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Post by prithivi on Mar 4, 2005 2:37:11 GMT
I was wondering if anyone else has had a problem switching foods. When I got my degus, they had been eating something called "zoo feed", which from what I've been able to find, is really really NOT what they're supposed to be eating. I've been feeding them that plus some seeds and guinea pig food, and they do not seem to eat the guinea pig food at all. So I won't be getting that brand anymore, however, all chinchilla/guinea pig food I've seen has molasses in it. Any other recommendations? Do degus have a hard time switching foods? They love the seeds.
Thanks, Prithivi
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Mar 4, 2005 10:59:39 GMT
If you are in the UK, try them on Reggie Rat mix. As the name says, its designed for rats but has the best mix suitable for degus. Unfortunately, with whatever food you use, will have to go through it and remove the majority of the unsuitable food. It is time consuming, but for the best in the long run.
My degus hate chinchilla mix and refused to eat it, so yes, changing food can be hard. Its a case of trying things untill you find something they will like.
SUNSHINEMEG ;D
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Heddy
Foraging Degu
Posts: 63
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Post by Heddy on Mar 9, 2005 12:49:12 GMT
Hello, it is important that you make sure, that the diet is not to rich. Degus love seeds, as they contain lots of starch (which their bodies make sugar of) and sometimes quite a good amount of fat. Therefore, do not feed it as a dominating ingredient of their diet. You can try to mix some degu food youself of dried plants: herbs, blossoms, vegetables. Ours love dandelions. ;D (Do not feed anything bloating.) That way you at least know, that they are getting only suitable food. I did not find any suitable degu food mixture in the UK. I know about a German manufacurer (JR Farm) producing two kinds of degu food: normal and for diabetes suffering degus, but I did not find it anywhere here. The only way to get it seems to be via the internet. When you switch to another diet, do it slowly to ensure the degus' digestion has time to adapt to the change. Start with mixing the old and the new food and reduce the old food from day to day, replacing it with more of the new food. I use to do it in a frame of 1 to 3 weeks, depending on how drastic the changes are. Our degus are getting loads of hay, which is their basic diet. In addition they get a tiny bit of a Guinea Pig food (as we ran out of the JR farm ) on only 6 days of the week.
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Post by taz13 on Mar 15, 2005 4:33:34 GMT
I have discovered that my degus, go nuts for catnip. I open the package for my cat, near the degu cage, next thing I know they are trying to get out to get to the bag. Catnip is an herb, so it is safe for them but you should see them when the bag is open. Later Cheryl
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Post by ra on Mar 17, 2005 15:02:59 GMT
The pet store recommended Chinchilla or Gerbil food. I bought the Chinchilla feed and was shocked at how much unsuitable food stuffs were in it!. Dried bananas, raisins, cranberries, peanuts and too many sunflower seeds. The Degu handbook I bought (written by a vet) suggests a raisin as a treat and no more than 6 sunflower seeds in a day. Half a peanut as a treat is ok too. She suggests raw sweet potatoes which surprises me with the amount of starch/carbohydrates in sweet potatos. I use small bites of sweet potato (no skin) to train Virgil. He quickley learned to "jump up" into my waiting hand and sit for a pice of sweet potato. He runs off to his house or corner to eat it. I was pleased when he continued to sit on my hand this morning to actually eat his treat! Apparently Degus are a problem in their native Chile eating grapes & grape vines. Again grapes are pretty high in sugars so I figured any of the low sugar fruits allowed on low carbohydrate diets for humans would be more suitable - berries in particular. Virgil wasn't sure what to make of a small slice of strawberry but I learned he LOVES blueberries. Hops up for those too. Oh, and there is a company here in the States in New York that produces a feed specifically for Degus. I called for a sample but have yet to receive it. Their website is www.brisky.comThey have a wonderful assortment of Degus houses, play toys, health care items too.
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Post by taz13 on Mar 17, 2005 15:07:43 GMT
Dried carrot are great too. Also, a product called Nutra-Puffs.
They have them in vegatable and fruit flavors. They are low in fat and no sugar.
Later Cheryl
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Mar 22, 2005 12:22:34 GMT
I was told when I had my first degu Gizmo, that a daily slice of sweet potato was a good idea, but since he died less than a year later, i dont know if that was the case!
I was at my local garden centre a few weeks ago, and chatting to some people who were getting degus. they came up to us about 15 mins later, cause they were worried the staff had said use chinchilla mix. from my experience they dont like it, and its not too good for them!
