laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Hello
Nov 4, 2021 18:47:22 GMT
Post by laiyah on Nov 4, 2021 18:47:22 GMT
Hi everyone, I have joined this forum after deciding to foster two degus from an association. They have been with me for a little over a month now and I am trying very hard to learn and give them the best I can while they are with me. In fact, as of now, my heart is a little invaded by those two cute creatures and I am considering adopting them permanently if my boyfriend's sniffles aren't a clear sign of allergy. For now, the adoption possibility seems to lower with the sudden disappearance of his sniffles during our vacation (someone from the association is taking care of them meanwhile), but I am praying very hard that it might just be an allergy to the bedding if it is one. But we're still on the testing phase and we will know once we start testing some things once our vacations are done. The association provides us with a cage which will be changed once we're back, since they have been given a more suitable cage (it has MORE platforms which I'm so happy about. I always felt so bad because it seems like they would fall from so high when the leader pushed her sister off the ladder...) and I promise, if I do adopt them, I'll try to get the biggest cage I can afford in the room ! So far in terms of DIY, I have made them a bigger metal wheel (35 cm diameter) and I have made plans with a friend to try making a flying saucer later ! With a little luck, maybe I'll make them more toys ! Anyway, hello again and I hope we all have a good time with the happiest degus ever !
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Post by savvy on Nov 4, 2021 20:11:49 GMT
Welcome to the forum and the weird world of degus! They do have a way of getting into your heart and setting up camp, lol.
The two most important things to get right are the cage and their diet. They need levels more than platforms so if you're into DIY, look at swapping the platforms for levels if you can. This will stop them fighting for space.
Do you know much about their background? Age? How they came to be fostered etc?
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Hello
Nov 4, 2021 20:19:20 GMT
Post by moletteuk on Nov 4, 2021 20:19:20 GMT
Welcome Laiyah, lovely to meet you
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Hello
Nov 4, 2021 20:44:07 GMT
Post by laiyah on Nov 4, 2021 20:44:07 GMT
So, about the cage, the height is alright. It IS a little small, but basically, I was told I wasn't allowed to take the wood I had. I did ask the association if they had extra platforms I could use but I was basically left hanging. Nonetheless, since I'm changing cage, they'll be staying in a cage perfect. The platform will be as numerous as there is in the picture. I might add some ferplast platforms but I still need to check how they live in this new cage to see what I'll do. I'm mostly glad to have actual full "floors" now, because the three platforms I had were like 30 cm by 50 cm (and the ground floor 60*60). Plus, I wasn't sure how safe the wood were because they were gnawing on it (and it turned into some "dust" I guess ?). In term of diet, they are given versele laga degu & chinhilla complete food. The treats I give them are mostly dried flowers, herbs and dandelion roots, and really rarely, I give them seeds and oats. The association doesn't want me to give them anything fresh so I am obeying but if I do adopt them, I will ! (And probably add a sunlight lamp ha ha). As for their background, they are basically from a surprise pregnancy because an owner was sold a male & a female by a pet shop (who clearly can't tell degu's genders). Besides being transported in a small cage across the country and then refostered (because the previous foster family basically suffered house damage from their gnawing), their history is pretty blank. Edit: They were born in January 2021. ^^
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Hello
Nov 4, 2021 21:04:55 GMT
Post by savvy on Nov 4, 2021 21:04:55 GMT
That's a lot for little degus to go through when they are so young.
Degus do need hay, so please make sure they have plenty. Timothy hay is good, but it can take time to find one they like. They need it for bedding and eating.
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Hello
Nov 4, 2021 21:14:18 GMT
via mobile
Post by laiyah on Nov 4, 2021 21:14:18 GMT
Sadly, I think it's already great the owners realized they couldn't care for the degus and let the association take them in.
I'm just hoping my bf aren't allergic TO the degus and offer them real stability. 😓
They do get hay. And there are some wooden items too (ponds, tunnels).
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Post by savvy on Nov 4, 2021 21:29:15 GMT
You could always ask your boyfriend to take antihistamines.
You could also put a toilet roll in there as they can have hours of fun dragging the tissue paper around the cage, just make sure its unbleached paper.
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Post by laiyah on Nov 4, 2021 22:18:01 GMT
He already is. He basically is allergic to dust mites and got desensitized (because he was REALLY allergic.). Nonetheless I can't expect him to take them on a lifelong basis and adopt them when we can't fully isolate them from him (as in an entire room, dedicated only to the degus that has nothing he needs.)
I am still gonna work on it to be sure if it's really the degus. (Check if it's litter or the hay. I read it can bring out allergies.
Oh. Do you know any brand of toilet paper unbleached in Europe ? I did find like regular tissue at flying tiger but I never heard of toilet paper roll. (I'm in France.)
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Post by savvy on Nov 4, 2021 23:10:59 GMT
It could well be the hay that's setting off his allergies, I had a bag over summer that made me sneeze every time I went near it.
My apologies, I'm in the UK and we refer to toilet paper wrapped around a cardboard tube as a roll of toilet paper. The English language can be really confusing, I'm sorry. I tend to use a toilet paper made from bamboo, but I'm not sure if its available in France. If you cannot get unbleached, try a normal white toilet paper.
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Hello
Nov 5, 2021 6:09:30 GMT
Post by deguconvert on Nov 5, 2021 6:09:30 GMT
Just want to say, Hello, Laiyah, and welcome to the forum!!
I would say you are definitely showing signs of falling in love with degus! They are such charming little characters, with a bold streak of sassiness. LOL! I don't blame you at all for looking for ways to be able to keep them yourself.
