DiY food mix

[pbbdegu]

Degu food is OVERPRICED in the US. ($10 for 1 stupid pound of pellets, seriously???) 
Here's a diet idea that I kind of came up with for each degu each day:
1 tablespoon each of Oxbow Cavy Cuisine and Oxbow Essentials chinchilla food
A big handful of orchard grass hay from Small Pet Select
A heaping tablespoon of heavenly greens
1-2 teaspoons of the forage I discussed in the safe leaves and herbs thread (called VitaLicious Herbal Blends)


A few questions about food:
1. Do you have to use a food bowl? I might get the STAYbowl in the 1/4 cup size and get one for each degu, or should I just scatter feed and use a bowl as backup?

2. What's the difference between Oxbow's Essentials and Garden Select? Can I use garden select in place of essentials?

3. Can you make homemade degu "cookies" out of ground pellets and ground hay?

4. This might be the stupidest question I've asked, but what do you even call dry pelleted pet food? I've heard pellets, nuggets, hard feed, or simply just dry food. However, I call it "kibble" regardless of brand, target species, and how much the kibbles are compressed.

5. Is herb infused water or rosewater safe? Many people have just made tea out of forage mix and then used it as an ingredient in treats.

[pbbdegu]

P.S. How do you store degu food? i have a few Sterilite bins (15 qt and 6 qt) and I want to know if I can use them.

[moletteuk]

As far as I recall the Oxbow foods contain molasses so aren't suitable for degus.

It's best to feed unlimited pellets, at least while your degus are young (the first year) because youngsters actually need more food than adults.

Forage can be fed unlimited if you have a good variety of plants.


1. I think it is best to start out with a bowl for each degu and then you can kind of see how much they are eating, although they may hide some of the food (they definitely will hide food if you limit it).

2. you will need to provide links to the food ingredients if you would like me to comment on them.

3. Probably not. If you have a sick degu you can grind up oats, seeds, nuts and forage with a little oil and water to make cookies, but it's not always successful or enjoyed by the degu.

4. Any name is fine

5 It's safe if the herb is safe.

Airtight tubs are ideal for storing food.


You may like to take a look at our nutrition charts and look for some high calcium oil seeds to add to your degus' diet. deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-charts
Also, lots of diet questions are answered in our feeding guide
deguworld.proboards.com/thread/16425/degu-feeding-guide

[pbbdegu]

Oxbow Garden Select Guinea Pig:

Timothy Grass, Oat Grass, Orchard Grass, Oat Hulls, Canola Meal, Whole Barley, Whole Yellow Pea, Tomato Pomace (dehydrated), Calcium Sulfate, Flaxseed, Lignin Sulfonate, Salt, Canola Oil, Sodium Bentonite, Rosemary, Thyme, L-Ascorbyl-2-Monophosphate (Vitamin C), Hydrolyzed Yeast, Inulin, Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Yeast Culture (dehydrated), Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochlorine, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate


Oxbow Garden Select Chinchilla:

Timothy Grass, Sunflower Meal, Canola Meal, Oat Grass, Orchard Grass, Oat Hulls, Whole Barley, Tomato Pomace (dehydrated), Whole Yellow Pea, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Sulfate, Oatmeal, Flaxseed, Lignin Sulfonate, Canola Oil, Salt, Sodium Bentonite, Rosemary, Thyme, Yeast Culture (dehydrated), Hydrolyzed Yeast, Inulin, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Calcium Iodate

[winic1]

You can do better on the price of degu food, you just have to watch for the sales and deals on amazon.com.

www.amazon.com/Seed-Sunscription-Vita-Degu-28-Ounce/dp/B00U5A2IV4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=degu&qid=1616383226&sr=8-1

This is for 3 bags totaling 5.25 pounds of pellets, for $23. That comes out to $4.38 per pound. I would shop this way, stocking up when the deal was good. Then I'd store the extra bags in an airtight container until needed.

When I first did the search for this tonight, I typed in the full name of the product--"sunseed vita degu" etc, and very few listings came up that were right, and all of the prices were awful, and they were mixed in with every other critter sun seed makes food for, including birds. So then I just searched "degu" and the offer I linked above was the first one listed. You've just gotta try a few different things until you find what you want. Ridiculous, but that seems to be the way it works.

[pbbdegu]

Nice to know, but based on the ingredients, are Oxbow garden select foods ok? It might help if I post the nutrition facts.

Guinea Pig:
Crude Protein (min) 12.00%
Crude Fat (min) 2.50%
Crude Fiber (min) 22.00%
Crude Fiber (max) 26.00%
Moisture (max) 10.00%
Calcium (min) 0.35%
Calcium (max) 0.75%
Phosphorus (min) 0.25%
Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
Vitamin D3 (min) 900 IU/kg
Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)(min) 250 mg/kg

Chinchilla:
Crude Protein (min) 16.00%
Crude Fat (min) 2.50%
Crude Fiber (min) 18.00%
Crude Fiber (max) 23.00%
Moisture (max) 10.00%
Calcium (min) 0.80%
Calcium (max) 1.30%
Phosphorus (min) 0.50%
Vitamin A (min) 10,000 IU/kg
Vitamin D3 (min) 900 IU/kg
Vitamin E (min) 190 IU/kg

[moletteuk]

They look OK.