Bought too big wooden houses ;--;

[karolinabie177]

Hey, I bought three massive wooden houses for my degus ;-;
Should I keep them or return them to the shop? Also bought 4 300ml ceramic dishes ;-; Do degus like eating from big bowls? Lol
I don't know if they are going to use these houses :/

[Deleted]

They will use them! Or they'll chew them at least lol. Either is good.

I don't use dishes. You could put their nuggets in the dishes. They'll eat from them

[karolinabie177]

I hope so ;-; Honestly I'm too lazy to return these haha. I'll put nuggets in these massive bowls, then haha. They are going to probably poop in them but oh well lol

[randomname]

I use massive dog bowls to feed my guys. I just mix hay, nuggets, seeds & forage up & fill the bowl. I usually do 2 bowls like that & 2 tiny bowls with just nuggets so they can all eat without fighting.

[bouncy]

Mine have bowls - big ceramic ones. One has seeds, the other has forage. They love taking posession of the bowl by sitting in it to eat, meaning no one else can!

[karolinabie177]

Good thing I bought 4 haha. Degus will have their own bowls

[moletteuk]

You could cut out some of the walls of a house, so it functions more like a shelter/ platform, you could offer forage or hay from the roof so it stays clean out of the substrate. (Our cage has a 'cabin' that they hardly ever go in but like to sit on top of).

[savvy]

Bumblebee loves his cabin, Dixie only uses his if its a cold night. But I feed on the top so they have another feeding platform too.

I put a tube from the entrance so it mimics the type of den they would have in the wild.

[karolinabie177]

I also have a question about fleece hammocks and tunnels. Are these safe?

[randomname]

Depend if your guys are chewers or not karolinabie177. Some degus never chew them, others seem to destroy them overnight! You only know when you try, so be watchful & remove it if they try to eat it all
Fleece is the preferred material for hammocks etc as it isn't made with threads (like cotton) & threads can be lethal if they wrap around the intestines, or some animals have been known to get a thread entangled around a foot which cut off circulation (Very common with some hamster bedding) So, if you do want to use fabrics, fleece is the safest.
However, fleece is made of plastic. Ingesting plastic is not great for degus, so if they chew it too much, you'll have to remove it. Also every time fleece is washed, it releases microscopic plastic fibres into the water - it's estimated that all of the world's oceans have been affected, it's in the food chain (fish) & water supplies of most of the world. It's a massive environmental disaster, so that might be of concern to you.
Some people choose to use fleece, others don't. Some people use other fabrics, I think Darthchinchi used hemp fabric for hammocks with success. Hemp would be safer & less environmentally damaging.

As always, it's your choice.

[deguconvert]

I don't have much fleece, but I do have some. Pieces break off?? I had no idea!!

[savvy]

I tend not to use hammocks, not because I don't like them, but more because my boys tend to chew through the supports when they're sitting in them.

Bit like sawing off the branch they're sitting on, they've had many an unexpected drop doing that.

[randomname]

deguconvert - www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/20/microfibers-plastic-pollution-oceans-patagonia-synthetic-clothes-microbeads yup Breaks my heart.

Savvy - that's exactly what Dame Maggie does with her igloo! I replaced the straps with metal versions She's only got that igloo as she was used to having one, didn't want to change things too much for her with her being blind. I'd prefer her not to have one in the cage. The degus don't - I tried them with a spare hammock, but they ignored it, so I took it out.

[deguconvert]

WOW! Well that answers some questions I've had! Thank you, Random!

[karolinabie177]

Wow I didn't know that fleece has such a bad impact on the environment I think two hammocks are not going to be a problem? Are younger degus bigger chewers than adult ones? I'm getting two 5 months old degus.

[randomname]

younger ones do tend to chew more as they're more active generally, but it's really down to the individual (some are just chewy monsters, others never chew) & how much there is to do in the cage. If there is a lot of space & stuff to do, they won't chew out of boredom or destructiveness. They usually prefer wood with bark on over everything else, so make sure there's a ton of wood in there. I always have load of these in - www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/accessories/bridges_stairs/bridges/227525 they love stripping the bark off & they don't chew anything else if they have a fairly fresh one in the cage. They do pee on them, climb on them etc so they do get a bit yukky & they stop chewing them, but they still use them for hideouts. If you can find fresh branches from an apple or pear or birch or something else safe, they'll prefer that to the hammock.

[karolinabie177]

That's a bargain lol. Bought 60x40cm wooden bridge from other websitee for 13 euros ;--; The smallest one is like 1 euro on zooplus wow

Saw this in the photos section on zooplus, I will definitely do this