Just Starting Out

[zenaida]

Hello!
I hail from the north east USA. My husband and I are in the planning stages with degus. We live in a moderately sized one bed apartment and expect to soon be approved for a "comfort animal" exception to the no pets rule for my husband. There's a whole litany of reasons why we would choose degus, but I trust I don't have to convince you all. 

We're currently trying to plan and design an enclosure for them, so I'll soon make a post in that forum because I very much want more experienced eyes on my initial designs. We don't currently have formal approval for an animal yet, so I'm just doing research and planning until we have the green light. Anyway, I look forward to learning further from all of you.
Zenaida

[Deleted]

Hi Zenaida! Welcome to the lovely forum!

I have degus in a two bedroom apartment and I'm not allowed animals, there's a blanket no pets ban on my apartment too, I find it ridiculously silly.

You definitely don't need to convince us of your choice. Please do post in the appropriate area once you've written down your plans. Photos or sketches would be great too and we can advise you further. Building a cage from scratch is a really great thing to do as you can get it just right, for your apartment and for your degus! ☺️

Do you have any plans as to where to get your degus from?

Lovely meeting you!

Emily.

[zenaida]

Hello Emily,
No, I don't have plans yet for where to get the degus from. I'm hoping to get some help with that too down the road. I haven't wanted to reach out to anyone formally until we have the "ok" from the housing office. I just don't want someone counting on us to take the degus until I know for sure we're allowed to have them. Plus the housing office has lots of rules about the animals so I also have to make sure I find a vet before I bring them home too.

Housing is super strict for us because we live on a campus. We started here when my husband was getting a graduate degree, he has since moved on to work for the school, but we still live here because rent is dirt cheap for the area. I'm hoping we can eventually save the money to buy a condo off campus, but that is a longer game than this.

Do you have any recommendations for a timeline to contact someone for the degus themselves? Or recommendations for how to find someone? I think we're hoping to adopt from someone who had an unexpected litter or perhaps can't keep degus anymore. If nothing came up, we could go with a breeder. For us, nothing (including building the enclosure) happens until my husband has a doctor's note (he has an appointment in 2 weeks). After that we have to meet with housing for the approval (probably another week). After that I build the enclosure and get all the supplies (a week minimum). So we're probably 4-6 weeks from the earliest point we could bring degus home anyway.

[Deleted]

zenaida okay! We can definitely help you find some degus. I'm probably not the best person to help you in that department though as I'm from the UK. Someone from the USA will be along at some point I hope and can point you in the right direction. If you look on here in the technical zone, there's an adoption section you can look through. If you want young new born babies then perhaps contact people now as you can't have babies until 8+ weeks old anyway.

I feel for you about the struggle of trying to have pets. We have just hidden ours during inspections (very difficult and stressful) and whenever the door goes I literally shake with panic incase it's the estate agency. In the U.K. most privately rented properties having blanket "no pets" bans put on them because it's less work for the estate agents. Yet I'm allowed my two huge aquariums? 🙄

I hope you get the green light for some degus because they're lovely little creatures!

[zenaida]

Thanks! I'll browse the adoption section. Even just keeping an eye out for contacts. We are also very open to taking in more mature degus. Particularly if they come from a good home. I wouldn't mind "rescuing" degus from a bad home, but I figure that is not the way to start out when I'm just learning myself.

[Deleted]

zenaida that sounds like a good plan either way. Honestly try and get healthy degus if you're just starting out, good homes etc make a difference because they'll be hopefully fed a good diet so lower chance of diabetes and cataracts x

[deguconvert]

Hello Zenaida!! Welcome to the forum!!

I look forward to seeing what you have in mind for a cage for your degus. We have a member here that lives in the USA NE area, and she has degus. She has helped others to look for degus, and may be able to help you. Her name user name is Winic1.

There is a TON of information on the forum that you can look into, from cage sizing, to outfitting your cage, to what to use for substrate, to nutrition and treats, health issues, fighting, correctly sexing your degus, introductions, and lots of fun chatter. Have a look through . . . be ready for HOURS of reading, and don't be at all afraid to ask any questions you have. We frequently say, "Degus are just plain weird" on here, and that is just the way it is, LOL! They ARE weird, and fun, and smart, and silly, and we love them to bits. So, no question is too strange or too crazy, these are degus after all!

