grasses before and they grew quite well. That was until my little girl knocked it off the window ledge with a football. Why i oughta...Anyway, I already have some seeds from my last attempt. I have re-ordered my ruined flower mix and decided to include some seeds. I also found this very interesting mix in my LPS (local pet shop) These are the seeds I got from Shelled Warriors for just 99p a pack. They sent 2 lots of the clover as they were buy one get one free. These are what I used for planting. The soil is 100% coco husk, I use it for my snails so I know that there isn't anything potentially harmful in it. The black trays are from some profiteroles that we bought from asda. I think that they will work well as propagators. These one have the Bird green mix in. The seeds are plantain, dandelion, chickweed, grass, cress and lettuce. We will eat the lettuce if it grows. This one has a mix of timothy grass seeds, dandelion and wild strawberry. This one is half white clover and half plantain. The most sunny window in the house, except at the moment of the photo. ha. I have no idea of how many seed per inch I am supposed to sow or how deep either. I will take a photo every 2 days and hopefully we will see some growth. I am very keen for these to grow as Scrat only likes the self dried stuff and I wont be able to forage for this for much longer. I hope that some people are finding my blog interesting and are maybe trying out 1 or 2 of the foods/processes that I have too. If you do please post and let us know how you get on. Kat X
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Post by fred on Oct 8, 2011 11:10:45 GMT
This is terribly exciting Your thumb can't be as black as mine but as soon as you can report the first shoots, I am going to give it a try. Under what conditions (temperature, light) do you keep the trays?
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Oct 10, 2011 17:18:21 GMT
I hope that some people are finding my blog interesting and are maybe trying out 1 or 2 of the foods/processes that I have too. If you do please post and let us know how you get on. Kat X I ordered some of the dried Calendula from Shelled Warriors and it arrived today; I'm using it for treats at the moment and our degus loved it I'm going to order some of the other stuff at some point.
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Post by Kat on Oct 10, 2011 19:12:48 GMT
This is terribly exciting Your thumb can't be as black as mine but as soon as you can report the first shoots, I am going to give it a try. Under what conditions (temperature, light) do you keep the trays? I have them at normal room temp (we haven't put our heating on just yet) I am trying to get them as much light as I can by having them on the most sunny windowsil. Aparently they are weeds and thrive on negect. I do have some shoots now so fingers crossed for all. I ordered some of the dried Calendula from Shelled Warriors and it arrived today; I'm using it for treats at the moment and our degus loved it I'm going to order some of the other stuff at some point. That great to hear, I am glad that your goos like it. I love that seller and the postage is such a good price too.
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Post by Kat on Oct 10, 2011 19:21:10 GMT
Does that saying work? I'm a bit of a sci-fi geek but not good with puns. This is the bird mix, 3 days after planting. I think that the visible shoots are cress. I have had a really good look and it looks like some of the other seeds in that mix are starting too. This is the clover pot. I am very pleased with this as I have LOADS of these seeds. The soil looks so wet because I had just sprayed them with tepid water. The other mix of timothy grass, strawberry and dandelion haven't started yet and nether had the plantain. I think that I will have to wait a little longer for these. Kat x
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Post by moletteuk on Oct 14, 2011 11:16:40 GMT
I love your profiterole propagators If some things don't germinate too well, try them in the dark - just cover them with newspaper. I was wondering if they aren't as keen on the bought mixes because the smell has worn off a bit - I wonder if it might help if you just crushed them a little between your fingers to re-release some fresh fragrance. I've found this helps with the big bag of readigrass I have.
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Post by Kat on Oct 14, 2011 15:23:42 GMT
Thats a really good point moletteuk. I will try crushing the greens a bit before feeding.
Thanks a lot Kat x
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Post by Kat on Oct 14, 2011 15:48:06 GMT
As I have probably already mentioned I have a stack of 3 P@H cages. I have been thinking about how I can make the best of the space in the cage. I decided to extend the upper shelves on the top and bottom tiers. I can't add to the middle one at the moment as I have a mesh separation panel there. The shelves are now 14" deep instead of the standard 6" and a bit. Anyway here are some photos. I'm sorry that they are not very good angles but that room is very small and I actually can't get a good full cage photo. This is Scrat doing a runner, but I think that it shows the new size well. Kat x
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Post by Kat on Oct 14, 2011 15:55:03 GMT
2 post at once, sorry. What a good day!! I went to violetfae's house today to collect my new degu. He is super cute and is settling very well. I put him in a section of my cage when we got home. He and Gerrard were making very positive noises to each other so I thought that I would try them in the bath. That went very well with the pup having no problem with submitting to my big boy. They are now together!!!!! YAY I have read about people pretty much putting pups in right away but never really believed it could go that smoothly. At my last look they were sharing a bowl of food. So cute. I have managed to snap a couple of photos but didn't want to bother them too much. Just to choose a name now... Kat x
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 14, 2011 16:17:55 GMT
You expanded shelves look GREAT, Kat! That certainly makes a difference in running room for them. I bet they like them a lot!
Your new little guy is adorable. He looks like a mischievious little monkey!!
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