aqh88
Warbling Degu
Posts: 44
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Post by aqh88 on Sept 16, 2006 3:49:18 GMT
I've been sick, I have a very injured horse, and I took in a pregnant dwarf hamster so I've been very busy but we solved Fikri's biting problem. Well everything was peaceful for awhile but Fikri has decided he owns all food in the cage. When I try to give them pellets in the morning they go rolling around arguing and making noise. A few times I shoved the lid of the food container between them because it wouldn't stop. Then they go off to eat their pellets and Nahji sits there wheeping the whole time. I'm not sure if he's happy he has food or upset that Fikri beat him up or what but he just wheeps nonstop until the pellets are all gone. I've been scattering the pellets across the cage and tried giving Fikri a pellet before putting some in front of Nahji but Fikri drops his pellet and still goes after Nahji. They don't fight over anything else and so far I haven't found any injuries but they go rolling around as a ball of squeaking fur every morning. Should I worry about it and how can I stop them or since they haven't caused injury yet are these just minor normal degu arguments? Normally with other animals I've kept this would be really serious but the fact that noone has gotten injured makes me think it's mostly just a show with noone actually trying to injure the other.
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Post by divegirl on Sept 16, 2006 8:10:19 GMT
Hi, how many food bowls do you put in your cage? I used to have this problem and solved it [although they still fight over food sometimes] by putting in three smaller bowls in instead of one large one. The theory being that if Benny, my dominant male wanted to stand guard over a bowl of food that was fine, but he couldn't do it over all three . I put the bowls in various locations around the cage and sometimes he will try to run round to all of them, but it doeas mean that Joon gets more of a chance at the food. Hope this helps. Lisa x p.s I hope that both you and your horse are feeling better!
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aqh88
Warbling Degu
Posts: 44
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Post by aqh88 on Sept 16, 2006 20:06:22 GMT
Bowls don't work at all. They fight over each bowl constantly and just end up knocking all the pellets out across the cage. I had to take them all out and just scatter the pellets in 3 or 4 places in the cage.
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Erica
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 159
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Post by Erica on Sept 17, 2006 14:33:31 GMT
How much food are you giving them?
If you're feeding pellets you can give them a generous amount in addition to plenty of timothy hay since they'll only eat what they need. I've found that if you don't give them enough or if they perceive a food shortage, they'll fight. (For some reason this seems more common to me among my male degus.)
Keep us posted with Fikri and Nhji's progress.
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aqh88
Warbling Degu
Posts: 44
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Post by aqh88 on Sept 17, 2006 20:07:19 GMT
I haven't found a pellet I am willing to feed them in large amounts. All the nonmolasses pellets people have mentioned are the crappiest foods I've ever seen and normally I would not touch them with a 10' pole but until I can find something else I'm feeding bits of various pellets to try to dilute the different bad ingredients. I did find someone who might be interested in making a nonmolasses very high quality pellet but the first problem is getting proper research done when there are tons of conflicting opinion and myths surrounding degus and the 2nd is then finding a way to advertise the pellet so degu owners in the US and Canada know it exists.
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Post by bopeuph on Sept 18, 2006 0:32:04 GMT
If it goes into production, let me know.
Nick
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dreamcatcher
Burrowing Degu
Not my pups, but aren't they cute!!
Posts: 134
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Post by dreamcatcher on Sept 18, 2006 1:55:17 GMT
I found a non-molasses pellet. I'm not sure what the quality of food is but I figure the less sugar the better. The Pet value brand of guinea pig pellet has no molasses. Ingredients are as follows: dehydrated alfalfa meal, wheat middlings, ground barley, ground oats, soybean meal, calcium lignin sulfonate. salt, magnesium oxide, calcium propionate, monodicalcium phosphate, DL-methionone, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin A acetate, ascorbic acid( vitamin C), folic acidcalcium iodate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulphite complex, riboflavin, calcium pantothenate, sodium selenite, vitamin E supplement, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate monohydrate. Crude protein.............18.0% Crude fat.....................2.5% crude fiber...................17.0% moisture.......................12.0%So there it is. Not sure if any of that is good but it doesn't say anything about molasses or sucrose or any "ose's" for that matter. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks
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Erica
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 159
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Post by Erica on Sept 18, 2006 5:20:06 GMT
There's more info on North American degu food in "Food and Feeding" --> "Looking for Molasses Free Food in Canada/USA"
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aqh88
Warbling Degu
Posts: 44
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Post by aqh88 on Sept 20, 2006 14:40:04 GMT
Well they seem to be coming to an understanding about sharing pellets. It's not like they are anywhere near starving. I order in the best quality bluegrass hay you can get in the US and they have around 1/4th their 90gallon tank full of the stuff. They also get fresh vegetables, grasses, or herbs daily when I feed the guinea pigs. Fikri still throws fits and tries to take all the pellets but is settling down to eat much sooner than before. Nahji has learned that there is always more than one pellet pile so he doesn't need to challenge Fikri. He finds his own pellet pile and sits there weeping in what looks like a contented way while he eats all the pellets. There wasn't any ball of fur fights this morning. Fikri has also learned how to flip the lid open on the pellet container so now I have to set a brick on it when they are out playing. By the way Fikri means intelligent or intellectual. It seemed to fit that smart little brat.
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Erica
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 159
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Post by Erica on Sept 22, 2006 1:50:08 GMT
Fikri seems like a clever little degu. Glad to hear your degus aren't fighting over their food as much.
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