too little food?

[shaz]

Hi all,

I'm feed by two little girls P@H nuggets and on the packet it say 15-25 grams per adult degu per day.... my degus are about 2 months old and Ive been given them roughly about this amount between them as they are still babies.....

Or are they? what age it classed as adult and do i need to be giving them the 25 grms each as when i give them there food in the morning they will eat some and then take more to hide it. By the time i get home from work (about 9 hours later) their food bowl is empty... Ive done a lot of reading since getting them at the weekend but still unsure are goos the type of animal who will just eat and eat and eat???

I'm worried that I'm not giving them enough but i dont want to give them more if they are the type to just eat whatever they can get.

They are eating hey but not much at the moment.

I just dont want to be starving them or over feeding them

[deguconvert]

A year of age is considered full grown and adult. You can feed them that amount morning and evening.

[nickymills30]

i fill my goo's bowl up about twice a day, if their bowl is empty, i fill it lol. Don't think they will just eat for the sake of it x

[shaz]

oh wow thank you for your posts my girls will get more today!!!

[philbailey1806]

Hello Shaz! After doing some research on the internet, I've found that degus are the type of animal that eat whatevers there, but I have to admit mine don't. I also feed mine P@H nuggets and I give them as much as they want, they (apparently) aren't the best tasting degu food out there, which may be why they don't over-indulge. I'd advise filling up the bowl whenever it's empty and giving them as much as they want. If they do put on a bit of weight and start to look a bit podgy though, maybe limit the food then, I think it better to slightly over-feed and then put on a diet than to underfeed, which might stress them out and cause fighting over the food bowl. Hope this helps!

[missdegu]

My degus have access to food all day and they are still in very good shape they doesn't eat all the time

[grumpy89]

Mine have a bowl each constantly in the cage, which gets checked every morning and filled if needed. Ive found they just eat when they are hungry rather than eating it all and having nothing for the rest of the day. They run around so much on their wheel they're in great shape!

It works better for us around our shifts and other things - so at least we know they always have food even if we're out all day.

[moletteuk]

They start to look fairly full grown at about 6 months.

I would be careful giving unlimited nuggets if they aren't eating much hay, it's really important that they eat hay.

[shaz]

Thanks for all your help guys... the girls are eating hay and seem happier with a bit more food - and they dont seem to be eating for tha sake of it as there have been nuggets left in their bowl when ive come in from work etc now.

Thanks again