SUNSHINEMEG ;D
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Heddy
Foraging Degu
Posts: 63
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Post by Heddy on Mar 23, 2005 13:46:13 GMT
Hello ra,
basically new information about what is good and what isn't comes in regularly, and what we believed was right two years ago, we now know is bu*****it. Degus have not long been kept as pets and therefore the long term knowledge is still building up. I do not think potatos are good for degus, as you said "high carbohydrates" and the degus body mekes sugar of it. As far as I heard, dried veggies, like carrots, are still the best treat.
When you are thinking of why we should feed our degus sugar free (and therefore fruit free), while they eat all this sweet treats in their wild life, please think about the conditions. Degus in the wild have a lot of enemies and hardly a degu reaches an age over 1 year, while kept as pets, they can reach 5 or more years in age. A German vet ran a little study which brought to light, that most of the cases of diabetes in her "research group" occured when the degus are 1/2 a year or between 2 1/2-3 years.
When you want to know, whether the degufood you ordered is really low sugar, chew one of the pellets yourself. If it tastes sweet, I would not use it as daily feed.
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Post by ra on Mar 23, 2005 16:42:45 GMT
Heddy, thank you. What you say about the changing thoughts on what is good for your Degu and what is not is so true.
I have horses and heavens knows the opinions out there are so varied you get a headache trying to sort out what's right for you and yours.
Good tip about trying the pellets.
Virgil will be sad but I think I will leave off feeding him sweet potatoes and only allow a blueberry every few days.
Wouldn't fresh carrots be better than dried though? The drying concentrates the sugar that are in the carrots and the amount you would be able to feed would be small compared to fresh.
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Heddy
Foraging Degu
Posts: 63
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Post by Heddy on Mar 24, 2005 9:44:05 GMT
Hello ra, I had a horse aswell, but what makes it even worse with them is that you get something really fancy (and supposodedly good) every year and a few years after it is not on the market anymore... About the dried carrots: I had that thought aswell, but it seems there are different kinds of sugar and some are more harmfull than others and the sugar in carrots, I was told, is one of the less harmfull kinds to degus. Whether that is correct, I have no idea. The advantage of dried carrots is, that you can keep them for month and you can find them in some petshops, therfore much easier for the lazy degu parents. The main reason for us to feed them dried is that our degus just don't like fresh carrots.
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northernstar40
Foraging Degu
May you always have an angel by your side
Posts: 102
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Post by northernstar40 on Mar 24, 2005 12:31:55 GMT
Ok Heddy you did it this time! My poor little guys will be so sad to hear that there sweet potatoes are gone forever.LOL There is so much info out there it is hard to keep track of it all. how about asparagus? Blueberries are very sweet to me so would that be ok? and how often do you feed them fresh fruit and veegies. I have tried several kinds of veggies, but they realy dont like to much. so now what sence the sweetpotatoes are out.
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Heddy
Foraging Degu
Posts: 63
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Post by Heddy on Mar 24, 2005 13:34:47 GMT
Ok Heddy you did it this time! My poor little guys will be so sad to hear that there sweet potatoes are gone forever.LOL Errrr, I see, all those degus are going to have a really long and healty live with the most boring diet around, as I keep telling their owners not to feed any sweet stuff. They are going to love me, aren't they? ;D I basically do not feed any fruit, due to the relatively high sugar content. A raisine would only be something to hide some ugly medicine in, because most degus love it and it is quite easy to hide some remedy in it. Other than that, nothing fruity. Veggies: Ours love tomatoes, but basically you have to try. Some degus love them all, some do not like fresh food at all (today's kids -eh!? . Do not feed anything bloating, as it might have the same effect with degus as it has with us. I know someone who feeds loads of fresh veggies every day and hay, that's it. Her oldest degu died a few days ago, she would have turned 8 years in a few month. Our degus get a load of veggies like one or two days a week. As this basically means tomatoes (they do not like anything else), they are getting a bit fussy sometimes and do not touch them anymore. They then get a one week break from veggie and love them again after that period.
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Mar 24, 2005 14:43:13 GMT
Errrr, I see, all those degus are going to have a really long and healty live with the most boring diet around, as I keep telling their owners not to feed any sweet stuff. They are going to love me, aren't they? ;D You and me both Heddy!! Ok, here is my list of recommended treats that have worked: 1. Dandilion leaves - hard to find in winter!! 2. Lettuce leaves 3. cheese - but only a small amount, and they dont all like it. 4. small piece of tomato, but watch it doesnt get buried instead of eaten. 5. bran flakes - make sure they arent sugared though. 6. cooked peas - gromits favourite. Im sure he isnt totally normal, but he scrounges for them from the edge of the cage! 7. cucumber - same idea as the tomato. 8. digestive biscuit - a serious rare treat cause it has sugar. 9. fresh carrot 10. meadow hay - bought in garden centres. I will let you know if anything else is accepted by my fussy family of degus!! SUNSHINEMEG ;D
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Post by ra on Mar 24, 2005 16:26:02 GMT
TNorthernstar blueberries are sweet to me too but they are one of the lower sugar fruits. However, I want Virgil to live a long healthy life, so no more fruits for him.
