TREATS and other edibles for your Degu!!!

[deguconvert]

I would LOVE to see that recipe!! Please, please post it, and it possible some photos of the finished product? It sounds very enticing!

[luna1]

Hi there, I don't have any pictures as I am waiting for more ingredients to arrive and as of last night they are all gone! They aren't particularly pleasing to look at as I gave up using cutters a while ago and just flatten out the mix into large pancake shapes on the baking tray and then break into pieces when cool and put in the cookie container.

Roughly 2 table spoons of Diced fresh beetroot. After dicing I put it in an old tea towel and wring out all the moisture
2 table spoons of rose hip powder
2 table spoons of grass meal powder
2 table spoons of wholemeal organic flour - if you can't find organic, normal will do
1/2 - 1 tablespoon of organic sunflower oil
Water to bind.

You can also vary the ingredients by adding carrot powder, hedgerow herbs and dried parsley or any other Degu safe veg/herbs

Mix all ingredients together and add enough water to bind together, you don't want it too sticky or it will be impossibel to handle but not too dry or it falls apart.

Put some wholemeal flour onto a surface and take a small handful and press it into the flour to coat on all sides. If you want you can try to flatten and cut out shapes but my efforts don't work very well as it normally sticks and the I cannot put it on the baking tray successfully!

Lightly Grease 2 baking trays with sunflower oil and if not cutting into shapes press the flour covered mixture into a circle with your hand until approx 1/2 cm thick so they resemble biscuits. Through trial and error I have found this way to be the easiest.

I use an electric fan oven so bake at 130 degrees celcius for around 20/30 minutes then turn over with a palette knife - they don't stick- and bake for a further 20 mins or until very crispy. Turn oven off and leave them in the oven with the door slightly open until cooled as this makes them crispier. You will need to adjust times for your oven and check regularly in case of burning. When they are completely cold break into pieces and store in an airtight container. They normally last about 1 month before going soft but they don't normally last that long in my house.

I buy my rosehip, carrot and grassmeal powders alongside many other brilliant herbs, dried flowers etc from www.galensgarden.co.uk But you can buy some of these ingredients from larger supermarkets or healthfood shops. The grassmeal powder can be made putting readigrass or dried grass in a blender I presume?

It sounds time consuming but once you have done it a few times it is quite quick and your Degus will love you for it. I also feed them to my chins but the Goo's are the biggest fans

Enjoy!

[deguconvert]

That sounds very interesting!! I will have to give it a try . . . or the goos will and I'll put it together. LOL! Thanks for posting that!

[luna1]

I hope that your Goo's like it if/when you try it!

It must be said that there are online shops/people who sell 'cookies' and 'cookie mixtures'. I have found that although the initial outlay for various ingredients is quite expensive, longterm, it is much, much cheaper making your own. If you only have 2-4 Degus then cookie mixtures might work out cheaper but on average, when you have 5 Degus or more, then my recipe/ingredients work out much cheaper. I have worked this out through experience

I also have my own version of higher fat treats for Degus that need to put weight on/sick/recovering etc - these must be fed in moderation because of the fat content but can be given very sparingly or once every couple of weeks or so as they have peanuts in them.

I try constantly to experiment and come up with 'tasty' ideas that are healthy and once I get the 'Goo's' approval then there is no stopping me. I would love any other ideas that people have!

x

[yorkiepup]

thehehe gave my degu Charlie a branflake and he went nuts its so funny XD

[bassmonkey]

Hi, I am a new degu owner. I have had 1 of my girls for 2 months (she was in the pet shop all alone looking sad so I had to rescue her!) and the other for about 5 weeks after I read that they can get depressed on their own.
Anyway, I have been feeding them bio organic corn flakes as treats (they go mad for them) which have no sugar content at all but just wanted to check that they are Ok for them.
I live in Belgium and can't seem to find oats they don't have a high sugar content but there is also fruit in them so not sure if that accounts for the sugar??
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks

[deguconvert]

Can you find unprocessed whole oats anywhere?

[bassmonkey]

Unfortunately I have not been able to find them anywhere. I have been to the pet shops here and they don't seem to stock them either .

[moletteuk]

One or two sugar free cornflakes wouldn't be harmful, but they aren't especially good for them. Have a look at our nutrition charts for lots of choices for treats, oil seeds and dried veg are good options deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15602/vegetable-seed-nut-nutrition-charts

Health food shops or ethnic food shops are good places to look, things like sesame seeds you can get at the supermarket. Ebay or amazon can be useful for more unusual seeds and things like dandelion or burdock roots. Zooplus is great for herb mixes and better food mixes. I imagine you could order from Futterparadies with reasonable shipping costs for Belgium futterparadies.de/catalog/index2.php

Welcome to the forum, do have a good look around, I hope your introductions are going well

[bassmonkey]

Thank you for the response... i have been trying to respond for a while but for some reason i can not log on through my phone.

I Finally found a section in a super market which sels organic oats which are for diabetics. as far as i can tell they are all natural.

anyway my ladies go mad for them! