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Post by kaliska on Jun 15, 2015 19:08:57 GMT
I had a pair of male degus that died maybe 8 years ago. They were from a petstore and not particularly tame but still interesting to keep. I'm considering them again with hopefully well handled degus. I have 9 chinchillas, some guinea pigs, I am working with an unrecognized color of rabbit, and about 7 hedgehogs. This is all I do all day. If I eventually get a job it will only be a few hours a day for extra spending money. My husband is the one who makes all the money and he likes the animals. He's just not good at taking care of them. Prairie dogs are also on the table but far more demanding.
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 15, 2015 19:31:14 GMT
Hello, Kaliska, and welcome to the forum. Where do you keep all of those! LOL! That is a lot of furry love . . . not to mention the work that goes with them. Will you have the time, space, and finances for degus? Perhaps I should also ask after energy, LOL.
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Post by kaliska on Jun 15, 2015 21:33:23 GMT
I have a 3 story house. There is a 6x8 pen in the basement for rabbits to run aside from their 3 and 4' cages to keep the ones separate that need to be. There's a 4x4 section for the guinea pigs along with 2, 2.5x3.5' cages. The hedgehogs have their own heated bedroom with 36x30" cages. The chinchillas have the diningroom and livingroom with various cage sizes around 2x6' or the 2x3' cages are 2 levels high. Today is chinchilla cage cleaning, I have one left to replace the fleece liners in, and I built a 4x6' pen in an overgrown chunk of the garden so the guinea pigs can forage some of their own food and cut down what I have to pick every day. I spend like 20mins filling grocery bags with garden vegetables, grass, and safe yard weeds for them to eat all day. I also weeded the corn and garlic area and I need to thin the swiss chard when my back recovers after bending over the guinea pig pen to zip tie the panels together. In the evening I get out guinea pigs or rabbits to watch tv with and then we feed and water one floor at a time.
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 16, 2015 4:55:42 GMT
Good grief, lady, I wish I had some of your energy! That is a lot of work!! Are you sure you want to add Degus to all of that? I admire your get up and go.
Have you read through any/many of the threads we have on here about natural and upgraded nutrition (more than what the pre-made food offer, though it sounds like you may already be into that), and our recommended cage sizes for degus? We strongly encourage cages much larger than what is recommended on other forums, and many of the cages available on the market just don't offer the kind of space and surface area for running about that degus need to optimum health and happiness. I feel like there are other things that are more current in degu care that I could point you to, but for the life of me I cannot put my finger on them. LONG day, LOL!!
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 16, 2015 17:15:44 GMT
Hi Kaliska, it's nice to meet you and hear a bit about you and your pets. How did you find degus last time you had them? I'm sure you would find them interesting again, but it's difficult to predict tameness. Sometimes the happier and more fulfilled they are within their own space, the less interest they have in their human, unless you put a ton of time and effort in. I keep mine in a converted cabinet about 4'x2' by 4'tall and this is set within a pen something like 4m x 1.5m, this allows me to comfortably spend time in the pen with them, they come and snooze on my lap while I listen to the radio and browse on my tablet. I'm guessing you are in the States? It seems a bit harder to achieve higher forage diets over there, hand picked is definitely the best source. You might find Natures Pantry linked in this thread useful for getting you through the winter deguworld.proboards.com/thread/16569/links-herb-supplies-american-threadsI think degus are quite demanding but happiness is much more achievable than for prairie dogs, I think you can only really keep prairie dogs and meerkats and so on happy in a large, outside, field type enclosure. |
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Post by kaliska on Jun 16, 2015 18:54:07 GMT
I grew up on a farm and at 12years old when my grandma passed away I took over all the animals because my mom was never interested. I ran a stable of 8-12horses. We had guinea pigs. For awhile my sister had dwarf hamsters (which she didn't care for) and I had gerbils followed by duprasi. The horses required 4hrs of stall cleaning and chores before you get to the training them, small animals, and taking our dog to 4-h obedience classes. My current animals are less physical work than that. I may have more individual animals to pay attention to but it's not shoveling manure, hauling 40lb buckets of water, and 50lb bags of feed. Working with 1000lb animals is physically demanding as well. I have several permanent injuries from horses.
The degus I had before I just found in a pet store and since they didn't bite decided to try them. They had never been handled except to go from one cage to the next. I had them in a 90g aquarium which is 49x19x26" or 124.5 x 48.3 x 66.0. They were near impossible to get near much less catch. My chinchillas can't really be held so I don't care about that. They are in constant motion but they come up for treats (food or sticks) and vary by ease but can be caught without taking the entire cage apart. If the bar spacing works out I have a 2x6x2h' with a 2x3x2h' top section.
