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Post by butters on May 13, 2012 17:09:36 GMT
A few remarks on the Beaphar Xtravital Degu: recently they changed the recipe (there is a yellow sticker on the package) and the new Beaphar became worse, I still try to get hold of the older packages because the new ones I will never buy again. I'm actually not sure what was so bad with the new Beaphar but i think the amount of pellets became so much higher. (I do know my degus didn't like it)
Other thing is that i believe that locust beans shouldn't be in degu food.
The Supreme Science Selective Degu is nice to give as a treat not as a daily degu food.
And indeed the pieces are a bit big, I make them smaller and give it as a treat, most of the times they hide the pieces and bury them in the bedding.
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Post by butters on May 13, 2012 17:34:55 GMT
Finally time for me to start a contribution to this topic: But first a few important notes, my degus are extremely spoiled and they always get a mixture of 2 or 3 different types/brand of food. Beaphar Care Degu  - High in fibre - Low fat and sugar content. - Care + stimulates optimal food digestion which prevents fatty deposits around the organs and prevents the development of diabetes - Contains Yucca, Spirulina and chelated minerals - 250g and 1.5kg sizes available At first my degus were very interested in this food and liked it very much.... But not for long and they ignored the pieces totally. I personally don't like this "all in one" type of food or pellets at all. |
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Post by butters on May 13, 2012 18:25:07 GMT
Activa Degufutter    composition: Ingredients: Vegetable by-products (alfalfa, herbs, corn, wheat, Malznebenerzeugnisse, sunflower nuclear shells), Cereals (wheat, corn, oats), vegetables (peas, carrots, beets), seeds (grass seeds), oils and fats (safflower oil), minerals ingredients: 13.7% crude protein, crude fat 2.2%, crude fiber 14.0%, ash 4.0% Additives per kg: Vitamin A: 5 200 I.E. Vitamin D3: 525 I.E. Vitamin E: 25 mg (alpha-tocopherol acetate) L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate: 20mg (stabilized vitamin C) I think Activa is a brand from Futterhaus (Germany) Good food they like it a lot and they eat most of it i buy it often although it's not always easy to get. €3.99 800 gram (€4,99/1000 gr)
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Post by deguconvert on May 13, 2012 19:05:43 GMT
I don't consider that spoiled . . . but perhaps that is because I used to do very much the same thing before I started adding dried veg, seeds, and herbs etc to their mix. I was never happy with the contents of any one product and always felt that I had to mix a couple or more commercial foods in order to attain the level of nutrition I wanted them to have.
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Post by moletteuk on May 13, 2012 20:33:42 GMT
Thank you, Butters  |
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Post by moletteuk on May 19, 2012 11:09:48 GMT
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Post by butters on May 19, 2012 11:24:19 GMT
JR-Farm Grainless is the best degu food i ever bought for my girls so far. Too bad it's so hard to get. The other JR-Farm's, Light and Spezial are also good in my opinion. And Degudream: the package looks better then the inside, my degus eat about 25% from the food, they ignore the pellets totaly. It looks like this:  Will post more info in the Pre-made foods topic later on. |
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Post by moletteuk on May 19, 2012 11:46:37 GMT
Wow, that looks really disappointing compared to the ingredient list!! I bought some dwarf hamter food by Bunny, when I kept dwarf hamsters (obviously), everybody raved about it, but my hamsters never ate a very big % of it.
We don't seem to be able to get the JR Farm Grainless nugget feed for degus in the UK, but the guinea pig one is available and very similar except a very small amount of apple.