[zenaida]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I'll keep and eye out for Winic1.

I already have gone down a deep degu hole of research into these guys. Part of it is necessary because I'll have to present info to the housing department for approval (I figure since it isn't a simple cat, they are going to need extra information). Part of it is that I'm excited and want them RIGHT NOW, but I can't have them, so I have to settle for preparing myself for them. Thank you for welcoming my questions, there will be many of them as I seek to figure all this out.

Zenaida

[winic1]

Hi Zenaida! I live in southwest Connecticut, so compared to just about everyone else on here, we're next door neighbors. My son is at school at WPI, so we head into MA every now and then.

Degus are few and far between around here, but you can find them. Keep an eye on Craigslist and Hoobly, and look in a wider area than just your local zone, a year ago there was a guy up near NE CT who had some to rehome, and a couple in NY near the MA border, so they do show up, if rare. Right now Petfinder has none within about 800 miles of us.

I got my current three from a rescue on Long Island that still has many, as they had a box of about 20 degus dumped on them (literally left in the doorway of a local store), mixed genders and all females pregnant, so then ended up with over 60 before it all settled out. Their degus will probably be 3 years and older, now, and they have them in groups of 2 and 3 already established. It would be a bit of a trip for you, but if you take the ferry from Bridgeport, CT across to Port Jefferson, the rescue is 10 minutes from there, it saves hours off driving the whole way, and you get a nice ride across the Sound, as well. We actually asked them to buy a small carry cage for us and had a volunteer meet us at the ferry with the degus, so that we didn't have to pay for the car to cross on the ferry, as passengers only is so much cheaper and easier. Otherwise, a cab from the ferry to the rescue would not be unreasonable. This is their website, last time I looked they didn't have the degus listed, but I don't imagine they've run out of them yet. www.savetheanimalsrescue.org/

[winic1]

Ugh. Don't even look at Degurescue.org
Their links for info and supplies are atrocious, as is the written info.

Oh yeah, don't believe any info from any pet store or online pet supply place here. For example, Exotic Nutrition sells all kinds of treats for degus that are fruit and nut and sugar stuff. Wrong wrong wrong. Rely on this site, rely on Degus International (tho they can be a bit intolerant of anything but perfect degu care, just a warning, but their info is excellent), not so much other sites, tho. Especially anything American. With degus so few here, the info is old, outdated, and just plain wrong.

[winic1]

Wow, there are three listings in MA on Craigslist under the Worcester area. Beware of the one who says they have 3 degus four months old, two females and one male. The girls may already be pregnant. Another one shows a picture with at least 4 or 6 in it, and just says they have them, and you must take at least pairs. If they are not separating males and females, then assume all females are pregnant, also.

Before you go get any, look well at the pictures of how to sex them, and check for yourself before you take any from a place that does not seem to be careful about housing males and females together.

[zenaida]

Winic1, thanks for all the help! I knew that degus aren't as common as they are in Europe, but I didn't realize they were quite this scarce up here. I will be very cautious about the gender and possible pregnant status of anyone we adopt. The place on Long Island sounds like a great resource, I would love to get in touch with them if I can. It would be quite a hike for me though. I'm a little closer to Maine than I am Boston. I am open to getting degus from anywhere that I could drive to and from in a day. So that probably gives me about a 4-5 hour radius.

I would avoid getting degus that had been mixed, but I also know sometimes people don't sex them correctly. Any pointers or red flags for determining if one is pregnant? I'm assuming in late stages the abdomon is swollen and you could feel movement? But it seems many people have pregnant degus and don't know until the babies are born. So maybe I'm wrong about that.

Females would be nice for temperament reasons, but if I was getting some from a mixed environment, I might just only get males that I am certain about after checking them.

I've looked at dietary needs on various websites including here, Degus International, and other places. I haven't settled on exactly how to feed them, but I've learned very quickly that I can't trust packaging just because it says "degu" on it. I'm going to see what mine are eating when I get them and I'll transistion them to at least a 50% diet like here. If we can afford the cost or the time, I may try to go full SAB. I think that will come down to what percentage of an SAB diet I can get from the grocery store and what percentage needs to be specially purchased. I'm sure when I get closer I'll be posting questions in the feeding section.