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Post by laiyah on Nov 5, 2021 8:48:55 GMT
Sorry. I meant I knew about unbleached tissue paper (because I found some in flying tiger) but didn't for toilet paper. Sorry for being unclear. I'll try to check that and if I don't, I'll try a roll of white toilet paper. I'll just take out the 'cardboard' because they created 'aquatubes' which is supposed to be water soluble (but it has ink on it.)
And yes. They are sassy. I keep saying one of the two is a princess lol. She is super careful and doesn't hesitate to snob us. The other is basically the brave one and will do anything for food.
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Hello
Nov 5, 2021 14:17:07 GMT
Post by teemu on Nov 5, 2021 14:17:07 GMT
Good call on the cardboard tube, Iaiyah. From my understanding, the water soluble dissolving "aquatubes" are actually dangerous to animals, likely because of whatever causes them to dissolve like they do, so they should never be given to degus in any case.
As for toilet paper in general, unbleached (yellowish toilet paper, essentially, although some toiler papers are actually COLORED yellow to make people think they're more eco-friendly, which is kinda crazy) is of course better, but it's likely not going to cause issues even if you give them regular white toilet paper. They usually don't show any interest in eating the paper anyhow, though it's always good to keep an eye out just in case.
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Post by laiyah on Nov 5, 2021 16:11:19 GMT
To be honest, I have considered before putting a full box of tissues in there because I know they won't eat these. (I wasn't sure about toilet paper since I had unbleached tissues to begin with.) Sadly I gave up because I didn't have any box that didn't have ink on it. I might consider it if I can find some wooden boxes. (I did look how they reacted to the regular tissue box and one of the degu took one little bite so I immediately took it out. My degus usually just take one bite and then stop for plastic items but I didn't want to risk it with actual ink.)
After some online research, I feel like I won't be able to get regular unbleached toilet papers. Renova is one of the few I found that had 'normal' pricing and it wasn't unbleached but yellow colored. The only other option was an Amazon brand toilet paper and one roll costed about 5€... I think I would rather buy 5€ worth of white rolls. 😓😓😓
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Hello
Nov 6, 2021 6:56:04 GMT
Post by deguconvert on Nov 6, 2021 6:56:04 GMT
They will be OK with it. I have seldom had unbleached toilet paper because for WHATEVER reason, they charge us more money for the privilege of buying a product with less chemical processing, and then add that money to the money they save by not using bleach.
As for the soluble tubes . . . if they are dangerous to animals, why on earth would they be safe to put in the water?
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Post by teemu on Nov 6, 2021 14:55:44 GMT
We generally flush down a lot of stuff that would be absolutely dangerous for animals if given to them, so that doesn't surprise me as such. The water is treated and filtered before being let back into nature in any case.
Although now that I'm looking at it, I can't seem to find much information on this issue. I saw a warning about them at one of the pet stores I go to, but I can't really find any info on the matter now that I'm looking for it. I could ask them the next time I visit. The two main issues that come to mind as potential dangers would be if they do contain chemicals of some sort (I can't really seem to even find info on what that kind of cardboard contains, exactly), and also the fact that it might not be digestible, despite the fact it disintegrates into fibers rather readily. So it might potentially be a risk if it starts dissolving into a fiber mass and threatens to suffocate an animal or cause intestinal blockages while they're tearing at it?
But yeah, I can't actually seem to find much info on it. It's possible it's ultimately nothing.
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Hello
Nov 6, 2021 17:11:35 GMT
Post by deguconvert on Nov 6, 2021 17:11:35 GMT
That's like the question of putting fluoride in water. They do it because they are convinced it helps to fight tooth decay. However it is a waste product from nuclear energy, and it can't be removed from the water once it is put in. My city has recently voted to put it into the household water supply. I boil my drinking water to remove the chlorine, and researched if boiling will remove the fluoride. NOPE, it will actually concentrate it, and it says that it cannot be removed. Which means, that the fluoride we put in, stays in everywhere that water travels. I do not support it being put into the water at all.
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Hello
Nov 6, 2021 18:28:14 GMT
via mobile
Post by laiyah on Nov 6, 2021 18:28:14 GMT
Oh, they actually claim the aquatube is made of toilet paper and can be flushed down. As a rule of thumb, since it has blue ink on it, it is toxic, no matter how it's made. However, I find it interesting that they say it can be flushed when my dad told me it actually turns into paste and can clog the waterways... Hence it probably is a green washing move.
I wonder if my degus (omg, my autocorrect keeps writing drugs...) would work with the toilet paper inside the cage or if it's better outside. I have seen one of them trip themselves when trying to take tissue before.
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Post by savvy on Nov 6, 2021 18:45:58 GMT
Lol, my autocorrect usually changes degus into duvets.
As they are very young, tripping, stumbling and generally getting it wrong are all part of their learning curve so I wouldn't worry too much unless it looks like they are about to hurt themselves.
Greenwashing is a big problem here too, and I'm in agreement over the fluoride too DC, but I wonder what we as mere mortals can do.
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laiyah
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 181
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Post by laiyah on Nov 6, 2021 20:15:13 GMT
I mean, duvets sound soft and cute. Saying 'my drugs gnaw on plastic' sound like I'm high xDDD Yeah, I think my worries only goes this deep because of the previous cage. It should get better once they're in the new cage (once I'm back). Hopefully I will have time to get those unbleached facial tissues (they absolutely love facial tissues. I just never tried with toilet paper before) and test toilet paper too I'll keep you updated on that front. And fingers crossed, I hope my bf isn't allergic to degus !
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Post by savvy on Nov 6, 2021 20:54:00 GMT
Yeah, saying my duvet keeps chasing her sister around doesn't come across any better believe me, lol.
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