Hugo eating problems

[cookiedegus]

Hey,

We have three boys, they are all around 4-6months old. One lives seperatly since hes fighting with the others a lot, he will be reuinited tho.
i have noticed he hasnt eaten his food mix for quite a long time, but he does eat the food sticks from the store (the ones for chinchilas with seeds)and some salad, hes drinking well and is matured. Hugo Boss has been at the vet around 3months ago, everything was fine. He does eat hay and poos/pees well. What could be the problem? He used to eat the same food, but for some time he isnt.

[deguconvert]

Can you tell us again what it is that you offer to all your degus? What is in the "salad" that you are giving them? What are the ingredients of the sticks?

[teemu]

If you are offering them a lot of snacks like those sticks (I'm thinking they're the type you hang onto a cage that are essentially like "granola bars" for rodents?), then it could well be he is simply not intrested in eating his normal food since the other stuff is much tastier and he's eating his fill from those.

Generally, I myself would not advice giving degus access to snacks like that freely, if at all. A lot of them contain really unhealthy things for a degu (even if they claim they're fit for degus/chinchillas), and they're not supposed to be the main source of food in any case. Fresh greens can also be offered in small amounts, but (as per your other topic) they can cause bloating and other issues and should be monitored as well.

The health of degus is very dependent on their diet, and it can be seriously affected by improper diet, so it's very important to pay close attention to what they are eating. Degus are a specialized animal with very strict dietary requirements when compared to animals like guinea pigs or rabbits etc.