Some assistance on food

[aberdeengooner]

Hello again guys,

Trying to wrap my head around what to feed our 3 Degu's when we get them but im being bombarded with diferant information from every direction so am getting a little confused.

Would someone be able to give me a little advice on what I should feed a degu daily, taking into account Hay (which im told they should have constantly) as well as treats they would recieve through training

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[emz]

Each person does things slightly different BUT here is a rough guideline. In time, you'll understand your goos more and how you feed them will eventually change:

The basic needs:

- P@H degu nuggets (or something degu recommended by degutopia), about a medium handful per degu a day is fine.
- Hay should be given in constant supply. Grasses are more important to their diet then the pellets actually as it also keeps their teeth trim. Mine love meadow hay and also the mixed timothy hay that has the marigold and dried dandelion in it too but you can use so many different types of hay check out chinchillas2shop's website (it has degu safe marked products.)

Now those two needs above are the most basic. I personally like to give them extras depending on the day.

Once or twice a week a small platter of herbs and veggies can be appreciated. As to what they like, you will have to figure that out. Some examples are parsley, carrot (in small quantities), mint, basil, peas and so on. A lot of vegetables like lettuce and greens can give degus bloat so be aware of that. Dried veggies can be a good idea as a lot of degus aren't into wet veg.

A good rule is not to give anything sugary such as fruit. Some people do but in general we suggest not to if you're new to degus due to a degus inability to metabolise sugars well you could accidentally give too much without realising. The same goes for dairy treats like yoghurt drops.

I give my degus a mini shredded wheat every day as they really love them. For training something like puffed rice is a great and relatively safe food to give in large quantities during training. I personally found rolled oats from chinchillas2shop got my degus to really warm up to me and climb all over me and can also be fed in all right amounts.

[fred]

Degutopia has a list of feeds www.degutopia.co.uk/degudiet.htm. It think XtraVital Degu and Gerty Guinea Pig are the most popular. The P@H nuggets are OK if fed on their own but it seems that many degus will reject them when they are mixed with feeds that offer more variety.

[malteser60]

As fred said with the degutopia website, it has a very good list of good degu feed to use. I personally prefer feeding nuggets as a base diet as it prevents selective feeding, however my two recently decided to turn their nose up at P@H nuggets, even preferring to starve! Well, I wouldn't let them starve but you get my point.

emz has given a good run-down on when to feed treats. As to what treats to feed we have a sticky on this forum with ideas for treats, plus degutopia has as well. So far it seems that oats are the all round favourite for degus, sends them crazy they love it so much. So it is great to use for training.

[aberdeengooner]

Thanks for the info guys, really helpfull.

So the Degu nuggets ect. for P@H, should I just give them that to begin with in their bowls at tea time or should I mix it with some other things.

As for the hay, do I just leave heaps of it lying around the cage or would you suggest one of those hay boxes?

As for feeding them "greens" which im assuming are veggies, would small slices of celery, peas and herbs eg. mint, parsley basil just be chopped up and put in their bowl with a reduced amount of nuggets at supper time of certain days. If so, would 3 days a week be a safe amount?

Finally, what do you mean by "grasses"

Sorry for all the questions but i want to be totally clued up before we get our little guys.

Thanks again

[aberdeengooner]

Jun 22, 2011 12:32:51 GMT malteser60 said:

As fred said with the degutopia website, it has a very good list of good degu feed to use. I personally prefer feeding nuggets as a base diet as it prevents selective feeding, however my two recently decided to turn their nose up at P@H nuggets, even preferring to starve! Well, I wouldn't let them starve but you get my point.

emz has given a good run-down on when to feed treats. As to what treats to feed we have a sticky on this forum with ideas for treats, plus degutopia has as well. So far it seems that oats are the all round favourite for degus, sends them crazy they love it so much. So it is great to use for training.

Thanks for that...

As an owner, what sort of seeds would you use and how often would you feed them, also regarding this puffed wheat and rolled oats i've seen mentioned, what are they...Human food?

[philbailey1806]

yes! you can get puffed wheat from health food shops, just double check theres no added sugar in there, also mine go crazy for plain porridge oats! (again, double check there's no added sugar). You can feed seeds, such as sunflower seeds, but only as an occasional treat due to fat content, and to be honest, I just stick with the unsweetened porridge oats, there the cheapest, healthiest (so can be fed pretty freely) and my goo's like them the best.

[emz]

I lay the hay around, it makes it more interesting and more like they have to forage for it rather than getting it from a box.

[malteser60]

There is no real right or wrong answers or methods when it comes to feeding the goos, apart from the obvious no sugar/low protein, etc.

So, I'll say what I like to do. I give my girls approx 10g (a shot glass full) of xtravital degu food in the morning, along with either dried plain water cracker piece (no sugar, salt, etc) or a piece of dried pasta. In the evening they get a cube of science selective + a bit more xtravital. If they haven't finished the stuff from the morning then I leave out the xtravital. Their hay goes into a bowl. They end up spreading it about anyhow, but that way they get clean hay to eat. Otherwise the first thing they'll do is pee on it if it's on the bedding!
In between the morning and evening feeds they get either treats or food supplement. So this morning with their feed I gave them a handful of dried meadow flowers. Yesterday I scattered about a handfull of twigs (bought from P@H). Other supplements are dried broccoli, herbal delight from P@H, dried parsley, dried dandelion roots, alfalfa cubes (occasionaly), erm, can't remember what else I have! Anyhow, you get the point. Then, as the ultimate treat and training aid are the oats! I normally buy plain porridge oats from the supermarket. Always make sure you get the bog-standard, plain oats - no ready mix, pre-sweetened, etc. They will also be the cheapest. I keep on meaning to get round to buying puffed rice from a healthfood shop.

If your goos eat their greens (veggies) then woohoo to you! Mine certainly don't (grrr!). However you want to feed them seperate to their normal food as you don't want to leave the veg in the cage. Use a seperate bowl/container, doesn't have to be big, and chop up the veg in there. Leave in for max half a day or so then removing out the rest. Seeing as it's supposed to be summer, a nice tip for feeding your goos veg and keeping them cool is to give them frozen peas. Just wash the outside so they don't get freezer burn, otherwise known as tongue-stuck-on-pea!

Another tip to do when feeding them their treats, like the herbal delight, oats, or puffed rice, is to hide the treats round the cage or spread the treats across the bedding. This simulates foraging behaviour in the wild and keeps them occupied at the same time.