Degu Diet

[deguqueen]

I have said before that I keep seeing conflicting statements about what a degus diet should contain.
I have problems feeding my own because they HATE pellets that I try to feed them. (guinea pig and chinchilla).
I notice that they enjoy eating seed mix that contains sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds.
Everybody seems to have different views on what you should feed your Degu so I was wondering if somebody could make up a list of food that they should and shouldnt eat.
Also a list of what types of minerals and vitamins they need.
For example a list of what I feed my Degus:

Shreddies
shredded wheat
Timothy hay
Medow hay
Donuts(designed for small animals)
Small animal mix
Guinea pig pellets
Chinchilla pellets
Saltless crackers
Celery
Carrots
whole grain bread
Peanuts

I have tried to feed them fresh vegetables which includes celery and carrots and they seem to turn their noses up at anything I give them except what should only be a treat.
So I would like to hear EVERYBODYS opinion on this and have some sort of a poll as to what the majority says they should eat and what they shouldnt eat.
Thank you in advance for the help!!!

[diet otaku]

primary diet:
guinea pig pellets
timothy hay
ultravite vitamin crunchers (guinea pig variety, 4 each daily)

supplements:
alfalfa cubes
rose hips

treats:
pumpkin seeds
almond slices
peanuts

i think i've seen those donuts you're talking about, but i seem to remember them seeming somewhat unhealthy when i checked the ingredients/analysis. the bread and crackers you should probably avoid as they are high-carb foods, and carbs are almost as bad as sugar for degus. celery should be no problem, but i'm iffy on the carrots because even though they're a vegetable, i've read some websites saying they are quite high in sugar.

sometimes when it comes to a degu's diet you just have to be firm. they're turning their nose up at the pellets because they know they'll get treats instead. if you give them nothing but hay and pellets for, say, a week, they should warm up to it when they realize they have no alternatives. certainly no animal is going to starve itself to death over picky eating habits. when they get hungry enough, they'll eat the pellets.

as far as minerals and vitamins, the crunchers take care of most of what i believe they should need - degus do need a vitamin C supplement of some sort, which is included in the crunchers as well as provided by the rose hips. i also prefer to give my degus a mineral treat (like the ice cream cones you see in the pet store) so they get plenty of calcium. i considered adding a mineral wheel, but the only ones i could find were trace mineral AND salt, and i don't want to risk giving the degus salt if they don't need it (which i'm fairly sure they don't).

[Hanlou]

I *think* shreddies actually have quite a high sugar content. If you check the nutrition information label, it will tell you how many grams of sugar there is per 100g (i.e - the percentage sugar) and I think it's high-ish for shreddies. I know I stopped making them part of my ratties' diet because of this. Shredded wheat are ok - they're one of the very few cereals my rats' get.

Also, lots of chinchilla pellets have molasses in, so lots of people don't feed them. In fact, in researching myself, I've not found any 'molasses-free' chin pellets so far. I'm not saying your pellets do have molasses in, just saying that it's often a problem to find them without. Er, hope that made sense!

I don't have degus yet, so I can't post the diet I give to mine. I have researched though, and *when* I do get degus, this is what I will feed:

Main Diet:

Burgess Supa Guinea Excel pellets
Meadow hay / timothy hay (have heard conflicting info about even what kind of hay degus should have!)

I'm not sure as to what veggies are ok and what aren't, so will be interested to see what others say about this!

I have found somewhere that sells rosehips and I've heard that they're good, so I'd buy them too.

[deguqueen]

Yeah I looked on the Shreddie box and the second ingredient is sugar.
I've taken them away and although they'll miss them I would miss them more if they got sick. Heaven Forbid!

[nat]

My love dry bread - it's the best tread And it's healthy. It's rough so good for teeth and isn't fat nor sweet

[Sunshinemeg]

keep in mind that bread is carbohydrates, and that changes to sugar in the body (if my science is correct) so it should still be a treat.

[deguqueen]

Meg whats on the menu for your pack?

