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Post by orphiel on Oct 6, 2018 12:45:46 GMT
Couple of obvious questions, sorry! I'm looking to get more forage type food for my degus, and looking at the basic JR farm feast one - Do I put it in bowls or scatter it over the floor? And how much per day is usual? Can't find feeding instructions online that are very specific. They also get science selective nuggets, hay and seed mix daily as a tray, so there's always something there for them  |
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Post by savvy on Oct 6, 2018 15:30:58 GMT
There are no silly or obvious questions when it comes to degus, lol.
I'd scatter a about a handful around the cage to encourage natural foraging behaviour, but you could also put a handful in a large bowl, it's all down to preference. Scattering it allows them to eat separately should they have a tendency to squabble over treats etc.
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Post by ntg on Oct 6, 2018 16:19:47 GMT
If you haven't bought it already then I'd give the JR Farm Degu feast a miss, it's full of grains and has a really poor calcium:phosphorous ratio (and low calcium to begin with). If you have bought it, I'd only give a teaspoon or so each and only give more if all the food has been eaten to prevent selective feeding as our degus will eat all the grains and veg first before going for the healthy stuff, and may ignore the cobs that provide the bulk of the added vitamins and minerals. Instead, if you want to add more foraging material, I would stick to one or two pellets with a higher calcium content and a calcium:phosphorous closer to 2:1 (check the commercial food chart linked below) and buy some bags of forage in instead. Easy to buy ones to start a decent variety are the JR Farm garden herbs, JR Farm ribwort plantain, and JR Farm dandelion. Or you can order stuff from the likes of rat rations or hansemanns. I've never bought anything from rat rations so can't comment on it personally but the Hansemann's pre-made degu mixes go down a storm with all my critters. If you go down the leafy/herb/flower mix only then they can be fed in unlimited quantities, once you've slowly introduced them into the diet - start of with a few pieces and then just increase the amount over the space of a week or two. Food chart deguworld.proboards.com/thread/17365/commercial-food-chartBought herbs, leaves etc thread deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15657/bought-herb-leaf-flower-mixes |
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Post by savvy on Oct 6, 2018 17:30:59 GMT
I can vouch for ratrations stuff as I make my own mixes with it and it goes down well with my boys. You can buy the forage individually so you can put together a blend which has a lot of good stuff in. If you take a look at the plant guide deguworld.proboards.com/thread/8772/safe-plants-herbs-leaves-consumption it will give you some ideas what to get if you decide to blend your own forage mix. |
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Post by orphiel on Oct 7, 2018 17:23:57 GMT
Brilliant, thanks I couldn't make head or tail of the charts previously am afraid, but now I know what to look for so should be good! I haven't bought anything yet, so will go through the info later to make decisions Edit - ah, I didn't realise there were more things called JR farm, I thought only the Jr was the brand name! So I wasn't planning on getting the food mix to replace the science selective, I was meaning to get a leaf, flower etc blend, but obv mixed up what was what... So yes, will get in a variety of things for them to try, I assume they're good to eat at much leafy mix food as they want? |
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 7, 2018 18:26:15 GMT
As with any food, you need to introduce it in small amounts and not too quickly, so that they can adjust to the foods they've never had before. But, yes, as they get more familiar, you can give them pretty much as they want . . . but keep a close eye on how much they are actually eating. You don't want to find a whole bunch hidden under substrate or in corners etc. for future eating.  |
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Post by moletteuk on Oct 8, 2018 10:23:45 GMT
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