How much food?????

[degop]

Hi all,

We are currently in the process of introducing 2x 12-14week old goos to our big boy douglas(4years) we have had them about a week and Douglas about 5months.

His much food should we give them? We give Douglas 10g of feed at 18:30 very night and the same for the twins, should we give them all a constant bowlful or keep to the 10g each cage?

I noticed twigglet was hungry and Darwin seems to be the alpha (at the moment till Douglas takes over) and they seem to fight over treats when give them through the bars.

Wo my question is 10g of selective pellet feed per goo or 10g per cage or just give them a bowl full till its empty?

Sorry for he silly questions but from what I've read to pictures I see its all different lol

[Kins]

I'm not sure with that particular food, but I just top my degu pellets up as and when they run out. I have no idea how much they eat, weight wise, but they are all healthy, active and when I last weighed them were within the correct range

[Lrak]

I've read somewhere that its about 10g each (unless im seeing things again) but with mine i've just worked out that if i put in so much it will last them all day and they won't get "plump" or anything. The other thing i found was that if i put too much in i would find loads hidden around the cage the next day.

[degop]

Yeah Douglas is a nightmare for storing food

[moletteuk]

If you are feeding (homogenised) nuggets then it's usually OK to just top up the bowl, unless you find they are putting on too much weight or burying and wasting tons of food.
If you feed a mix you need to wait until they have nearly finished the bowlful before you refill so that they eat the majority of the mix and get the full spread of ingredients.
If you prefer to weigh, then 10g each per day is a great starting point, youngsters shouldn't need quite so much, but I think it's fine to still give 10g each while they are growing. Just keep an eye on it and reduce it or increase it if you think it's necessary.

I've always found it useful to weigh out the food and keep an eye on how much they are eating and keep an eye on their weight, but my goos are all greedy.
The other thing to bear in mind is that giving too much hard feed can reduce the amount of hay they eat, they must eat hay or other plant matter for molar wear (and general health).
Plus, it's normal for degus to act like they are starving as a cunning ploy to get you to feed them more of the good stuff! Also normal for them to squabble over food, it's best to have a bowl for each degu....and you also might need a third hand for satisfactory distribution of treats

[dusty]

lol - yes 3 hands definately helps

[steve503]

honestly i just fill it up whenever its empty. All my boys are fine and not fat so guess im not doing anything wrong lol

[deguconvert]

I do the same, filling it up when it is empty.

[Lrak]

If i done that i ould be in there all day ;D Indy is a little pig and also hides SOO much food its mad ;D

[moletteuk]

Same here, I've got an image in my head of me trying to fill up a well with a little bag of food!