[thatllbe]

my guy and gals get a mixture of :


Guinea pig food
Degu Food ( the new one)
Squashed dried peas
dried beetroot
dried stinging nettles
dried peppermint
hawthorne
melissa
edible timothy hay (they use this for bedding also)
locust beans
fresh alfalfa (they prefer this to the dried pellet stuff)
fresh raw sweet potato (both the alfalfa and sweet potato give them the enzymes they need to keep thier teeth orange/yellow)
cherry tomatoes
green beans
occasional broccolli
occasional cauliflower
all sorts of sugar free gnawing treats and they especially like treats called traffic lights - (pets at home aka petsmart) and they have monkey nuts with the shells on as a treat and sunflower seeds aswell.

they only have Evian still drinking water as the chlorides are only 4.5 in a 2 litre bottle -

i tried the chincilla pellets - but they didn't like them much -

I think thats about it?? and i am always on the look out for anything new or interesting that i can supplement their diet with!

[deguqueen]

Your Degus actually enjoy the pellets you feed them?
For some reason mine detest them. I think the people who had them before only fed them seed mix so now they are turned off by pellets. BLAH!

[nat]

everything has some sugar inside. Doh, bread is made of things that degus could possibly eat in nature So I should hive him only grass? What they are eating in nature?

[deguqueen]

I think Degus mainly eat different types of hay and grasses in the wild and some veggies and nuts

[Aimeelou]

nat said:

everything has some sugar inside. Doh, bread is made of things that degus could possibly eat in nature So I should hive him only grass? What they are eating in nature?

*sigh*
No Nat, everything dosnt contain sugar....

Grass is good though

[deguqueen]

LMAO!!!

I think Nat might be as frustrated as the rest of us when it comes to contradicting opinions about Degu diet and whats good/bad for them.

Obviously anything with sugar in it isnt good including things with natural sugars in them and I guess things like bread or high carb foods that turn into sugars in the body are only o.k. in moderation.

If I do feed my degus bread its only whole grain bread.

[thatllbe]

deguqueen said:

If I do feed my degus bread its only whole grain bread.

LOL - I prefer hovis' best of both!!! LMAO!! ;D
But on a more serious note they do like the different types of dried greens i give them - like the stinging nettles and melissa and hawthorn - which i'm pretty sure contain no sugar???

[deguqueen]

LOL - I prefer hovis' best of both!!! LMAO!!

I have no idea what you just said.

[Aimeelou]

The "Hovis Best of Both" is a brand of bread in the U.K, its half brown bread and half normal bread.

[deguqueen]

Ohhhhhh. Now I get it. That sounds like a good idea because the bread I buy for them is so expensive and it goes bad so quickly because I dont eat it myself.

BTW I tried to find rose hips and nobody has them. This oene health food store had rose hip tea but that was all.
I did however find some no sugar whole wheat shreddies which I think they appreciate.

[ra]

My Degus diet:

Primarily Mr Brisky Degu pellets
Timothy, orchard grass hay

Treats Garden Vegetable Nutra-Puffs by KAYTEE gor Hamsters, Guinea Pigs etc. (I read every package to be sure there are no added sugars, molasses, corn syrup etc.)

Biscuits for Guinea Pigs fortified with Vit C. Again no sugars etc. I haven't been able to find them recently which is too bad they loved them.

Alfalfa and carrot chews.

Few sunflower seeds

Healthy Toppings for Small Animals Pumpkin seeds and Almonds another KAYTEE product


A few Rice Crispies once a week for a special treat when training.

Dried rose hips which Tanzania use to eat and Mocha won't touch.

I put a couple of drops of eveing primrose oil on a fiber cracker once a month to keep them from having dry skin.


Their most favorite thing to eat is fresh dandelion greens. We have lots of those. Once we have a hard frost those will all be gone so I bought some Wheat Grass "Garden in a Cup" to grow for them through the winter.

I'd read Degus like fresh insecticide free rose petals. I gathered some from my roses in the garden. They quickly devoured the petals! A good source of vitamen C.