Prairie dog sites actually talked more like they do best indoors as part of the family like a dog. Ones in the US are handfed and bond very close to their humans. They will remember them and be excited to see them even when separated for years. They love attention and interaction. However, they need long periods of out of cage attention and entertainment absolutely every day. The biggest problem of that being prairie dog proofing the house and 2nd just being time.
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 17, 2015 12:35:44 GMT
Oh, you sound like a natural animal person... who I tend to feel envious of, as I feel like I have no natural confidence with animals, I didn't have any pets until I was 30. The housing you describe is good for 3 degus, or more if you can fit a large shelf withing the 2' height, but 3 degus is a nice group size. My degus are really tame, but I can't hold them firm and they dislike being stroked, I think their version of tame is different to other small animals, maybe quite similar to chinchillas (I've never had chinchillas). Instead of catching them, most people tube train their degus for if they need to move them. Mine love to have a nap in my lap, explore my clothes, sit in my hand and there is a lot of trust between us, you end up with this mutual respect type of relationship, they find ways of showing affection and trust with me more if I lay off trying to stroke them. I think a lot is down to personality of each degu too. I don't think initial handling when they are very young is so crucial to eventual tameness, not in the way it seems to be for example with hamsters. You can really use their intelligence and curiosity and appetite for treats to build a relationship. That's my experience anyway  |
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Post by Maravilla on Jun 18, 2015 16:54:12 GMT
Would you have a chance to do something good by giving a new and loving home to some unwanted animals or do you have to buy them at a pet shop or breeder? If I were in your situation this would be - apart from having enough time, space and money - the most important argument pro or contra considering degus (or any other animal).
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Post by kaliska on Jun 18, 2015 17:59:54 GMT
It depends on the animal. For degus I would probably take some in. I was looking for some posted to forums like this and shelters. I do not get animals from petstores. I do get animals from good breeders. Some can have serious genetic health issues like wobbly hedgehog syndrome so all but 2 of my hedgehogs are from a local breeder that has eliminated known genetic diseases. A few of my chinchillas I am breeding so they are from a show breeder many hours away. Iowa has no shows and little market for chinchillas so the quality available locally is not what I am willing to breed. We only produce 2-3 litters a year and they only have 1-2 kits average. Some chinchillas are rescues mostly from Chicago area. My guinea pigs were all free off craigslist. Guinea pigs don't really care who gives them their veggies just so long as they get them and they don't really have health or personality issues. At least nothing that can't be fixed with a steady supply of good food and no handling that causes discomfort. With prairie dogs I would want to find a good breeder because they are difficult to bond to another person as adults. It's suggested to get them no more than 10weeks old if you want a very personable pet.
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Post by Maravilla on Jun 21, 2015 9:27:17 GMT
I do get animals from good breeders. Here, finding a good breeder is something impossible as there is no real criteria for breeding degus, and knowledge of the genetic issues is even less spread. They are not even aware of problems that result from combining special colours. You will find a lot of people calling themselves "breeder" who only look for colour and mix some degus whose original source they don't even know. At least one of those "breeders" is responsible for a huge amount of coloured degus with relevant teeth problems. But nevertheless, he does not stop breeding. Besides, there is a certain chance that wrong behaviour (aggression) is related with colour. |
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 21, 2015 12:05:02 GMT
I still feel uncomfortable with the idea of prairie dogs as pets. Are they kept singly in the home? It makes me think of lone degus becoming very attached to their human because they are desperate for the social contact.
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Post by kaliska on Jun 21, 2015 18:59:46 GMT
Most will only sell prairie dogs in at least pairs. I didn't look up in home caging requirements yet. Most sites and breeders were more about out of cage interaction throughout the day.
I did not say anything about good degu breeders. I gave information about everything I have and why while saying I would probably find degus needing a home.
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Post by moletteuk on Jun 22, 2015 10:09:25 GMT
I hope nobody is coming across argumentative, I'm sure we don't mean to, you seem intelligent and interested in welfare, so I was trying to speak honestly, I'm sorry if I was abrupt.
Degu breeding is rather a sore topic in the UK and Germany as there are so many accidental litters from mis-sexed pet shop degus and people getting bored/frustrated with their degus and wanting to rehome them (probably mainly due to unhappy degus in cages that are too small), there are so many degus looking for new homes that there isn't any room for deliberate breeding. Plus, the situation is only getting worse with the introduction of some recessive colours/ patterns which is bringing more health issues. I think that degus are a bit more unevenly spread across America, so it might be different where you live.
We have had an insanely successful ad campaign in Britain involving meerkats in recent years that has lead to lots of meerkats inappropriately kept as pets and being terribly neglected. When I hear prairie dog it makes me think meerkat and I just prickle, although I understand that prairie dogs are actually more similar to degus.
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