Different hay?

[kristyblitz]

A few of you know that Wilma had to be put to sleep due to her molars being so severely messed up.
Well, we asked the vet what we could do to prevent that happening with our others and he said to make sure we had plenty of hay for them to eat, which they do. I told him we use Timothy Hay, like everyone agrees is suitable for them. However, he said to use a different hay.
I was pretty upset so I wasn't listening extremely well, but I think he said Orchard Hay and B-something Hay? Apparently it wears their teeth down better than Timothy, but I've never heard anyone mention it so I wanted to check with all you first.

[deguconvert]

Hmmm . . . it might be worth asking him about it again. I'm not really sure what he is refering to.

[NightwishRaven999]

Bermuda grass/hay ?

[Karma]

Brome hay would be another B one that is sold

[deguconvert]

Hmmm!! I've never heard of either of those. I'll have to google them and see what they are like.

[luna1]

Perhaps he means botanical hay? Which is basically good quality Timothy hay with herbs and flowers mixed into to it. It tempts fussy hay eaters who aren't used to eating hay but you can make up your own by adding Degu friendly herbs and dried flowers to plain good quality hay

[deguconvert]

I've looked up Brome Hay, and it sounds like a really good option, especially if you are an owner that likes to rotate different hays to keep your degus interested. I'm going to have a look for it next time I am in to buy hay. A number of different pet lines seem to have it included in their line up of different packaged hay types.

[deguconvert]

OH . . . Bermuda grass/hay . . . this was harder to track down, and in the end I learned that it originates from Africa, has deep roots, loves to grow in higher temperatures, grow up to 15-24 inches in height, can be harvest starting June 1st and then every 28 days following, has high fibre content, narrow bladed, low protein and that about it. Didn't see any suggestion of whether any stores (pet or otherwise) sell it for distribution in a cut hay formate.

[davx]

Hello,

Instead of guessing what hay it could be, here we have a some different approach dealing with dental problems and it works fine. There is a quite wide offer of plants and herbs suitable for dental care, especially also suitable are plants with abrasive effects, e. g. horsetails. You can find them as weeds in nature as well as you can buy them also in pharmacies/drugstores as dried herb. Fresh plants often are better because the degus prefer them, especially it is true for grasses. Offer them larger quantities of such more natural food instead of nuggets or other hard feed might be an improvement. Also some vegs are suitable but most ones are deficient in fibre and abrasive substances, thus not the best choice.

In addition hay normally is only fed in smaller quantities, thus it helps more changing the main food by adding more natural stuff like herbs, flowers, abrasive plants, if possible also fresh herbs.

[moletteuk]

I agree that it's more about getting your degus to eat more fibrous and abrasive food, any way that you can. It can really help to try different types of hay and different plants/leaves/herbs, find ones they like and add in different things now and then to keep them interested. My degus eat a lot more hay if I top it up 3 or 4 times a day, so you could experiment with this, or you could sprinkle herbs or flowers on, or try feeding it in different locations in the cage.

Very interesting about the Horsetail, Davx Do you mean this stuff? www.gardenorganic.org.uk/organicweeds/weed_information/weed.php?id=10
Do you know any other foods that are particularly abrasive?

[davx]

Yes I meant the silica contained in the plant tissue. I works like sand and water and has a strong abrasive effect. Also several grasses contain silica.