How much to feed a Degu?

[coronasol]

I've been reading through the feeding section quite a lot over the last few weeks and all the information is really helpful and a great source for us new Degu owners - so thanks!

I have 2 9-week old little boys. At the moment I put a handful of Hay in their cage in the morning (it is Excel branded meadow hay with Dandelion and Marigold in it). When I get home from work, I treat them with oats or puffed rice, just a small pile each. And then they have P@H nuggets, at the moment about 7gms each, and then at some point in the day I give them bits from a Dandelion Salad (leaves and flowers) or I scatter them in the cage. I want to slowly start introducing them to more veggies, fresh and dried, millet, seeds, and various mixes that everyone talks about, but I also want to make sure I don't overfeed or underfeed my little boys.

I want to try them with the millet sprays you get for budgies, but some say this should be given sparlingly/monthly and others put a spray in each week. And is it ok to give them a whole spray? I also read pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds should be given sparingly, maybe once or twice a month, yet some of the home made mixes seems to contain these as regular ingredients fed 3 times a week.

I guess my question is what is the best way to know whether I am overfeeding or underfeeding, (besides getting fat or dodgy tummies), and what combinations of treats versus main food do you each offer your Goos? My concern is that with them loving nuggets as well as dried leaves/herbs/flowers, I will overfeed them as it seems these are each classed as 'dinner' rather than 'treats' but I give the dried stuff not at dinner time so they can look forward to other little surprises throughout the day rather than just dinner and treat-time.

Does that make any sense?! LOL! Sorry for the long post!!

[fred]

I think it is quite difficult to overfeed degus as such. They don't just eat till they drop. You can however give them too much sugar, fat or protein.

Hay they can have as much as they want. You can provide them with larger amounts, which they may also use for their nest.

Low energy seeds like millet and dari (there is a list of seeds on the 50% natural nutrition thread) they can definitely have on a daily basis. The higher energy oil seeds like pumpkin and sunflower need to be fed more sparingly. Still, mine get some in their daily seed mix. I suggest you weigh them regularly, that would give you an early warning if they are gaining too much weight. If this is the case, you can reduce or leave out energy-rich seeds. I wouldn't worry at all, you'll soon get a feel for it.

With vegetables, some have a higher sugar content and these need to be fed sparingly (carrots and beetroot for example). These I give only as treats. I want to put up a table with the sugar content of various veggies but need to find reliable data. Until then, just tell us which ones you want to feed and we'll see whether some of them should be fed sparingly.

[coronasol]

Thanks Fred, that's really helpful. I've been reading the 50% Natural Nutrition diet threads, and I'm going to put a 'cheat sheet' of the information by the cage for reference. It is all really helpful.

What are the weight ranges for Degus? I know mine are young and still growing. I can't pick them up at the moment, they are still timid and I don't want to scare them by trying. They will climb on my hands when I'm feeding them, but any slow movement and they scarper back into their cage! So I think weighing them will be too difficult at the moment, but I will definitely track their weight once I can handle them more.

It's good to know it is difficult to overfeed them too, but you made a good point on getting the balance right - maybe that is a better question, how to know I have the right balance.

[fred]

Unfortunately, the weight range of degus is huge, depending on their build, 180 to 300 g can be ok. Once you can weigh them, a change in weight (or as long as they are growing, in the rate of weight increase) will be the best indicator. Somewhere in the 50% natural nutrition thread is a growth curve of my girls; that it is so smooth gave me a lot of reassurance that I had the right balance. Give them a couple of weeks and then you can start to try and coax them into a tube or basket and put that on your scales. In general I would say just relax; you'll work it out between the three of you