Introducing Degus to Chinchilla's

[ilovemydegus]

Hi all,

i have heard of people keeping chinchilla and degus together, is this a done thing?

I have been asked to rehome 2 chinchillas and i was thinking that i might be able to get one big cage and house them all together but want to find out more about it first.

Would they take to eachother straight away or would it be as hard and trying as introducing degu to degu.

Any help will be appreciated.

by the way the 2 chinchillas are 2 yrs old but i have no idea how old my degus are as they were rescues. All are male.

[critterrx]

I realize this is an older thread, but in case you're still considering this, I thought I'd answer anyway. It's not a good idea to house different species together. They have different diet requirements, they could hurt each other (chins have a big size advantage), and there's no guarantee they'll get along. I don't even let my degus and chinchilla play with each other. Better safe than sorry!

[sheenamat]

Hi.
my friend who introduced me to Degus. Had a single male he shared his cage with a Syrian hamster.
Company for him while the hamster was not defensive of his territory.
So different species can mix.
After all humans seem to think they can live with what ever other animal we choose.
I think the animals are less likely to fight if they are both young.

[Sunshinemeg]

I originally brought home a Chinchilla with the idea in mind of him living with the Degus. This was a result of talking to several owners who happily kept both species in the same cage. It is possible, but you do need to consider that they have different food requirements, both will eat a chinchilla pellet suppliment as long as there is no sugar in it, and the Chinchilla would need to be offered its treats away from the Degus. You would also need a large enough cage that the Chinchilla can sleep while the Degus are being "busy" during the day, and visaversa.

In the end, just one of my degus would not take to the chinchilla, so now the super cage set up (www.myhomezone.co.uk/chins and into the house section for details and pictures) means that all animals are happy!