Heddy Virgil doesn't like fresh carrots either so I will try dry for him. I got my Degus Pellets from Mr. Brisky feed yesterday . They sent a sample of dried sweet potato for Virgil!! I imagine one piece a week won't hurt. They also sent a "greens" growing kit for me to try. The greens are wheat seed sprouts. I hope he likes them. I started the sprouts to growing (hopefully!) last night.
SUNSHINE (hope you don't mind me shortening your name a bit) Virgil won't eat lettuce. I tried spinach, Romaine lettuce, Iceberg lettuce and finally said oh well. He doesn't care for peppers or celery either.
One note, sadly for Grommet , you probably should limit the amount of peas you feed him. Peas are high in sugars.
Tomatoes have more sugar than greens so maybe he'd eat a little tomato. Will have to try. (Don't have any tomatoes at home - I'm on a Degu diet myself!! Low carb diet. I can have limited amounts of berries but we humans are so much larger than Degus one berry would be their quota for the week!)
I don't know if we should be feeding the Degus cheese. One source said no because they have some difficulty digesting proteins cheese, eggs ect.
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Post by Sunshinemeg on Mar 24, 2005 20:46:45 GMT
Ra, how can I take away Gromit's peas? he is obsessed with the blasted things!!!!!
Tonight for example while having dinner, there werent any peas available. I was sat in the chair next to the cage, and he spent the entire time sitting on his log and chattering his teeth at me for not feeding him any treats! It is VERY off putting trying to eat dinner with that going on in your ear!!!!! but I do try and only give him a few each time!
Regarding the cheese, it does need to be a small amount, simply because of the high fat content!
SUNSHINEMEG. ;D
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Post by ncratgirl on Apr 26, 2005 0:40:29 GMT
In the wild they eat tubers as their basic diet right? So how about turnips and the like. I have repeatedly heard good things about sweet potatoes, since they are loaded with nutrients. Maybe the complexity of the carbohydrates is the key. A white potato tends to have simple carbohydrates,while a sweet potato is complex (very high in fiber) so it breaks down very slowly. I'm excited to hear about drying your own herbs and veggies. I think Degas (my little guy) would LOVE this. He's totally in love with dandelion greens (so is Velveeta Jones, my hammie, and Pelt, my Chinchilla) so this could be a good way to save them for winter. I love them myself, actually. It kills me to see dandelion herbicide ads on TV...I harvest them from my yard like mad and try to spread the seeds around. (We haven't ever used pesticides on our yard and we've lived in this house for about 8 years.) I'm planting herbs and other edible plants for my little guys this week. Nasteritums, violets, thyme, basil...Any suggestions that I may have not thought of? Thanks for the catnip tip! I grow it for my cats and already have some that's ready for harvest. I'll be sure to bring Degas a sprig!
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Post by taz13 on May 31, 2005 3:33:47 GMT
There is food made specially for Degus now in Canada.
Called Degus Nature. Fibre and Herbs. It is available at Paws and Claws. It is made in Belgium.
It has bananas, raisins rose hip, alfalfa, dried carrots, leeks.
My two degus go nuts when I open the bag, it actually smells nice. I mix it in with their regular food or as a treat.
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Willow
Warbling Degu
Posts: 31
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Post by Willow on May 31, 2005 17:01:14 GMT
Agh didn't know about peas being full of sugar. Do you think split dried peas that you get in some rodent foods are good or bad? Staple part of my two's diet. I give mine some veggies everyday along with some hay I figure they probably have it in the wild so it should be okay. I'll add cauliflower leaves (not the fleurette) to the food list.
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Heddy
Foraging Degu
Posts: 63
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Post by Heddy on Jun 3, 2005 19:56:59 GMT
It is always the "how much" that matters when it is about sweet or carbohydrate degu feed. Fruit are in general too sugary for Degus and should be really really really only an exception. It is quite easy to get medicine in a degu if you hide it in a raisin. But a degu food containing bananas, raisins rose hip etc. I would not call a suitable diet for a degu.
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