Treats & Wood branches...??

[epicninjakitten]

Hello.

I have 2 male Degu's 15 weeks of age. ;D They are really tame and like sitting on my shoulders even being petted. I feed them Degu Nuggets from Pets at Home.. and a small selection of fresh veggies every 3(ish) days. I use oats for training, and sometimes a sunflower seed/pumpkin seed.

I was just wondering though, what else can they eat? is there anything they definitely CANNOT eat? & what else can I feed them as treats?

Also, I'm getting a lot of mixed views on the internet of what to and not what to give Degu's as wood branches in their cage? I just want to know a wood that's definitely safe!

Please help me. Thanks ;D

[kovu07]

www.degutopia.co.uk/degutoxic.htm

Any wood not found on here is probably ok but I would still dry it out before using it.

Also you can feed degus any of the following

Once every few days

Sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
flaked corn
maize
flaked peas

Once a week

Unsalted peanuts
dried rosehips


Once a month

whole brazil
whole hazelnuts

As a treat (in small amounts)

Ryvita
Melba toast
crackers

Often (a few a day)

Puffed rice
Oats
dandelion
parsley
marigold
hazel leaves
rose petals

Hope that gives you some ideas

[epicninjakitten]

Jun 6, 2011 14:58:28 GMT kovu07 said:

www.degutopia.co.uk/degutoxic.htm

Any wood not found on here is probably ok but I would still dry it out before using it.

Also you can feed degus any of the following

Once every few days

Sunflower seeds
pumpkin seeds
flaked corn
maize
flaked peas

Once a week

Unsalted peanuts
dried rosehips


Once a month

whole brazil
whole hazelnuts

As a treat (in small amounts)

Ryvita
Melba toast
crackers

Often (a few a day)

Puffed rice
Oats
dandelion
parsley
marigold
hazel leaves
rose petals

Hope that gives you some ideas

How do I go about drying wood?

What kind of rose petals can I give them?.. just like from the garden..?

What are rosehips?

& thank you! you're answer was very helpful!

[kovu07]

Nods in the oven, and you can get rose petals from the garden just be sure that they haven't been exposed to any pestisides.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_hip

The above shows you what rosehips are

Also i'm glad I could help

[epicninjakitten]

Thanks!

Hey since you seem so good with Degu's, what can I give them as toys?..

please don't just send me a link

[kovu07]

Toys I would go with the following

Bridges
tubes
some wooden parrot toys
hammocks (not really toys but useful)
rope
ledges
and hiding food around the cage for foraging

[philbailey1806]

I have to say that my degus favourate toys are cardboard tubes that used to have posters in that I got from work and toilet tubes, with a treat in the middle and hay stuffed in either end, they go mad for these and tear them to shreds, they also like jumping and chewing on some screw- on wooden ledges I found at pets at home. The simple things are always the things they most enjoy! I spent a fortune on fancy toys that looked nice and they just chewed them up and broke them lol.

[kovu07]

Sounds about right Phil

[philbailey1806]

It certainly is, Ernies particularly destructive when he's frustrated by something and chews and chews! I'm surprised he doesn't have stumps where his teeth should be! lol, he got especially bad when I had to split him and Edna up.

[kovu07]

Aww poor Ernie

[fred]

I am also feeding mine the P@H nuggets and then use XtraVital as treats which means I don't have to worry whether they get too much of something. Of course they all get a lot of other treats

[epicninjakitten]

Thanks very much.
Is there anything Degu's aren't allowed?

[philbailey1806]

Good idea Fred! I never thought of giving the XtraVital as a treat!

As for things not allowed, anything with added sugar or honey is bad, and watch out for hidden sugar in dried fruit and dried sugary veg e.g. carrots and corn.

Also don't give too many nuts and seeds as these are very fatty and an obese degu is a degu that will more than likely become diabetic, also nuts are high in protien, which could damage the liver if given in excessive quantities. Most sites, and like Kovu said above, advise no more than one unsalted peanut a week and one shelled nut a month maximum.

As for wood, if I were you I'd stick to the safe wood list on the degutopia website rather than risk it personally.

[deguconvert]

ANYTHING that contains added sugar is not allowed. You should go very light on any fruit, I would not give them bananas or raisins, nor anything citrus. No meat, or anything higher than 15% protein.
Woods that are good for them . . . Apple, pear, birch, most willow, hawthorn.

[epicninjakitten]

...so no raisins?
still mixed opinions lol

[Ady]

U can try pasta occasionally as it also good to wear teeth down. Parsnip and beetroot is quite cheap if u wanna try dice it up and dry.

Is it safe to give them black eye beans? Or lentils?

[kovu07]

Raw lentils are ok but i've no idea about black eye beans, sorry.

[epicninjakitten]

Cool thanks everyone! Keep posting with any other ideas! ;D

[swan]

no dog buiscuits

[malteser60]

epicninjakitten, we have a sticky on the Food and Feeding thread that gives you ideas about what to feed degus. Also visit the degutopia website for more ideas on what to feed degus. However here's a short list of do's and don'ts :

• Most important no sugars. As you know degus are prone to diabetes so it is very important to regulate their sugar. This is not just restricted to foods that have added sugar, but also natural sugar found in fruits and some vegetables. So no dried fruit (i.e. bananas, apple, etc, including raisins). Examples of vegetables containing sugar are carrots, parsnip, and corn. Although levels of sugar in vegetables is a lot less than fruit. So you can give your degus the occasional piece of carrot, etc. Now, I have a diabetic degu so I am very strict with their sugar levels. However I do know that some degue owners will give their degus the occasional piece of fruit, limited to one piece every three weeks to a month. Whenever you feed your degus a new food just check those sugar levels.
  
• Restrict the amount of fat - this is mainly from seeds. Degu's livers are built so they cannot digest high amounts of fat. This will lead to a strain on the degu's body causing complications and potentially diabetes. If your degu is already diabetic then you have to be even stricter with fat as the liver is already strained through it's inability to process sugar.
  
• Same argument with the fat is protein. So limit levels of protein to about 15% upper limit. Don't forget that seeds have high levels of protein in them.
  
• And finally when feeding them fresh veg be careful with bloat. This occurs when the degu has been fed a diet high in water-laden fresh food. This will eventually lead to diarrohea. Following this, with fresh veg limit those vegetables with a high water content such as cucumber and lettuce.
  
• Finally degus love flowers, pettals, leaves and twigs/sticks! You can buy online bags of dried meadow or mountain flowers. Zooplus sell them. You can also go out and dry your own if you live in the countryside. Just be sure you can identify the flowers - a favourite is dandelion, including the roots (mine go bonkers over dried dandelion roots, bought from zooplus). They also love them fresh too. Rose petals are a favourite as well. You can use rose petals from your garden, just make sure they haven't been treated with pesticide and that they're not take from a busy road (i.e. if you have a rose bush in the front garden that is also a popular road). Again the sticky in this thread has what kind of flowers degus can eat.
  
• P@H sell rosehip
  

Finally, as kovu has said you can also feed them dried crackers, ryvita, oatcakes, etc. Just always make sure to buy them the no fat, no salt version, and read the ingrediants to make sure there is no added sugar. Believe me, food manufacturers add sugar to everything! Makes the item sell better to our human sugar-loving mouth! Another treat that degus like is dried pasta, and it helps with keeping their teeth worn down.

Hope this has helped ;D