Degu lethargic (pseudo hibernation stage)

[eco]

Hello to all animal lovers! I am a new Degu owner living in Eastern Europe, and I am kindly asking your advice regarding the following strange and scary situation occured this morning with both of my young female degus:
- I have noticed the first one to be in a kind of lethargic state, moving slowly and obviously unbalanced. It appears that she couldn't rely on her back legs. I took her in my hands to warm for several minutes, because initially she felt cold to the touch and even a bit rigid. I presumed that somehow she was getting cold during night, even the room temperature was above 17-18 degrees (Celsius)
- When I checked up her sister who was laying in her nest box (paved with cotton) I realized that she was in the same poor condition.
- I moved them to a warmer place, in a plastic ball filled with special cotton fiber nesting material and after few minutes they started to become active, even chewing the plastic container.
- Returning to their cage after 30 minutes or so, they graduately made a full recovery, acting normal (eating a lot and drinking water), with no sign of past phisical disability.
I am aware that hybernation is out of the question for Degus, but I recall two similar episodes with my hamster, which was also finally recovered from this strange 'hibernation' status.

Any thoughts ?

[emz]

If they perked up with heat it is possible during the night it is getting too cold. One time it hit 15C in their room for me last year and when I went in they looked very dozy, tired and it took them a good 5 minutes to perk up a bit. How much bedding do they have? A nice fleece tunnel full of tissue does wonders.

If you find your room does get cold at the dead of night, I'd suggest a heat lamp.

[deguconvert]

I would also recommend NOT using the cotton bedding fluff. It is dangerous on two fronts.
1. It can get twisted and tangled around the limbs or body of the animal using it, and because the fibers are very strong, the animal is unable to easily remove it. The more the animal struggles to get free, the tighter the fibers can twine, and if not found in time will either restrict breathing and cause suffocation, or will kill the limb and result in amputation.
2. Degus are famous for chewing and ingesting things. This bedding is none soluble and difficult to pass out of the body. It will collect and eventually create and obstruction in the gut which will result in the death of the degu.
Pet stores continue to sell this product, telling customers that it is safe to use, and a very good nesting bedding, but it is very dangerous. I would recommend removing it from your cage completely, and then having a thorough examination of your two girls to make sure there is nothing twisted around them.

I'm glad that with the warming up, they became more vigorous and busy again. It was must been very troubling!

[eco]

Thank you both emz and deguconvert for your replies and useful advices ! My two girls are in perfect shape now, and I will try to keep them this way monitoring more carefully the room temperature.
I am really amazed regarding degus agility and intelligence compared to my ex russian
hamster, which was also very cute.

Best wishes for you and your pets !

[sarz29]

I got my goos snugglesafe heat pads. Absolute life saver in the winter and the goos love them.