Hello DCW!

[Barmi]

Hi there!

My names Rob, and I'm a new Degu owner as of Saturday 21st February 2015!

I've wanted Degu's since I was a kid, and wasn't old enough for such an active animal; then I was blessed with a little brother when I was older, so I never got them. Then my ex partner found it he was allergic, so I never got them then either, but I finally got my dream pet! Yay!

Problem is, my first mistake was trusting in Pets at Home. Haha! So if I post random question topics I do apologise, but I've been pretty mislead by them all the way through, and to be frank, if it wasn't for the fact my local supermarkets don't sell any food for Degu's or toys for small animals, I wouldn't keep going to them to get what I need.

Anyway, I ended up going to a store away from my home because my local store only had them in cages individually - and I didn't feel confident to try and pair them myself. But then, this didn't work out well, as when I originally intended to get two; I ended up with four because I couldn't bring myself to split them up (they're four brothers, or so I've been told). We bought the only cage PAH sell here in the UK for them, which to be frank, is awful. My boys have become very agitated and easily bored; and today have been making desperate attempts to escape the cage whenever I open it; so tonight, following some wonderful research on what users on here (well, my search brought me here) and also some amazing customisation to cages, I've opted to buy a X - Trail cage. I've done research and it seems to be a fair size for them, considering its difficult to get any bigger; but we've measured and it's over double the current cage size. I did contemplate building a cage as I can fit a cage in that's just over a metre wide in the space I have, and I have a lot of height; but I felt it was beyond my abilities. But all for all, they've had almost three hundred pounds in cages now (the original was £110 from PAH and the X Trail I found at its lowest for £174) in a week. Not what I intended when I took on the responsibility.

I've also invested into the large running balls, and spent ages finding clear plastic ones on my travels around PAH stores (I ended up getting a friend to buy me some in Southampton and bringing them up with him), as I despise the coloured ones. I've read they're good exercise and to play with but they can get claustrophobic, so, as it stands they've only had 15 - 30 mins a day in them. Can anyone advise on these? I've looked for play pens but it seems the only option is to build one, and while I'm happy to do that, I haven't got the space for one really, unless its collapsible.

Another issue I have is PAH leave them with a sand bath and food all day. I've rationed their pellet food and found a contrast where its giving all four the feed they desire, and also a little extra which they burrow for later. And they get this twice a day. I also was giving them hay. PAH gave me a bag of hay which turned out to be rabbit hay at first, which I didn't realise, so I've changed this over for appropriate hay which is suggested for them by PAH; but my problem now is they're eating it too quick so I've stopped giving them more than a couple of clumps a day as they're growing really quick and I'm scared of making them obese.

Finally, I'm also struggling to get them all to happily sit in my hand. I've tried hand feeding, treats, and just holding hands into the cage; a couple of them will come and sit for a few seconds and then leave again, and two of them don't want to know. So, I haven't handled them out of the cage yet at all; with the exception of a couple of times where we've had very accidental short-lived escapes where they've been scooped by the belly (not grabbed from above or tail) and put back in.

I also cant figure out how to name them. They all look the same and do the same thing

Sorry, I sound like a total novice but any welcome advice would be appreciated.

And hopefully you're not reading this wanting to call the RSPCA. I promise, they're setting in fantastically. Well until the escapism kicked in... Which I'm sorting! Hopefully...

[moletteuk]

Hi Rob, welcome to the forum!

OK, we have quite a bit to get through so I will dive in.

Did you already order the Xtrail? The Liberta Explorer (has double doors) is cheaper here www.cagesworld.co.uk/p/Liberta_Explorer_Rat,_Ferret_and_Chinchilla.htm or Aventura here www.littlepetwarehouse.co.uk/metal-aventura-huge-metal-ferret-chinchilla-cage-p-6680.html I think Aventura has metal trays, not sure about Explorer or Xtrail (some have plastic that needs replacing). (Sorry for mentioning if you already ordered at the higher price!) With four in this size of cage you will need to extend the half shelves into full shelves to get enough running area for them, it's not too hard to do, do ask if you need advice.

We don't really recommend running balls for degus, you have to be very careful they don't overheat and they can find the restriction quite frustrating. A safe room or playpen is a much better for you and them as it allows you to interact with them freely and let them run and play on you which is great for taming. You can make a fold up playpen quite easily deguworld.proboards.com/thread/7310

Diet is a big topic, so I encourage you to do some reading in the diet section of the forum. Best way to start out with diet is to offer two or three commercial foods mixed together, and offer as much forage as you can in a good variety. Forage can be hay, grasses, flowers, herbs, bought herb mixes, safe wild plant/ garden plants/ weeds, tree leaves etc. They can't have too much forage (or hay), the more they eat the better, it is what they are designed to eat. Definitely offer lots of hay, any dust extrated hay for pets is fine, anything that is good for rabbits is good for degus. Again, you might find they enjoy a couple of different types, like a meadow hay and a timothy hay.

Growing degus actually need more food than adult degus, so you can let them eat quite freely of most things, you only need to be careful of grains, naturally sweet things like veg, and high fat things with limited nutritional value like sunflower seeds. BTW feed them from a bowl each to avoid squabbling.


