Degu digging problem??

[rednop]

I have two male degus (5 months old) and they seem perfectly happy and settled in, I have had them for one month now. The only problem is one of the boys (Marley) does a strange digging thing. I know that they love to dig, have given the boys a digging box that their not interested in, I am trying different stuff in the box to see what they like. However Marley goes absolutely nuts digging in the same place in his cage against the metal bottom. I have no problem with this if its normal but sometimes he seems distressed and will sound upset. He does it for different amounts of time, sometimes seconds sometimes 20-30 minutes of constant digging in the same spot. He will even get back in his cage when the door is open just to dig. He doesn't like his brother (Houdini) anywhere near him when he is digging, apart from then he has no problem with Houdini. Has anyone else had this problem? Is he just a bit strange and loves to dig nothing? Or could there be something else going on? Any advice would be very appreciated.

Thanks, =D

[Karma]

Mine did this at that same age too, it is mostly gone now at 15 months old. Einstein use to take the entire half of his bottom level and not allow any carefresh on that half, then he spent almost half the day is varying stages of digging on the metal bottom or gnawing on the bars.

I never figured out a way that worked continuosly but over time he has mostly stopped the intense digging, still digs but only for 5 minutes or so at a time.

[bluedreamer]

My degus dig on metal sometimes too... I like to think they are trimming their claws during that process. Lunjo does it far more... But not nearly as much as you stated... I think it is just a degu thing
They figured how to open the doors (glass) and then if I "lock" them they often dig on glass trying to open them since we let them out every day and that is not enough for them obviously
It is their way of telling me they want out, again and again
You can see what I mean at the ending of my last Nika & Lunjo video...


However, I am not sure how much digging is normal. If your degu was alone I would speculate that he is depressed or bored but in your situation that shouldn`t be the case...
It is probably just a phase... some kind of digging puberty ;D

[moletteuk]

There could be a couple different reasons. He could be trying to dig his way out. He might be able to smell something and be trying to access the smell, or reach something in particular. If there are toys/ obstacles near where he is digging, he might be trying to modify the arrangement or create a safe passage below them, if that makes sense. Our goos always insist on keeping the space behind the wheels perfectly clear of substrate so that they have maximum headroom for getting behind there ASAP when they need to hide quickly.

Does any of that ring a bell? If it's the last scenario you may be able to rearrange things to suit him better. If he's trying to get out, you might like to check out our cage size recommendations to see if he could benefit from a bigger cage.

It could just be his 'thing', they can be a bit crazy and get hung up on things for no apparent reason!

[saddlers]

Elliott digs in his sand bath a lot and tries to keep going, I am intending to sort him out a digging box to see whether he would like to go a bit deeper ;D

I am not sure whether he just likes the sound

[deguslady]

My degu was not a digger. Her sister died leaving her alone. I found 2 females to regime and integration appeared to go well. Now in week 3 and my degus has started some mad digging spells.

[savvy]

Welcome to the forum.

All of my degus dig to a certain extend, its nothing to worry about. You could try putting in a small box of bedding for them to dig.

[teemu]

Welcome!

Very smooth surfaces like metal or ceramic tile seem to stimulate some sort of a digging response in degus every now and then, and loose material can also make them want to dig. Especially if there's pee stains on that spot, they sometimes just go crazy over it. It's just a natural reaction, since in nature they dig into sand to make their nests, so as Savvy says, nothing to worry about.