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Post by butters on May 9, 2020 14:00:00 GMT
Hello everybody  What is currently the best degufood with the best CA:P ratio? And are people still feeding seed mixes? |
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Post by moletteuk on May 9, 2020 18:17:32 GMT
Hi Butters, it's been a while, how are you?
Nothing much has changed, or at least I haven't done much research for a while as I don't have degus any more. Ca:P should still be towards 2.0 There still is no one great commercial food that most degus like to eat so I think it's best to mix two or three to get decent calcium and decent quality fibre content. The first to try are generally the Veresele Laga ones with the Ca:P of 2 and grass based Crispy and Complete something but they aren't usually well liked, Science Selective has grains but decent calcium and is well liked for fussy degus, and Rosewood Naturals Meadow Menu/ JR Farm grainless guinea are grainless and grass and forage based but not great calcium content.
Yes, people are still feeding the high calcium seed mixes and forage mixes.
Do you have any diet news from Germany for us?
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Post by butters on May 12, 2020 22:23:16 GMT
Hi there, yes been some time I was on this forum. A year ago we lost our last degu. We wanted to take break but life without our little pets is boring. We do have a squatter hamster in one of our degu cages though. Anyway we hope to get degus again soon. We live in Germany but we aren't german so we don't follow the German forums. Right now we are preparing everything and order some degu stuff.
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Post by bouncy on May 12, 2020 23:24:45 GMT
I'm afraid I feed 100% natural (Hansemann, plus fresh), but I do mix my own seeds - coriander, Niger, sesame, fennel, cumin, dill, plus a few others that have escaped my mind.
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Post by butters on May 13, 2020 7:25:09 GMT
Can you recommend a good mix from hansemann or do you buy everything separately?
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Post by bouncy on May 13, 2020 9:57:49 GMT
Selbstverständlich! Ich kaufe überhaupt SAB Mischung, und viele Löwenzahnwürzel.
Im Moment, habe ich auch Wiesenblüten und Degu Familienschmaus von Deguladen.de - noch nicht probiert!
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Post by moletteuk on May 14, 2020 16:32:45 GMT
I think it depends how much forage you have fed before so how well you know what your degus like. I used to buy various mixes with the odd bag of single item favourites. You can also buy high calcium seeds ready mixed. The spreadsheet on this google drive shows all the degu safe things (translated to English) drive.google.com/file/d/0ByOdu-VlBb3PcUtoLXJzVjNMTU0/view |
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Post by butters on May 14, 2020 19:39:15 GMT
I don't know the background of the degus yet, but I think they come from a big rescue with 90 degus a year back. I go there and have to discus is the best for us and the rescue centre. Right now I have the science selective. Dill, fennel, celery, nigella, corriander seeds to make my own mix. Some flowermix, some herbmix and dandelion mix. And sunflowerseeds for a treat.
It's a start I'm gonna look at Hansemann and this Deguladen.de looks awesome as well to order some nice mixes from.
Hay is still a problem, we bought timothy hay but me and my wife are getting both a strong reaction on it. We always have to looks for something that don't trigger our allery so strong.
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Post by bouncy on May 14, 2020 22:23:05 GMT
The Deguladen.de is something I found in January, having placed an order whilst in Austria, but they won't ship to the UK (I asked). I did a quick calculation, and it looks like the food is just as good as Hansemanns, but works out cheaper. I was also impressed with the toys and other equipment on the site, too.
You may have to consider some local meadow hay that contains pollens you're used to, or some hay cookies. Being compressed, the cookies may not make you have such a strong reaction.
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Post by moletteuk on May 15, 2020 10:36:04 GMT
Hansemanns sell some pressed forage options too, things like Agrobs Pre Alpin cobs which are grass based could replace some hay, I think you should be able to get hay pressed more loosely too.
Don't forget to consider supplementing vitamin D if you feed a significant proportion of natural food. It's worth asking the rescue if there is any history of dental disease too as you may want to increase the vitamin d if that is the case.
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Post by bouncy on May 15, 2020 10:49:47 GMT
Good point! I have to dose mine. It's an experiment but, after a month of one group not having any, I had to take a trip to the vet.
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Post by butters on May 15, 2020 21:33:40 GMT
Hay coockies would that be a good alternative for hay? I don't want to mess with hay, it's the most important food they need to eat to avoid teeth problems. I just have to try some brands out and see how my reaction is. One time I bought hay and my arm got red from it. But most of the time it's ok. It's kinda stupid because I grow up at a farm and was harvesting hay a lot.
I plan to feed them a commercial degu feed and then leaves/flowers/herbs mix and seeds so 50% SAB i guess. Still a good idea to give them extra Vit. D?
Don't know about dental problems, those degus are the result off a few degus mixed togehter and left alone for a while so a severe case of inbred.
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Post by bouncy on May 15, 2020 22:06:17 GMT
The cookies mean only your hands will come in touch, and you can always wear gloves. They are basically compressed hay, so the goos won't be missing anything.
You may prefer to wait and see how your goos are before deciding on vitamin D? Two of mine were also part of a massive rescue (two became 40, and all females were pregnant). One had no dental problems until I stopped giving the vitamin, but his brother has never had problems.
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Post by butters on May 17, 2020 14:43:18 GMT
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Post by butters on May 17, 2020 14:49:30 GMT
Our new degus, Rosie, Lily, Iris and Poppy. They all weight between 211 and 243, they are a bit messy, one missing a piece of tail and one have a watery eye. But all have orange teeth and in good shape. They come from a big rescue from 90 degus (pregants include). They were feed versa lage so I mix that now with science selective, they eat the hay, herbs and seeds as well. All 4 already been om my lap so they are not scared at all. Only Poppy is a bit shy and hiding a bit.
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Post by bouncy on May 17, 2020 17:03:18 GMT
They are beautiful ladies! Congratulations! They obviously appreciate you giving them a home, too |
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Post by deguconvert on May 17, 2020 20:34:11 GMT
They are beautiful indeed! I congratulate you as well, Butters!
I love the first of the two photos . . . it looks like it could be captioned as follows. "You're SURE you didn't eat my sunflower seed?!)
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Post by bouncy on May 17, 2020 21:00:42 GMT
Lol DC, the one she's asking looks just like Scaredy with only one ear up |
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Post by moletteuk on May 18, 2020 10:31:24 GMT
Congratulations  Vitamin D is a matter of personal preference if there are no dental issues. Probably worth waiting to see how many nuggets they eat. You could consider a UV light (bird or rainforest type) to allow them to make their own vitamin D as required. It's worth checking the type of Versele Laga they are currently on, the grass based high calcium ones are probably better than the Science Selective if the degus will eat it. |
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Post by butters on May 20, 2020 21:00:43 GMT
Thanks all of you, we love them more and more.  They are not shy at all, one problem, they bite  Have to find a way that they stop eating there humans. It's just that they keep on tasting you and actually biting a bit hard. About the food, the versa lage we got from the animal rescue is full with carrot and grains, so not really satisfied with that. The Science Selective has a Ca:P ratio from 2:1 so I think that's not bad. They are eating all very good, seeds, hay, herbs and the degufood are all disappering. Next weekend we weigh them again and see if there is any change. |
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