Degus & Veggies

[carissa]

So how often can degus get veggie treats and how much should be a serving size for a degu?

Some favourite treats among mine are: romaine lettuce, bok choy leaves (I use them to make veggie cubes for my dog), broccoli, thin carrot slices, thin yam/sweet potato slices (uncooked). They also get roasted, unsalted squash seeds; dried corn kernels, sunflower seeds, dry soy beans, dry chick peas, and roasted, unsalted peanuts.

I just wonder how much I can give these treat foods per week or day? And how much when I do give them these foods?

Are there any good fruits that they can eat? I generally avoid feeding the fruits, however last week I did give them a tiny piece of a granny smith apple (it was only 2 degu bites worth).

Also ... which is better for degus Timothy hay or Alfalfa hay or does it not make any difference?


The main staple these guys get is guinea pig pellets and timothy hay and access to fresh Brita filter water everyday!

Thanks guys!

[diet otaku]

timothy hay is better than alfalfa because alfalfa is more rich and dense. alfalfa is a treat for my degus moreso than a staple of their diet. there are absolutely NO acceptable fruits for degus, and few if any veggies. absolutely no more sweet potato or corn kernels! the seeds and peanuts are okay as a VERY infrequent treat, but leafy vegetables are better to avoid because some have a considerably high water content which can give your degus wet tail. i'm not sure about the broccoli or the chick peas... the soy beans are a good occasional treat as soy can help prevent tumors in degus. i would also avoid the carrots as there has been some debate over the sugar content of carrots.

as for frequency, the peanuts should be no more than one every 1-2 weeks (i give one each when i clean the cage). the seeds no more than a few every day or 2 (i give mine seeds when they've been good being handled). i put in a fresh alfalfa cube every week.

[ra]

Neither of my Degus is much interested in fresh vegetables. They'd like to have sweet potato or yams but too high in sugar/starches. I don't feed fruit either. They do get dried apple branches off of my trees to knaw on.

Neither will eat fresh carrots. I was giving them one small carrot bone (dog treat with no additives)to share once a month. I felt a little uneasy about that much dried carrots so they've only had one in Nov and one in Dec. (Much like my dieting, if it's something I love and tastes really good it's probably not allowed!!!)

I'm at work so I can't give a complete contents list of the following two items. They are rabbit treats with no sugars what so ever. Both are hard square scored biscuits that can be broken into pieces. One is an herb rice bar consisting of various dried herbs bound together with rice and dried to little hard bricks and the other is a vegetable rice bar - dried vegetables with rice. I'll post the proper name and ingredients this evening.

They get the small black sunflower seeds and dried pumpkin seeds no more than six in any given day a piece. Intend to get some dried soy beans for them.

I give them fresh grass daily in season and grow wheat grass for them indoors in the winter. I 've been careful to not over feed and have not had any trouble with loose stools.

My Degus' favorite vegetation is fresh dandelion greens. I'd read where you can build them up slowly to having half a cup of greens a piece per day. I've done that and feel bad when winter comes and they no longer get their dandelions.

I have horses so my Degus share a good quality Timothy/orchard grass hay.

[diet otaku]

hehe, found them, ra! peter's premium vegetable rice bars
peter's premium herb rice bars
they make a fruit rice bar too, but obviously those are out of the question. in fact, i may look to pick some of those up, they look interesting.

[ra]

Yes indeed those are the very bars I'm holding in my hand! Good going diet otaku!
I can't see any ingredients there that might be a problem. I split a square between my two girls. A good pair of kitchen shears will cut them in half. They are very hard - good for wearing down those big incisors.

Any idea what "balm" might be? That's the only ingredient I can't readily identify. Guess I'll go do a search and see what I can find.

[ra]

What I found was lemon balm herb. Dried it's used as an herbal tea. It has calming properties as well as being used as an antibacterial and anti-viral!

[Hanlou]

Can I ask, if this doesn't seem like a daft question, do degus nutritionally need to have veggies? Or is it to provide them with variety? Just that I was reading up on chinchillas recently and it mentioned that they don't really need to have vegetables, just that we feel we need to give them some.

Thanks for any responses......

[diet otaku]

probably not. given the conditions in their natural habitat, most of their diet is centered around fibers, not vegetables. they just need a few nutritional supplements, but there's nothing veggies provide nutritionally that are vital to a degu's survival.

[ra]

Good question. It's probably more to fulfill our needs as humans!! Same reason I vary the types of canned cat food for my barn cat. I think oh how boring to have nothing but dry food and salmon every day. Don't think the cat really cares. Always looking for "snacks or treats" for my horses too. Boring old hay..........

[Sunshinemeg]

If you feed your degu a good mix of food provided in the stuff you buy, eg chinchilla, guinea pig, rat or degu mix, nothing else is really needed. However, as with anything else, Degus like a treat as much as we do! But thats the key word - TREAT! So it shouldnt be more frequent that once or twice a week. A good treat that is safe for degus is Dandilion leaves! They adore them, and as long as they come from a garden free from pesticides, and they are washed first, they are safe!

I fed my very first degu Gizmo on yam/sweet potato, as I was told this was a very good daily treat! That poor degu died from a heart attack at the age of just one year old. Thats why this very website and forum was created, to stop that happening to other poorly informed people!!

Anyway, hope my little two cents worth help.

meg

[Hanlou]

Thanks for that. I guess we're the problem really, wanting to give them treats etc. I find it all very interesting.

*Am logging all this away..*

Even with the rats, who can tolerate sugars, (though obviously like us, they have to be controlled and I'm careful with what I give them), I only give them fresh food every other day or so, as I feel they really need to be eating their base dry mix more than the fresh food.

[carissa]

One more thing... what about bean sprouts? I give a few to my degus and everyone goes nuts over them.

How healthy is it for them? and how often should i give it to them? Cheap as all get out here.

[Eamon]

does anyone know if degus can have mushrooms? perhaps they're too watery?

[Aimeelou]

Ive tryed mine with mushrooms and been sprouts, and they didnt exactly go crazy for them!