Help with every day feeding

[www2]

Hello

I am a bit lost in all of this feeding stuff around here. Before I knew about this site I was pretty sure I know how to feed my guys, but now I am a bit lost.

I will post my daily feeding routine to you and if you can just give me some feedback if I am doing it correct + any advice is wellcome.

Morning 'bout 7.00

www.degutopia.co.uk/degufeedpresnat.htm


After we return from work about 16.30

www.vitakraft.de/deutsch/produkte/NG/25143.htm


And before sleep (about 21.00) we give them

www.vitakraft.de/deutsch/produkte/NG/11277.htm

(It's pretty hard to get a hold of this in Croatia so when we use it up they get Degu Natrue again)


.....on top of all that there is allways fresh hay in the cage.


This routine is every day and we VERY RARELY deviate from it.


On top of all that treats we give them:

- puffed rice....this is their most often treat...atleast 3-4 times a week
- alfalfa pressed into heart shape "candy"......once a week
- dryed apple and banana maybe once a month
- dandelion, dryed....also quite often 2-3 times a week...in fact I just yesterday realized that my newest hay has a lot of dandelion and camomille


The veggies:

- Salad.....they pretty much never touch it
- Carrot.....the samo as salad
- Cabage......also the same
- Parsley....pretty much the only vegetable they eat


That about all I can think of now.

Please give me your advice.

Best regards

[fred]

Hi there and to the forum.

You are in good company if you feel a bit lost with all the information on nutrition. We are working quite hard to make the information easier to access and provide a general, condensed feeding guide. Our problem is the enormous difference in availability of suitable products in different countries, so it is taking a bit of time.

I can't see anything in your feeding routine that is dramatically bad for your degus, so you can take it slowly to improve their diet to make it a bit more natural. A few initial thoughts and questions.

Dried apple and banana I wouldn't give at all, even once a month, because of the very high sugar content. My suggestion there would be use up what you have in very small bits and not restock.

The dried dandelion is very good. Where do you get this from? You may be able to get other dried herbs / weeds / flowers from the same source.

I assume you are talking about fresh veggies? A lot of degus are not very keen on fresh stuff. If they eat fresh parsley, you could try fresh basil or coriander. If they don't take to it straight away, you could start with dried or partially dried herbs so that they can get a taste of it.

[www2]

Thank you very much....yeah I am allways afraid of giving them fruits, but i cant resist when I see them beging for it

As for dried dandelion, we (well my gf) pick them hereself and dries them, but as I said i got a hold of some new hay, which has a lot of dandelion, yarrow, lemon balm, mint, willow bark, mint, plantain and common mallow.......so we dont dry them ourselves anymore.

Yes I am talking about fresh veggies.....gonna try the basil and corriander.

A question about fresh veggies.....my gf usually gives them a lot of fresh veggies (almost every day when she is making lunch), is that OK? Bear in mind that they almost never eat them as I said but they probably take a bite now and then.

Is too much veggies bad?

[fred]

They can have a lot more of the dandelion, plantain and other goodies than is in the hay. If you can collect and dry more herbs/weeds/flowers, your degus will love it.

As far as the veggies are concerned, it very much depends on what it is specifically. The sugar content can be quite different. Before long we will have a table here that provides more information what veggies need to be given with caution. As your degus are hardly touching them anyway, I wouldn't worry in the meantime.

[moletteuk]

You might find they take more interest in veg if you dry them out first.

[smithomatic]

I agree with fred, you should probably try taking out the bannana and apple and replacing it with walnuts or monkey nuts once a month instead, you will find your degus will go equally crazy for these plus becuase nuts are harder than fruit you can make them work for it by holding on as they tug trying to take it from you. VERY amusing!

[www2]

Thank you all for the advices.........

[www2]

One more question regarding this......someone just told me that is too much food for them, and that he is giving his degu's only one meal per day + fresh hay is allways availlable to them.

Your thoughts?

[Maravilla]

Well, my degus have full access to food all the time. I fill their bowls (flowers, seeds) when they are empty (about 2x per week). Leaves etc. they have also all the time. But maybe this depends on the kind of food.

[moletteuk]

Unless they are getting fat, it's not too much food. Just weigh them regularly to keep an eye on their weight, which is useful as an early warning for illness anyway.

[malteser60]

Degu's don't really tend to overeat. If anything giving them lots of food allows them to graze at their own leisure. You'll notice that one day they won't touch one type of food, only for it to be devoured the following day. I used to measure out the food as well but I found that it wasn't making much difference in how much they eat. Now I still kind of measure out food but not so strict about it. I found that there are times when my degus will devour any food in site, it's like they've never eaten before. In those instances I do give them more food. And other times (like right now), they're not eating as much. But they're all a nice happy weight, the food still gets all eaten eventually, no problems with teeth (touch wood).