Getting chubby - time for a diet??

[s]

Hello! My 1yo Daewoo is a lovely and seemingly healthy boy. However, although his weight was stable at about 260-65g for about 9 months, it recently started to increase again and is now around 280g. He doesn't really look fat, especially when he stretches, but he can be a little lazy sometimes.

I'm wondering a) if this weight gain is a cause for concern, and b) if he should be going on some kind of diet.

He currently eats: a lot of hay, a lot of pellets, a small variety of herbs and leaves per day, a few oats per day, green veggies occasionally and some wheat or seeds every few days. He also eats sticks on the regs.

If he were to go on a diet, what would you recommend cutting?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can give advice!

[bouncy]

I think he was just finishing growing!

Honestly, if he's all in proportion, I don't think it's anything to be concerned about

[teemu]

280g is not a huge amount for larger degus, and their size tends to depend a lot on where they are located. From videos I have seen, Japanese degus often look quite large, so it's entirely possible that he's just had a final growth spurt. I would recommend just monitoring his weight to see if it keeps climbing. If it stays around there, it's likely not a cause for concern.

As a general note, I would probably advice giving less wheat in general and focusing on dried forage (the herbs and leaves), seeds and things like that (and of course food pellets and hay should be available). Wheat is quite a rich food plant for them since they've adapted to survive on really sparse nutrients.

[deguconvert]

Degus have two different groups within the species (please forgive me . . . the technical terms for this are completely escaping me at the moment), one of which is smaller and slighter in size, and the other which is bigger boned and larger in general. Here in Canada, we seem to have a degu population that leans toward the larger, big boned size. All of my degus were around 300 gm, or a bit more, in weight. None had excess flesh, but were very healthy and well balanced in form. Many in England seem to be more like 230-260 gm in weight (or there about). It really sounds like you have a degus that is the larger expression.

[teemu]

That's actually a pretty intresting point, Deguconvert, now that I think about it. I think the proper term would be "breeds", like with dogs, because it's likely not stark enough to be considered different subspecies (subspecies classification usually considers things like less fertility between the two and that), but there is certainly a bred difference.

It's likely that nobody has done a lot of research on this, but it would be really intresting to see some. My degus come from Sweden, so they probably originate from the same group that features a lot in England, and they're all more or less in the 220-250 range without looking thin at all. I also asked my vet about the usual weight range once, when we were talking about the sizes of my degus, and she said that they tend to be around that size here in general.

I've watched some amount of videos from Japanese degu owners, and they tend to look quite large in comparison to mine. Certainly heftier. It would probably make sense that they follow the Canadian/USA size trends, since that's likely where they were brought over from, originally.

[s]

Interesting! Thank you. Daewoo is relieved to know he's not necessarily overweight.

There are definitely some weird differences in degus from different countries. I sometimes hear people say that their degus live in temperatures around 15-20°C (I think that's what I heard). But in Japan, we're encouraged to keep the temperature above 20, ideally around 23-5°. That's what most degus on Japan degu twitter seem to like. 😂

Anyway thanks for the responses!

[deguconvert]

The degus are more often associated with the region they originated from in Chile, in the central and northern areas, on the slopes of the mountains. I believe the larger and smaller degus can breed with each other . . . and their offspring will maintain their fertility . . . but they do not mix because of the terrain that separates them. OR so I recall from information I encountered a long time ago. Suffice it to say, they do not share common territory, and that is why you see two groups of such different sizes. That may also be the result of difference food sources, climate, and such.

[teemu]

Oh, I didn't know that! Yeah, that would definitely explain the differences. Especially since all our pet degus originally come from just a few breeding pairs, they could become very pronounced over time.

[savvy]

Could this genetic size difference be seen in litters? Of the three Yorkshire Lasses Little Amber is markedly smaller than her sisters, both Ruby and Sphene are well over 300gm where she is only 270g.

[teemu]

I'm not sure about the exact genetics, of course, but traits like that can absolutely, generally, show up in just some offspring. Just depends on what genes are inherited and what's recessive and dominant. So it's very much possible, I would say.

[deguconvert]

I suppose . . . but it is also possible she was the runt of the litter. If her genetic history is composed of both groups, small and large . . . then it could be that she has dominant genes from the smaller degu line.

[bouncy]

Absolutely! I mean, Sausage and Silly tiny in comparison to their brothers weight-wise.

[moletteuk]

I think there is lots of natural variation in size, and it's difficult to say any more than that really. I think it's natural that we see some general size difference in some different parts of the world as many pet populations may come from a single pair. I think differences within each population and within each litter will be as influential as the difference between regional pet populations. I've not come across, or don't recall, the information about two different groups or strains of degus in the pet world. I do recall that when I first got into degus maybe 10 years ago now, we used to some some degus on the forum that had quite a different look around the face than the degus we see now, I can't remember if they were bigger or smaller.

Sorry for the thread hijack, s, just say if you would like the general discussion splitting off from your thread. I would always aim to cut out wheat and oats and other grains first, although that is usually tricky as they are treats, but in any case at 280g his weight is probably fine if he looks in proportion.