Degus sleeping a lot

[ddaraa]

Hi! I've just got two degus about three weeks ago. They're about 1 year old, both boys. Lately, every time I put my hand in their cage either to clean it, change their water or food, they both kinda grab it and pull it to the floor and get on it and fall asleep. And they won't let my pull it out until they're done sleeping. What worries me is that this happens even after they've just woken up from a 30 minute sleep. So they sleep A LOT. And after this they'll also take multiple naps and they'll sleep at night too. I was wondering if this is normal and if other degus sleep that much too

[moletteuk]

It's not necessarily abnormal, some degus can be quite chilled out and laid back. They may really like the warmth of your hand, especially if the room the cage is in is a bit chilly.

Something else to consider would be the cage size and how much enrichment they have in there. We recommend a minimum of 1.2 square metres of running space for 2 degus, and the more wheels, and wooden activity stuff and variety of food they have the better.

[winic1]

How warm is it in the room where there cage is?

[ddaraa]

The room they're in isn't chilly at all and it's not too warm either. And they have a 3 leveled cage with multiple toys. I also take them out of their cage almost every day and let them run around, so they don't lack exercise. I must admit that one of them is a bit overweight (he was this way when I got him), but this is something that we're working on. Thank you for the advice, anyway!

[teemu]

Degus generally huddle together with their packmates and can also do it with hands they like, so that might be a very good sign that they're liking you

In general, some degus enjoy lazing around, and they way they usually behave is that if nothing is going on, they often prefer to preserve energy by laying down and napping. If they seem to be behaving normally otherwise, being physically active (when not sleeping) and eating and drinking and all that, it likely isn't anything to worry about by itself. Do they nesting material available, like toilet paper for instance?

[ddaraa]

I got them wood shavings and toilet paper, but they don't really like them. They chew it and than just ignore it. Otherwise they look healthy

[moletteuk]

You could look into feeding them so more natural foods that generally come under the heading of forage. It's very healthy for degus to eat and it's something they will spend time doing so it can add a lot of interest to their lives. Natural safe wood branches with leaves on are also a great activity that is also food.

Some degus are into nest building and others aren't. You never know, they might suddenly take an interest one day.