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Post by degus123 on Mar 7, 2011 12:38:33 GMT
Over the last few days on Degutopia people have been replying to someone looking at building a wooden cage. And it was brought up that supposedly Degus can not gnaw flat surfaces, which has always been my understanding.
However Chloe has just replied with this....
Oh yes degus can gnaw flat bits of wood- I've seen it done! Like the mysterious holes that appear in the middle of my wooden shelves! Remember that degu noses don't protrude out over their upper incisors, so they can get their teeth into even a flat wooden sheet by using their incisors in a scraping action. They're lean mean wood destruction machines!
--Chloe
Dr. Chloe Long BSc, PhD
What are your views, as wooden cage owners?
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Post by Kins on Mar 7, 2011 12:55:49 GMT
I have 2 homemade wooden cages with a pair of male goos in each cage.
Dave & Jim have been in their wooden cage since about July and Stan & Nige have been in theirs since about November.
From my experiences neither of them have chewed any of the flat surfaces in their cages, but all four of them chew the kiln dried pine strips I put along the edge of each shelf which is what they are for.
Neither of my pairs can get at the base of the cage as I have a metal tray in each one that slides in and out for ease of cleaning and all of the shelves have self adhesive tiles on them, none of these have been chewed either!
Both of the cages are very large, they have a lot of space and things to keep them occupied, including flying saucers. I would imagine that if you put them in a wooden cage with nothing to do then yes they probably would find a way to chew the flat pieces of wood, but as long as there are plenty of other things to chew I don't see why they would.
That's my experience and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend building your own wooden cage, loads more space for a smaller price and they only need cleaning out every few weeks.
Interesting to hear other people's views too...
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Post by degus123 on Mar 7, 2011 13:11:17 GMT
Yeah can see the benefits of diverting them to gnaw other areas.
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Post by nickymills30 on Mar 7, 2011 15:46:49 GMT
i haven't got a wooden cage, but, have used floor tiles, and they have never been chewed, maybe we have well behaved goo's lol xx
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Post by amie on Mar 7, 2011 15:55:52 GMT
There's no such thing as a well behaved Degu. They're all monsters!
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 7, 2011 17:05:01 GMT
Mine have never tried to chew the flat surfaces, they have loads of other stuff which they can and do chew. I do have a friend with a cagey cage with wooden shelves, and hers have chewed a hole right through the middle of a shelf.
I wonder if they are tempted to have a go at something flat if there is a small imperfection?
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Post by degus123 on Mar 7, 2011 17:25:06 GMT
I have read that if you use wood with knots in they can gnaw via them.
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Post by malteser60 on Mar 7, 2011 18:38:19 GMT
I think they will chew if there is any imperfection that they can get their teeth into. So, my degus have chewed the skirting board. The skirting board is not flat though, has lots of lumps and bumps from the paint and wood. However mine have flat mdf shelves with pine edging. They have chewed the pine edging but not the mdf. I have also used their old shelves along the sides to stop the goos from chucking out their bedding, and they haven't chewed that either.
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Ace
Newborn Degu
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Post by Ace on Mar 11, 2011 6:32:31 GMT
There's no such thing as a well behaved Degu. They're all monsters! That's for sure. ;D |
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Post by digby2010 on Mar 26, 2011 16:56:11 GMT
hello we built our own wooden cage we covered the flat surfaces with tiles and we covered the sides with the mesh so it went all the way to the floor we built it last year and i had three boys in it and now they got another cage and my girls live in it and ive had no problems as long as youve covered the easily chewable bits you will be fine
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Post by Ady on Mar 27, 2011 12:55:52 GMT
hi, not sure if it's the same, but I kept my first degu in huge plastic box (it was 15 years ago) and he would chew right through the middle of its side. It was flawless flat surface....
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Post by degus123 on Mar 27, 2011 13:27:07 GMT
hi, not sure if it's the same, but I kept my first degu in huge plastic box (it was 15 years ago) and he would chew right through the middle of its side. It was flawless flat surface.... Interesting thought. |
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kieron
Newborn Degu
rouge having look out of the cage
Posts: 11
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Post by kieron on Mar 29, 2011 23:20:30 GMT
im not very good at building things im thinking of getting a 2 teir rabbit hutch one of the big wodden wones and putting extra shelves in it what do u think?
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 30, 2011 7:12:17 GMT
Well . . . it can depend on the hutch really. I think if you were to find some you like, and then post links to them, or pictures of them, then we could give you our thoughts on the different ones and how good or otherwise they might be.
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kieron
Newborn Degu
rouge having look out of the cage
Posts: 11
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Post by kieron on Mar 30, 2011 8:34:30 GMT
ive just found myself a cage on ebay its at elite pet supplies its a large liberta tower cage height 180cm
width 80cm depth 50cm bar spacing 12mm gonna order it next week when i get paid
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bjames
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 220
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Post by bjames on Mar 31, 2011 18:49:15 GMT
one pair of my degus are in a wooden cage, and.... they still live in a wooden cage. they have managed to scrapre the perspex with their teeth and i watch them do it but its barely a scratch, its an attempt to bite it but they fail. they only ever bite the wood that pokes out and is biteable
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