[zenaida]

Would someone mind looking over this organization? mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/ They seem to be very local to me and they say they get occasional degus. It might be worth it for me to contact them and let them know I'm looking in case they have some who need rescuing.

I'll keep an eye on craigslist. As much as I would love to respond to one of those postings, I don't feel like I can responsibly do that until I know for sure the school will let us have them.

[winic1]

Degu gestation is 90 days. They get big and pear-shaped near the end, but mostly only near the end (last couple of weeks), so you can have a pregnant girl for two months or more before her weight and size gain tip you off.

I have used the Sunseed Vita Degu food for their pellets, for 7 years now. I have to order it in, no one local carries it here, but it can be found on Amazon.com and often on Pet360.com, as well as other places, but those are the two I use. Timothy hay is easy to get, as well as other specialty hays like oat hay, alfalfa hay, orchard grass, meadow hay, and hays with flowers or herbs mixed in. I use this site to order dried veggies, and make my own mix: www.northbaytrading.com/dried-vegetables/ and for seed mixes I use a "soak and sprout" seed mix (I also keep birds) as bird seeds designed for sprouting will have no pellets or additives in them, just clean seed. I collect stuff from the yard and the woods as well, but my current three don't seem to know what it is, life was simple at the rescue before we got them last year. They have learned to eat the dried veggies and the seeds, tho. still working on the rest.

[winic1]

Do check in with that rescue, and any others who take in small animals like guinea pigs and hamsters, they are the ones most likely to get degus in, or know where some are. Sometimes rescues will shift animals between locations if they know there is someone wanting them near another location, this often has to wait until they have someone traveling nearby, tho.
It is good of you to wait until you have permission, rather than get someone's hopes up. Must be SO frustrating, waiting like this. Would drive me nuts.

I see pretty much no outside information on Mainely Rat Rescue, which I suppose is good. If they were known for being bad, mistreating, misrepresenting, etc, a google of their name would bring it all up. All I see are listings, mentions on various rat and gerbil sites, and a local news show talking to one of the founders. (For example, search "SPCA of Connecticut", especially SPCA of CT complaints, and see what you find!!! They've been after that guy for years.)

[zenaida]

Thanks winic1! I'll send an email to the rescue. Once I get official approval I'll go back to craigslist or the other sites you mentioned. You have been super helpful with the local resources.

One last thing, probably a big stretch, but how should I find a vet? I think the school has some requirement of getting vet clearance. I'm not sure what it entails exactly because all the documentation from the school talks about things like shots and registration. Regardless, I would prefer to have a relationship with a vet to check them over and if/when my degus get sick. I thought it wouldn't be too hard to find a vet, but now the info you have about how scarce degus are up here makes me wonder if it will be harder than I think.

[winic1]

You probably won't find an experienced degu vet, but what you look for is an "exotics" vet. Someone who handles guinea pigs, ferrets, chinchillas, hedgehogs, rats, all the small furries. They can handle all the usual problems like cuts and injuries, and can look up info on degu-specifics if they arise. (Or, you find the info here/on the internet, and bring it in with you for them to read and research.) Most vets handle dogs and cats and not much else, an exotics vet has a wider knowledge base and experience with tinier animals. Sometimes only one vet in a practice will handle the specialty animals, the others stick to dogs and cats, so if you don't see a listing for exotics, start calling local vets and ask, often they'll refer you to the right doctor/practice.

We had a hedgehog for a few years, the exotics vet at the practice that we had brought a sick budgie to was also the vet to cover the hedgehog. When we first brought her in, the doctor seemed comfortable handling her, but everyone else in the office came in to see Hedgie as none of them had ever even laid eyes on a hedgehog before. I can just imagine the fuss if we'd had to bring a Degu in!

[zenaida]

Just to update: I have contacted the Mainely Rats people, they got back to me lighting fast (within minutes). They said that they haven't seen degus in their organization in years and weren't even sure if they had a current suitable foster home.

They directed me to Pet World in Natick MA. Pet World is a pet store so I'm disinclined, however if they treat their animals right and do proper owner education I'm open to getting degus from them.

I think the plan is right now to cool off on my direct search and when I'm getting closer to check craigslist again.

Once I get the enclosure finalized and the food thing figured out, I'm going to hit the web and start making phone calls on an "exotics" vet like you suggested.

At this point I'm almost glad I have weeks until degus could come home! There's just too much to do to get ready!