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Post by diamondsandsapphires on Jul 11, 2016 20:13:12 GMT
Okay so my female Degu, who is approximately 1 year 6 months old, and named Sapphire, has been behaving very oddly lately. The following behaviour is what has caused me to notice her paling teeth and I want some advice on what exactly may be going on -
She's been running on her wheel none stop, throughout both the day and night, generally getting off the wheel for no more than 15 minutes at a time. This also means she doesn't seem to be sleeping. She has also been making sounds that I haven't heard before, such as high pitched crying/squeaking. I'm no expert but these noises sound to me like the noises any animal would make when upset?
A bit of background on Sapphire - she has a playmate, her sister Diamond also lives in the cage. The cage is quite large (I don't have exact dimensions but it's large enough to house a ferret so...) and it has 3 different levels. They have a mineral chewing stone each, and there's also a wooden bridge in there for them to chew if they see fit. They get sand bathed twice weekly, fed once daily with Supreme Petfoods selective for degus, with the occasional treat of a piece of uncooked spaghetti or a thimble full of oats. Their water is replaced every other day, and they have a large exercise wheel, I also let them outside of the cage every few days to explore and get some exercise.
So.. to start with, I can't see what I'm doing wrong. She's got a good diet, she has plenty to chew on, she gets enough exercise... Is this a sign of any known illnesses in degus? I mean her teeth certainly aren't WHITE, but they're significantly paler than my other Degu, Diamonds teeth.
Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
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Post by bouncy on Jul 12, 2016 7:58:01 GMT
Hi there!
First things first. Pale teeth are usually a sign of a lack of vitamins and minerals. Aside from the goo feed, what else do they have? What kind of hay and forage?
With the wheel, it can sometimes lead to them leaving their normal routine as they become almost like an addict. You can try removing the wheel from the cage each evening?
What does Sapphire make of it all?
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 12, 2016 9:50:51 GMT
As long as there are no nutrient absorbtion issues then pale teeth are related to mineral deficiency in the diet. The diet you describe could be improved on a lot, degu husbandry has improved in recent years and we now know you are very likely to see problems if you only feed a commercial food. Degus are designed to eat forage and so we need to feed them forage in captivity to keep them healthy, this can include, safe meadow and hedgerow plants, flowers, tree leaves, herbs and other safe garden plants, grasses and various hays. You can collect your own forage or buy mixes in. (see diet area for more info on safe plants) The other thing you can add to the diet to strongly boost mineral nutrients is feed a carefully selected oil seed mix, you need to concentrate on high calcium seeds like dill, nigella, coriander, fennel, celery, sesame, poppy. Other seeds like hemp and linseed (flax) are good for skin and fur. You can buy ready made mixes from Ratrations.com or source your own from supermarket, health food shop and asian supermarket. See nutrition charts for more info deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-chartsSince you are feeding Science Selective you should not feed pasta, and I would not recommend grains like oats (except for elderly or sick degus) as Science Selective already contains grains and they add very little to the diet. We do not recommend mineral stones. Please see beginners guide and food guide for more info: deguworld.proboards.com/thread/19754/beginners-guide-degu-keepingdeguworld.proboards.com/thread/16425/degu-feeding-guideThe excessive running is a separate issue and makes me think she may have hormonal issues. When degus are in season they tend to eat less and run excessively and tend to chase and hump their cagemates more. Are you seeing peaks of activity at 3 week intervals (normal cycle length)? I would be tempted to remove the wheel at night and encourage resting by providing a heat pad.
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Post by goolover on Jul 17, 2016 8:04:33 GMT
I have 2 girl goo's who just live with each other. Each month for a couple of days they sit and cry, run on the wheel a lot, don't sleep as much, the one who is crying gets her bits sniffed by her sister who seems annoyed at the smell she is giving off and then after a couple of days it stops. We're sure they are crying for a mate and scenting to attract one. We have males in the house but even before we got males they did the same thing. We get a hot water bottle and wrap it in a tea towel and they sprawl over it and it encourages sleep and maybe soothes them as moletteuk suggests. As for the pale teeth. It sounds like she isn't getting enough vit and mins from her diet. Could this also be a warning of to much sugar in the diet! Only saying as we have a girl who developed diabetes and her 2 front teeth lost their enamel, a little later both her eyes clouded. We brought dandelion salad and piled the cage with it to encourage her to eat more. Its been about 4 month now and her teeth are bright orange and healthy again as we constantly buy the salad whereas before she only got hay and degu food. A hard lesson learnt but we now provide all our goos with plenty of forage.
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Post by deguconvert on Jul 21, 2016 19:38:08 GMT
It is also possible that the strange behavior each month is their menstrual/estrus cycle, which is 21 days in length. Some girls get very active and jittery . . . like a caffeine high, while others are more mopey. Depends on the degu, just like it depends on the human.
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 21, 2016 19:44:06 GMT
Diabetes and mineral deficiency showing up in pale teeth are separate issues but both are caused by poor diet, so they may be linked that way.
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