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Post by shomoca on Feb 27, 2019 13:10:00 GMT
Hi all, again  I have some questions / concerns about my degus diet. HAY.. Ina and Lala always have as much hay as they need but I've never seen them eat some. I put hay in different corners of the cage, and there is one corner where I put much more.. And every couple days I add more fresh hay.. But I don't know if they even touch it or not... So it's not like with other food that I weight and I know today they have 10g of that or 10g of that.. How do you guys handle this? Do you just leave the hay there? How often do you add fresh or do you change it completly ? MINERAL BLOCK Since the beginning I've bought them a mineral block that they simply ignore. I know my degus need minerals and I try to give them a complex diet but I am still in the learning process of what each veg / seed etc contains so I thought of this : once a week I scrape the block above a teaspoon and then pour it in they water bottle. The quantity is very low, not even a quarter of a teaspoon. Tell me please if this is a good ideea  PELETE I am currently feeding them Cunipic Thing is they love it and I think they love only that. I bought them Versele Laga but they hate it I guess. I was away for 2 days and put in their bowls food from each bag and when I got home I noticed the bowls were empty, so I think they just prefer Cunipic because it tastes better and in case there isn't something else they go for Veresele Laga. I did a test again, leaving only Veresle Laga for one day. They didn't touch it... I am planning in buying new types of commercial food and to test them out. But what do you guys think about this based on your greater experience with degus ? |
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Post by moletteuk on Feb 27, 2019 14:21:14 GMT
Hi Shomoca, kudos to you for tackling this subject as well I'll start with the good news - the Cunipic pellet looks good, it's grass based and has good calcium content so do continue with that and I don't think you need to worry about the Versele Laga, you are onto a winner having found a grain free pellet that they actually like to eat  The only thing I will mention is that the protein content is a little high, so make sure you don't give them any extra protein like peas, beans and limit nuts too. You don't need the mineral block and it can be harmful, so please get rid of that and don't add any more to the water. Degus can get all the minerals they need from natural foods and the essentials should be broadly covered by their pellet too. Forage and oil seeds contain lots of minerals and if you feed high calcium seeds the minerals are all in good proportions. Degus are super fussy about hay. Keep trying different ones and you might find something they like. Even ones that look identical or different batches of the same brand can get a totally different response from the degus. Watch out for them weeing on the hay because they like to do this but then won't eat any hay anywhere near the wee. The best thing you can do for improving the diet is feed as much forage as possible. This also solves the hay problem as it serves the same purpose as hay but is often accepted a lot better and has better nutrition, including minerals. Have you looked for some forage available in Romania? You should be able to buy or pick your own. I mean things like grasses, meadow and hedgerow plants, safe garden plants and flowers, tree leaves, kitchen herbs- of course you need to check that everything you offer is degu safe and start slowly with any fresh forage. The other food group you can try is a few oil seeds, but they should be a majority of high calcium ones, you can buy a mix ready made from Hansemanns in Germany or consult our nutrition charts to mix your own deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-charts |
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Post by shomoca on Feb 27, 2019 16:32:21 GMT
Thank you for your advice.
I did the water block thing because I thought I haven't feed them eniugh high calcium food, but i will get rid of it.
I will stick to Cunipic and try new types of hay. My hay bag is 1kg and I haven't even used half, thoes that sound right?
Now, when you say forage i am confused because my translation of forage is the cunipic pelets that I already give.
Do you mean fresh(or dried) plants that are safe? Here in Ro there are plenty of plants/ roots /veggies etc that are ok for my goos. It's just that i am confused when i read forage because i associate it with something different.
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Post by savvy on Feb 27, 2019 17:39:06 GMT
Forage does mean dried or fresh plants, roots etc.
As for the hay, I rarely seen mine eat it, but I do hear them! They use hay for bedding as well as food and mine tend to eat themselves into a cosy nest so to speak, sort of 'a little off the pillow, munch on the piece that keeps tickling me, etc.' I tend to change it when I give their cages a tidy up each weekend, or sooner if it's starting to look passed it's best.
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Post by moletteuk on Feb 27, 2019 18:48:24 GMT
The pellets we would call commercial food or hard food or pellets, nuggets etc, these are usually some kind of 'complete' food with vitamins and minerals added.
Forage covers leafy plants fresh or dried but generally in their natural form. You can get pure forage pressed into shapes with nothing else added (by Agrobs etc) but we would call these cobs. Vegetables like humans eat are classed separately and mostly contain too much sugar and water and aren't that relevant to degu diets. I would probably keep roots separate too as they usually contain significant sugar/ starch so should be limited aswell.
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Post by shomoca on Mar 1, 2019 5:42:33 GMT
Twice a week i give my goos a small bowl of fresh small cut parlsey root, celery, carrots, spinach, basil. 10-15g each time and i leave it a day. They eat almost half . I weight them ever 3weeks or so, so I should be looking for a big increase in mass if they start becoming obese right? I couldn't find yet any sites here where I can buy forage  |
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Post by bouncy on Mar 1, 2019 14:49:23 GMT
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Post by shomoca on Apr 11, 2019 13:53:59 GMT
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 11, 2019 17:20:09 GMT
I don't recall ever hearing about it . . . and have done some looking on the internet, but like you, can't find any ingredients listed for the product. I'm out of country, but maybe you could find a contact number or an email address that you could use to ask them to share the ingredients list with you? You could post it here and we would be much better able to ascertain it's appropriateness that way. As well, it is always nice to know if there is another resource that we can recommend.
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 11, 2019 18:18:31 GMT
I always get suspicious when there is no ingredients list and no nutrition breakdown. I thought they had to supply the information under european law? For it to be a complete feed it must have some vitamin d added and I'm wondering how they have done that without pellets. I would message them and ask for more information.
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Post by shomoca on Apr 12, 2019 7:33:11 GMT
I always get suspicious when there is no ingredients list and no nutrition breakdown. I thought they had to supply the information under european law? For it to be a complete feed it must have some vitamin d added and I'm wondering how they have done that without pellets. I would message them and ask for more information. yeah, same here. when no ingredients are listed I too get suspicious. I will also ask them and get back with an answer.. |
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Post by shomoca on Apr 12, 2019 9:05:52 GMT
I found the product on a website from Poland.. here is what it sais about this:
ZOO-BOX Premium is a line of top-class mixtures intended for animals. Their rich composition is based on specially selected ingredients, 100% natural, which fully satisfy their nutritional needs and are eaten with appetite.
Composition: granules, carob, wheat, sunflower, linseed, parsley, hay, prepared wheat, beetroot, extruded crisps, zucchini, carrots, mint, pumpkin seeds, potato, popcorn, dried tomato.
Weight: 420 g
So I guess it's ok feeding them 2 or 3 times/week
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 12, 2019 14:15:55 GMT
Actually there are quite a number of things in there that raise my concerns. Granules (? what is in them??), wheat, prepared wheat (we do not endorse feeding cereal grains to degus as a food source), extruded crisps (what are in the crisps?), carrots (sugar content of carrots is high), potato is not a food source for degus, popcorn, and dried tomato. Dried tomato will likely be greatly enjoyed by the degus, but it is also going to have sugar content, so is better as an occasional treat than a regular food.
Just shy of a full half of the ingredients are things I would not feed to degus.
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 12, 2019 14:28:25 GMT
Wow, that famous naturally occurring ingredient - granules!! I would avoid it.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 13, 2019 0:50:29 GMT
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I have some questions / concerns about my degus diet.
The only thing I will mention is that the protein content is a little high, so make sure you don't give them any extra protein like peas, beans and limit nuts too.
