Supplementing a pregnant goos food?

[pixierodentrescue]

Hey all
One of our goos in the rescue it would appear is pregnant.
Do I need to give her any extra foods/ proteins, if so what?
She's currently on Gertie GuineaPig in the morning and burgess chinchilla at night. Think the due date is about the 14th June (previous babies were born around 13th March before I got them)

[moletteuk]

You can feed a bit extra but we don't tend to advise increasing protein like you would with other rodents. You could supplement with a few seeds and I'd be tempted to add in some high calcium things like dandelion, or celery, fennel or sesame seeds.

[pixierodentrescue]

I've already increased the food what sort of seeds are best for goos?

[pixierodentrescue]

Here's a pic of her I snapped while moving them into the Freddy cage. (the bar spacing on their normal cage was too big for pups)

a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/526197_3798076264638_1549812607_n.jpg [/img]

[moletteuk]

All types are good for enrichment, and for a pregnant degu you could probably safely feed quite a few oil seeds. Here are charts with nutrition info, you could get a bird seed mix and add in extra oil seeds and celery/ fennel/ sesame, or ratrations.com do a great selection, here's a recent thread about some of their stuff.

[deguconvert]

I would definitely say she looks pregnant!! Well done, moving her to another cage that has better bar spacing!! I would certainly put in the celery, fennel, and sesame seeds, as the higher amount of calcium they contain over other seed choices will be good for the growing pups. You can also supply more calories to her by giving her some porridge oats each day . . . say a tablespoon for her alone?

[pixierodentrescue]

Eeeep she hasn't left the nest all day! (She usually sits at the door and demands attention!)

[moletteuk]

Any news?

[deguconvert]

LOL! That was exactly my question, too, Moletteuk!

[pixierodentrescue]

False alarm, still pregnant!
I think she's due around the 14th so must be just perfecting the nest!

[deguconvert]

She may well just be feeling "too full" for much movement as well. When Pumpkin had her last litter, she was truly grouchy if anyone lay down too close to her or made her move when she didn't want to.

Hmmm . . . have to confess . . . I recall feeling the same way when I was that close to delivery. LOL!

[pixierodentrescue]

Well she still wanted to free range this morning, though she's getting too big at the sides to properly roll in the sandbath which is pretty funny! I had t add all sorts of ladders and smaller platforms into the freddy too as she isn't all that up to hopping up right now!
I start my new job on Monday so will be worrying like hell about her

[deguconvert]

Degus largely do very well with delivery and baby care so she will be OK . . . but I can imagine that you will be on pins and needles until you see the babies safely arrived!!

New job, huh? Looking forward to it?

[pixierodentrescue]

The first one that came in pregnant died in labour we think she was 6 though. These ones were apparently 4 neutered boys and 1 unnuetered boy. Guess what the neutered boys were?

And, yes, but also terrified! I'm going to be a nursing assistant in the forensic services department of a mental health specialist hospital!

[deguconvert]

WOW! That sounds . . . complex!! What exactly will that entail? Will it be regular hours?

I'm sorry to hear about the degu that died in labor. No wonder you are so worried about the one you have now. I really hope things will go OK for her, and put you at rest for her.

[pixierodentrescue]

Basically I'm a nursing assistant on a ward with people with learning disabilites with a criminal record.
I have everything crossed for big gooey, hopefully she'll do great, and she has 2 of her daughters from the litter before to help her