She's drinking too much water...

[bopeuph]

Nausicaa seems to hang out at the water bottle only two or three times a day, but they tend to be extended periods of time as of recent. I haven't fed her anything that I think will harm her, but I know thirst is a sign of diabetes. I stated in this thread what we feed her:

deguworld.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=food&action=display&thread=1158249384

We have been taking out the pumpkin seeds and using them as treats. We stopped with the almonds completely. She likes what I assume are dried carrots--they are hard orange-colored wedges. She has been eating the pellets, especially the rabbit food alfalfa pellets, and we are about to get her degu feed from Brisky's. Is she showing signs of diabetes, or is she just thirsty? This is worrying us at the moment.

Nick

[aqh88]

Hard to say from just 1 symptom but I would stop with the dried carrots. Carrots are actually fairly high in sugar and unless steps are taken to remove the sugar dried foods have an even higher concentration of sugar than fresh foods. Also cut down on the seed and nut treats to lower the amount of fat and protein. It can help with diabetes if only to help keep their weight down. www.oxbowhay.com makes some treats that are quite healthy. They are the only commerical treats I will feed to any of my animals. For more frequent treats small amounts of vegetables are better than things like nuts. A degu's natural diet consists of mostly vegetation and grasses not seeds and nuts. I give mine lettuces fairly often and have also given them bits of cucumber and squash. Fresh grass that has not been sprayed with anything or have other animals frequenting it would also be a good treat.

I would completely stop feeding the kaytee. It has tons of sugar, carbohydrates, and ethoxyquin to name just some of the bad things. Ethoxyquin is known to cause cancer in small animals and due to research on animals like guinea pigs it is not allowed in human foods and highly restricted in feed given to livestock but not pet food. Feed the rabbit pellets for now and no mixes since mixes tend to be high in fats, proteins, sugars, and carbohydrates. Also the more timothy or other grass hay you can get her to eat the better.

[Erica]

I think that you should check around the water bottle to see if she's not getting all of the water in her mouth. If that's the case, the bedding below the water bottle will be damp.

I recently figured out that one of my degus is a messier drinker than the other. Also, most of my degus drink quickly but one or two are slower drinkers ... just like some other animals!