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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 20, 2017 8:30:00 GMT
Hello!! I'm adopting two* 5 months old degus next week! I'm just confused about how much dried herbs, flowers, vegetables and hay should I feed them. For the other food, I want to mix 500g of Beaphar XtraVital Degu and 1kg of Versele Laga Crispy Chinchilla&Degu food. I'm trying to make a chart how much food I'm going to give them everyday. If someone could please give me exact portions size in grams! I recently bought 1.5 kgs of different dried herbs, flowers and vegetables  So I hope it would last a month lol |
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Post by titchycatnipsandwich on Sept 20, 2017 10:11:03 GMT
Eh, I can't give you grams... Little ones eat lots. So I'll give you what I feed mine, per adult degu, and you work up/down from that - if there's food left, a little less the next day, if they've eaten it all maybe a little more. Per degu, mine get: A small handful of dried herbs/flowers/plants every other day. A half-teaspoon of seeds every other day (opposite day to the plants) Big handful of hay once a week (mine don't eat it, but they use it/play with it/sleep on it) When I did pellets, I put a palm-full of pellets (not piled up, just a dense layer on my palm) in every other day with the plant stuff. One nut per degu once a week. Bear in mind, every goo pack is different and how much they eat will vary with the seasons, with their moods, with the colour of the clouds in the sky on Tuesday evening at 3pm... Quantity wise, I use 10kg of plant over the year, and when I did pellets I went through about the same amount, but I had a lot of wastage (they didn't like one of the pellets and used to just ignore it) and I had 5 rather than 4 degus. So your purchases should last you at least a month  |
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Post by misscatafer on Sept 20, 2017 10:46:03 GMT
I feed mine a small bowful of nuggets a day (science selective), the bowl I use to measure is a small creme brulee bowl so it is only small, probably fits around 20 nuggets in, per degu. there is always some left over the next day but I just top it up. They each get a generous pinch of forage a day and I top up the hay every 2/3 days as it does get eaten.
For treats I will give them either one pumpkin seed or one piece of puffed rice a day (as a good morning usually!), and then about twice a week I give them each a 20p sized portion of golden linseed instead of the other treats. If I am weighing them they get a teeny sprinkle of gluten fre oats on the scales as they have to sit still to eat these!
Oh! And sometimes I also try to introduce fresh herbs, if we cook with them then we will throw a small pinch into the cages, they love coriander but everything else tends to get left. They also really like frozen green beans, I'll give them a quarter of one each probably once a fortnight. When Toby was recovering from surgery recently the beans were a life safer for getting him to eat and ensuring he had some fluid. (I probably over treat mine lol)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2017 13:04:25 GMT
Hi! I hope you're excited for your degus! I give each PAIR of my degus: - two handfuls of nuggets (1 handful of science Selective and 1 handful of Versele Laga). - two teaspoon fulls of the seed mix - one large handful of Timothy hay - a whole Chinese sized tub full of forage (dried plant leaves, stems, flowers, grasses, herbs). I buy as much different forage from Ratrations (who also sell the degu daily seed mix) or Zooplus as I can afford.. I then mix them all together in several different large tubs, really stir it up. They then get a Chinese tub full each day, per pair, and I'll alternate between the three large tubs so they get different mixes every time. So roughly each degu every day: Unlimited hay Unlimited forage 5-10g of nuggets per degu (less because of the amount of forage and seeds), but it's entirely your choice how many nuggets you feed. 1 tea spoon full of daily seed mix Once a week: Treats such as sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, a pinch of porridge oats etc etc.. Once a month: Hazelnut, brazilnut, peanut and so on there's lists in our diet section. |
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 20, 2017 14:03:20 GMT
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Post by ntg on Sept 20, 2017 15:01:20 GMT
It depends on the seeds you have! For example, if you only had linseed, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and coriander then equal quantities would be bad as a daily mix like emily suggests. However if you're seeds are the top half of the oil seeds chart then it's probably a good base for a mix. If you tell us the seeds you have then we can advise you as some are a lot better compared to others! Per degu/day I feed 1/2 tsp of an oil seed mix 5-6g of a mix of Versele Laga Crispy degu and Chinchilla pellets mixed with either JR Farm grainless guinea pig pellets or Natures Touch grain-free Chinchilla and degu pellets Unlimited hay 2 good handfuls of forage (leaves, flowers and herbs). I got through about 5kg every few months between 4 degus |
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 20, 2017 16:11:40 GMT
These are the seeds I currently have:
Nigella
Fennel Seed
Dill
Sesame
Poppy
Chia
Sunflower
Pumpkin
Coriander
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 20, 2017 18:10:37 GMT
Reserve the pumpkin and sunflower seeds for treats, mix up all the rest (if you want to) and that should make a decent daily mix. You could add a little linseed (flaxseed), it's low in calcium (bad) but it contains good omega oils and ususally makes a visible improvement to coat quality. Keep a few seeds separate if you want to figure out which ones they like and don't like.
I wouldn't recommend Beaphar Xtravital, most degus will refuse to eat the healthier parts of it and it then quickly becomes unbalanced nutritionally.
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 20, 2017 19:00:52 GMT
moletteukSo should I feed them only versele laga crispy? Or mix it with something else? Maybe JR Farm Feast for Degus? The only food from the chart that's available in my country is Versele Laga crispy and complete
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Post by ntg on Sept 20, 2017 19:15:48 GMT
The farm feast is also a pretty bad food. You don't need to feed a mix if you can't get another good pellet anywhere else! But if JR Farm is available from somewhere then try looking for the JR Farm grainless pellets for either guinea pig, chinchilla or degu!
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 21, 2017 6:23:16 GMT
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Post by ntg on Sept 21, 2017 7:49:37 GMT
That's the one that I used to feed you might find that it's mixed results as to whether or not they'll eat it though - degus are notoriously fussy at times! Which country are you in and I'll have a quick look on zooplus to see if I can spot anything else that they might prefer? |
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 21, 2017 9:14:18 GMT
@ntg Poland EAT or STARVE (just joking ok) |
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Post by randomname on Sept 21, 2017 10:31:27 GMT
There's also the Zoofast website, but beware that a lot of what is under the degu heading is totally unsuitable. There are a couple of ok ones though.
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Post by moletteuk on Sept 21, 2017 16:55:38 GMT
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 21, 2017 17:04:54 GMT
I found a website that's located in Poland, and it has lots of herbs, flowers and dried vegetables. Hansemanns' too expensive. And they only deliver to Germany and Austria  I'll buy JR Farm and Versele Laga Crispy and Complete and try to mix half of them together. Also, should I divide the food into couple different bowls on different levels of the cage? |
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 21, 2017 17:19:13 GMT
Yes . . . offering different bowls in different locations can greatly reduce the fighting that can often occur over food.
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 22, 2017 18:43:16 GMT
I bought this herb/flower mix, and it says it has blueberries inside, but I can't really see any in the bag. Is it ok for degus to eat? I double checked everything inside and I'm 99% sure it's safe.
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 22, 2017 20:13:55 GMT
Can you give us a link for the herb and flower mix you are talking about?
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Post by karolinabie177 on Sept 23, 2017 7:18:40 GMT
Ingredient list is only in Polish mallow herb, mint herb, alfalfa herb, lanceolate, dandelion , marigold, nettles, apple blossom, hibiscus, herb berries, herbs oats, birch shoots, rose petals, peru rhizome, melissa, echinacea, artichoke, mallow flower, sunflower petals, helichrysum, willow bark, birch bark bit.ly/2hnq1vFThere's some pictues on this website |
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So I hope it would last a month lol
