New to Degu's

[foxdog84]

I am new to Degu's and was hoping for some more information. I work at an animal shelter and today we had 8 Degu's brought in, including a mom with 3 babies. I opted to take the mom and babies home to foster, with the potential to adopt them if all works out. I grabbed what I could from work (since we run on donations), but I am not sure if the qualtiy is good enough to feed, or if I should run out and buy something different. I have "Small World Guinea Pig" pellets and "Kaytee Nature's Benefits Chinchilla Daily Diet" mix.

Also, is there any way to tell/judge how old the babies are? When do they have to be pulled from mom? Their eyes are open and are running around fine, and still nursing from mom.

Are they any cages out there that would be ideal for them, I live in the USA if that helps. They are currently in a 10 or 20 gallon tank (trust me, it's MUCH better than the conditions they were in), and it will only be used until I can get something better suited.

Thanks in advance!

[moletteuk]

There aren't that many suitable foods, you have to be careful that the food does not contain molasses or other sugars. A couple that are OK and worth making the effort to find are Hagen Living World timothy formula guinea pig and Versele Laga Degu Crispy or Pro. Another degu specific one available in USA is Sunseed Vita Exotic Degu. They also need extra plant material like herb mixes, but these aren't so easy to find in USA, you can come back to thinking about that once you've found your feet

Babies can be removed from mum at 6 weeks and the two sexes should be separated at this time. Growth rate can vary so it's not that easy to judge when they are 6 weeks if you don't have dates. They are born with fur and eyes open and are running around within a week, they are usually looking like young degus and have lost the weird proportioned baby look by 6 weeks, if that helps. It's important not to separate too soon because they need to learn social skills, but also not too late for obvious reasons. Perhaps we could help you pick the right time if you could post photos.

Recommended cage is a double Critter Nation.

[foxdog84]

After visiting a few pet stores today, I did not find any chinchilla food that did not contain molasses of some kind. Would it be alright to use until I can find a food without (thinking I may have to order some online, or get straight up Degu food).

And I admit I am a bit confused on how often/how much vegetables to feed. Are there some foods they can have daily, if so how much?
I also bought today a dried veggie medley snack bag, is that something they can have daily as well?

I did upgrade them from the 20 gallon tank to a small tier rat cage from work. All seem to like it a lot better, and is only temporary as I am hoping to get a Critter Nation or something similar soon.

[ntg]

I've had a look at the commercial food chart ( deguworld.proboards.com/thread/17365/commercial-food-chart ) to see if there's anything that might be locally available. It's not great but if you have a petco nearby it may be your best temporary option if everything else contains mollasses. You need to remove the pine cones, apple and most of the rosehips:

m.petco.com/product/109481/Healthy-Select-Natural-Guinea-Pig-Diet.aspx