Going natural. What to feed?

[Jus]

Now our furry family has been extended to three, we have decided to try going natural! Our first experience of this was when we ran out of degu food one day unexpectedly and mixed up a medley of seeds, oats (just a small amount), herbs and vegetables to tide them over until we had chance to go and buy some more. However for a more long term purpose, I think I need to know more detail about natural feeds.

I've seen a lot of threads describing the different bought packet products that people mix together for natural feed, but I think I'd rather go down the growing/collecting/fresh route.
I've also seen a lot of threads suggesting things that CAN be used as PART of a natural diet. My main question is how do I know what my degus NEED? What I'm worried about is constructing this amazing all natural varied diet and discovering there is too much/too little protein (for example) or that it is lacking in essential vitamins etc. I'd hate to find out the hard way if you know what I mean.

Can anyone help with some more specific information? Or even better a recipe for what they use and seems to work well?
Thanks

[luna1]

Have you though of going 50-50, extruded feed once a day and a natural mix for their second feed of the day?

I am experimenting with this at the moment and like you, want to make sure that they get the correct phospherous, calcium ratio with not too much protein.

My lot are having feeding issues since I started to introduce the natural mix in and are going off the extruded food. I have compromised with them on this by giving them JR Farm premium feed that I buy from ZooPlus as this is full of natural feed, although not all of it is good to feed in large amounts, eg, sweet veg like the parsnip, beetroot,locust bean.

I feed lots of different leafs, non oily seeds like quinoa, millet, red dari buckwheat, flowers and herbs, fresh and dried. I mix all this into their hay as they love foraging for it. By rotating different things they should get a balance.

Fresh and dried veg are very good for them but I only feed fresh veg twice a week and veg can be an aquired taste for some Degus, not mentioning any names of my lot

Hope this helps

[moletteuk]

Well this is a very good question, but because natural feeding is still fairly new to most of us and not all that widespread yet, it's not easy to answer.
Broadly speaking, they need lots of greenery, hay, leaves etc, they need some carbohydrates, preferably slow release ones with fibre included, this is usually mostly provided through grains and seeds. Low sugar veg are also a good food, and also some flowers as they add in some more vitamins and minerals. Generally you are looking to keep fat levels fairly low and protein low. Small quantities of oil seeds and nuts are fine and again can be a useful source of minerals. Also wood and twigs for good teeth.
I think a gradual switch is sensible as it gives both you and the degus chance to get used to it. I think looking at JR Farm degu premium can help get your head around it. This is what it looks like:

This is a good mostly natural food when combined with plenty of hay and leaves, I think it gives you an idea what a natural mix can look like. You can see when you consider all the ingredients that it's not all that complicated and could be improved on by swapping out the sugary veg for non sugary veg.
I think if you offer a wide enough range of foods, you are likely to be offering all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients they need. You can offer lots of leaves, flowers & non sugary veg without worrying about quantities. The amount of carbs they needs varies depending on activity levels, I think this is the quantity that you will need to monitor, so pick carefully your grains and seeds and perhaps consider weighing them out. Weigh you degus regularly to monitor how they are doing.
I hope that helps a little bit, let us know how you get on