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Post by butters on May 19, 2012 11:59:27 GMT
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Post by butters on Jul 15, 2012 12:44:10 GMT
Bunny DeguDream   www.bunny-nature.de/en/animals/degu/products.htmlIngredients: Growth of permanent meadows*, timothy, oat peel bran, whole plant corn, sunflower seed extracted, linseed extracted, wheat bran, ribwort herb, rape seed extracted, brewer‘s grains, parsnip, yarrow herb,sunchoke stems, lemon balm leaves, nettle leaves, brewer‘s yeast, milk thistle herb, marigold blossoms, hibiscus blossoms, sunchoke herb,amaranth, camomile blossoms, sweet pepper, dandelion leaves, peppermint leaves, fennel seeds, malva blossoms, maca root, sage leaves (herbs 9%, vegetables 5.7%, blossoms 2.7%) Crude protein 13.9 % crude oils and crude fats 2.7 % crude fibre 20% · crude ash 8.5 % calcium 0.6 % · phosphorous 0.4 % Nutritional additives Vit. A 8,600 IU Vit. D3 600 IU Vit. E as alpha-tocopheryl ace-tate 51 mg copper as copper (II)-sulphate-pentahydrate 8.6 mg iodine as calcium iodate-hexahydrate 0.75 mg iron as iron (II)-sulphate monohydrate 43 mg zinc as zinc oxide 51 mg manganese as manganese (II)-oxide 34 mg cobalt as cobalt base (II)-carbonate, monohydrate 0.34 mg selenite as sodium selenite 0.15 mg The website and the package looks better then the food itself, too much pellets and my degus don't eat them. They did eat some bits when it was new but later on they ignored the food and left about 75% in the food dish. If your degus like it it might be a good food although a bit expensive. €10.59 1200 gram (€8,83/1000 gr)
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Post by butters on Jul 15, 2012 13:02:42 GMT
Vitakraft Menu Vital    composition: Cereals (wheat 25.5%, corn 4.5%) Vegetable by-products Vegetables (peas, dried 9%, carrots, dried 3%) Seeds 5% yeasts minerals ingredients: Crude fiber 9.0% Additives / kg: Nutritional additives: Vitamin A (E672) 5855 IU Vitamin D3 (E671) 647 IU Iron (E1) 7.73 mg Iodine (E2) 0.25 mg Copper (E4) 2.16 mg Manganese (E5) 2.47 mg Zinc (E6) 9.28 mg I bought it again a couple a weeks ago but if you can buy other types of food it not worth buying this one. Too much grains and other cheap ingredients. €2,99 600 gram (€4,98/1000 gr)
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Post by butters on Sept 16, 2012 13:31:47 GMT
The "new" Beaphar Xtravital Degu The package is the same as the old one only it has a sticker:    This is how it looks like.  And this is the old Beaphar Xtravital Degu. The quantity of pellets is bigger in the new one but the problem with our degus is that they don't like those new pellets. They just don't like it that much anymore. |
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 16, 2012 16:49:01 GMT
They changed the recipe again!? I take it they still aren't publishing the nutrition info on the packet? Are there fewer locust beans (carob) now?
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Post by moletteuk on Oct 11, 2012 11:10:16 GMT
JR Farm Degu Special   I've just looked this up online for the ingredients and nutrition data and it doesn't seem to be for sale at Zooplus any more, or the Degu Premium, which is a bit of a worry. Looking on the JR Farm site, it looks like they may have changed them both to 'Degu Feast'. |
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Post by moletteuk on Oct 11, 2012 11:27:37 GMT
JR Farm Grainless Complete Guinea Pig   Ingredients: Timothy grass, orchard grass, meadow grass, plantain, red clover, meadow fescue, lady's mantle, parsley, pea flakes, diced carrots and beans flakes, diced parsnip, peppermint leaves, fennel, diced apple, flax seed, dandelion leaves, diced beetroot, nettle, chamomile flowers, black seed, vitamins Additives: Vitamin A (10,000 IU/kg), Vitamin D3 (1,000 IU/kg), Vitamin C (250 mg), Vitamin E (40 mg) Protein 11.2%, fat content 2.9%, crude fibre 21.4%, crude ash 7,4%, calcium 0.5%, phosphorus 0.3% £4.99 for 1.35kg I was amazed that my degus absolutely love this! It's really healthy for them with it being made mostly of digestible plant fibre. There is a degu version that doesn't have the apple in that would be better, but it doesn't seem to be available in UK. The apple and beetroot are quite far down the ingredients list so I'm not too worried about them. I really recommend this product |
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Post by saddlers on Nov 16, 2012 13:50:23 GMT
JR Farm Extra-Light Degu Food www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/food/degu/92960#moreIngredients: Nettle, green oats, plantain, dandelion, echinacea, pea flakes, marigold flowers, field bean flakes, chamomile, grass seed, canary seed, mint, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes Ash 9.5 % Fat 2.3 % Fibre 20.2 % Protein 16.6 % £11.99 1500 gram Attachments:
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Post by saddlers on Nov 16, 2012 13:52:38 GMT
Just to give an idea on bag size, the blue bin has already been filled once from the bag shown Attachments:
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Post by saddlers on Nov 16, 2012 13:59:41 GMT