Taming just takes time and patience, experiment with different treats, some sort of small seeds (like sesame or linseed) scattered in your hand will force them to stay by your hand to eat them all. See nutrition charts for all the things you can use for treats deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-charts

Cardboard tubes, like carpet or postal tubes are the best thing for retrieving escaped degus. If you go ahead with playpen, you can set it up around the cage so they can't get far.

Keep watching for identiying and naming. You may notice character traits before you can separate them from physical features. Study ears and tail length, how far apart eyes are, slight fur differences, etc for identifying.

[Barmi]

Hi molette, thanks very much for your advice!

With regards to the cage I did unfortunately order the X Trail last night after endless research on cages, but thankfully I've only paid at most £20 more than the ones you've suggested. I did see the Liberta and Aventura, but the bottom line came down to how quick we could get the cage; which is now due for delivery tomorrow as my boys seem to be very anxious with the one they have. I also saw some of the cage mods people on here had done, such as nubbin back in 2011, which really inspired me towards that cage as they've made their cage look really tidy even with the kick guards they've added. From what I've read as well it is full metal trays. You speak of extending shelves, have you got a link of how is ideal to do this? I'm more than happy to mod things and build things but I'm much more of an IKEA kinda guy over doing a bit of woodwork usually, and as such I'm paranoid about ensuring it's 100% safe after cutting.

The playpen guide is really helpful. It's definitely something I'd like to add in, however due to where the cage is I can't have it out in front of the cage. We live in a small house and despite doing research online (wish I'd found this site earlier) and speaking to PAH we thought we'd be fine with a cage and balls, but a play pen is an obvious must! Do you think it's possible to drop one into a room and move them in and out of it at desire? Our Degu's live upstairs on the landing so I can put a pen into my bedroom and wheel the new cage in for playtime, but that's about it. I'll also definitely give the dieting section a look over. I've been told they're around six months old but I don't know for certain, and they squabble like mad over food. I tried hand feeding them at first and it was going well until they then started squabbling over my hand as well, so I'll try multiple bowls in the Xtrail. I keep giving them the cardboard tubes. We did have a tube that was covered in forage I think it was, it was like timothy hay covered in it; but it lasted about three days before the thing was little more than a peel. They were getting timothy hay to start with in a feeder, but they just kept throwing it out of the cage so I bought a different hay (PAH just call it small animal hay) and they eat it far too quickly to keep on top of it. They've also been getting falafel bales at recommendation from PAH and they enjoy eating a bit then burrowing them and eating a bit more, but it's not helping bonding so I need to find a better option.

With regards to naming I'll give your suggestions a go; I have one who I've kind of nicknamed scar, as he has a chunk missing out of his ear (like a small 1mm semi-circle), and his ears have little slits all the way down each of them which the other three don't have. I have checked, they're fully healed scars, and he's quite happy with them you can stroke his ear and he doesn't flinch or anything so I don't believe there's any issue. But at the moment he's the only one I can easily identify.

Thanks for your advice so far, its much appreciated!

[saddlers]

Welcome to the forum, there is no problem with transporting them to another room containing the play pen. We use a piece of 100mm drainpipe. They have jumped straight into it from day one, then just cup the ends to move them around. For some reason they cant resist running into a dark tunnel!! Ours are used to it now so I don't even have to block the ends when moving them, they just stop at the edges and peek out.

You will soon be able to tell them apart, it is amazing how you can tell the difference over time. I am confident I could name any of our 10 from a quick glance.

They can be destructive little things, we just have chunks of kiln dried softwood in their cages which they love to chew on, and it does slow down the destruction of other items. I have always personally left their dustbaths in the cage all the time, because they only use it when they want to, and when it was taken out and put back in it only created tension between who used it first.

[deguconvert]

Welcome to the forum, Barmi! Love your choice of name. :-)

[moletteuk]

If the Xtrail has double doors and metal shelves it's probably worth the bit extra To extend the shelves you need to make a flat surface out of furniture board or plywood and then carefully edge it with softwood so they can't access the board to chew. Or you can use tongue & groove pine if you want it to be safe to chew. Rest it on the half shelf at one end and attach to cage wires at other side in a few places so you don't overload anywhere. I think people often attach things with a bolt, washers and nuts or wingnuts - Saddlers, can you advise on this? See materials guide too deguworld.proboards.com/thread/17316/cage-materials

You do need to offer as much hay as they will eat. Once you get the new cage you will have space to just pile in a couple of big heaps of it. You can buy it cheaper in bigger bags. You will probably find online food shops like Zooplus handy, you can get nice hay, forage, dandelion roots etc there. My lot rather like Bob Martin hay, which you can get pretty cheaply in asda.

If you have the playpen away from the cage, you just need to provide some good hiding places in the pen for them so they don't feel too exposed when they first go in.

Yeah, you need four hands for taming four degus, see if you can recruit a helper!

[saddlers]

Yes some washers and screws will do fine, for securing a shelf (wood on the inside, then use the screw washer to hold the shelf to the mesh. If you want the shelves to be removable, you can just leave the screw heads protruding out and use them as the shelf supports, but they will then only rest where you have horizontal sections of mesh, so you will be limited at what height the shelves can be placed...if that makes sense.