JR Farm Degu Snack www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/food/degu/47839Ingredients: Pea flakes, field bean flakes, carrot flakes, sunflower petals 5%, parsnips, parsley, beets, red clover 5%, rose petals 3%, cornflower blossoms 2.5%, with no artificial colours or preservatives. Ash 5.5 % Fat 2.1 % Fibre 20.2 % Protein 16.1 % £3.49 250 gram I scatter a small handful of this over the food above and use it as individual treats for training. Each degu has their own favourite ingredient if allowed to choose (two choose the pea/bean flakes, one chooses the sunflower petals and cornflower blossoms, and the other one prefers the red clover), but they will eat all of the treats if placed in the cage/bowl. PLEASE NOTE ANY SUNFLOWER SEEDS VISIBLE IN THE PHOTO HAVE BEEN MIXED IN BY ME AND ARE NOT PART OF THE STANDARD PRODUCT Attachments:
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Post by lessthansign3 on Dec 19, 2012 18:08:11 GMT
In case anyone in the US is interested, I just got my package of Oxbow's Organic guinea pig food today. I decided to try it as an alternative to Gerty Guinea Pig, which I'd rather not buy and support a brand that is harmful to guinea pigs, and the Sunseed degu brand, which is the only brand readily available in the US and is... subpar at best. Those are literally the only choices we have here unless we want to import foods from the UK or Germany. Unlike their regular guinea pig food, Oxbow's organic line does NOT contain molasses! Here's a link to their site, and a list of the ingredients - www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/products/type/detail?object=1574Ingredients Organic Grass Hay, Organic Canola Meal, Organic Wheat Straw, Organic Sunflower Meal, Organic Barley, Organic Flax Seed, Sodium Bentonite, Limestone, Sea Salt, L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Organic Dandelion Leaf, Organic Ground Rosemary, Inulin, Organic Cranberry, Organic Blueberry, Dried Yucca Schidigera, Yeast Culture Dehydrated, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Selenium Yeast, Vitamin A Supplement, Folic Acid, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Copper Proteinate, Riboflavin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Calcium Iodate Guaranteed Analysis Crude Protein (min) 12.00% Crude Fat (min) 2.00% Crude Fiber (min) 23.00% Crude Fiber (max) 25.00% Moisture (max) 12.00% Ash (max) 9.00% Calcium (min) 0.60% Calcium (max) 0.90% Phosphorus (min) 0.30% Vitamin A IU/kg 19,000 (min) Vitamin D IU/kg 900 (min) Vitamin C mg/kg 400 (min) Vitamin E IU/kg 190 (min) Copper ppm 25 (min) Omega 3 Fatty Acid (min) 0.30% Omega 6 Fatty Acid (min) 0.41% Compared to what else is available in the US, this seemed like the best option by far. It's available at Petsmart in theory, but the Petsmart I stopped at didn't have it so I ordered it on Amazon (hooray for Amazon Prime). It was about $12.50 for a 3 lbs bag - WAY too expensive to ever start feeding to my guinea pigs, who go through a 10 lbs bag of the regular stuff (which is $15) in less than a month. But, for degus, it's worth the price, especially considering I plan on adding a lot more natural goodies to their diet. Edit: Well, after a few days I can pretty well say the degus are not impressed. They don't appear to be eating it.  Ah, it was worth a shot, am I right? Maybe someone else's degus will feel differently about it. Mine certainly aren't thrilled. |
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 23, 2013 17:05:07 GMT
JR Farm Grainless Chinchilla Mix Ingredients: Timothy grass, pea flakes, orchard grass, ribwort, smooth meadow-grass, red clover, meadow fescue, ladies mantel, stinging nettle leaves, broad bean flakes, carrot slices,peppermint leaves, chamomile petals, rose hips, fennel, marigold blossoms, apple slices, beetroot cubes, carrot cubes, parsnip cubes, linseed, black cumin, lady s thistle,parsley, dandelion leaves, Echinacea, apple cubes, vitamins Additives: nutritional additives: Vitamins: A 10,000 IU., D³ 1,000 IU., C 250 mg, C 250 mg, E 40 mg Analytical constituents: Protein 16.1%, fat content 3.5%, crude fibre 19.2%, crude ash 11.4%, calcium 0.5%, phosphorus 0.3%   I thought I'd get a bag of this to see what it is like. It seems to consist of the clover section log pieces which presumably are identical to the JRF guinea pig grainless nuggets, and also some cylindrical pieces which seem to be grass based, plus various other bits. I've shown a photo below to show you the apple and rosehips which should be removed due to sugar content.  My degus are rejecting the cylindrical hay nuggets in the mix, but if you can get your degus to eat them, and if you remember to remove the apple and rosehips, then this could be a good choice of commercial food. The calcium content is a bit low and also the Ca:P ratio is a little low, so this food should be supplemented with calcium or with calcium rich foods like dill and celery seed or alfalfa or dandelion. |
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Ah, it was worth a shot, am I right? Maybe someone else's degus will feel differently about it. Mine certainly aren't thrilled.
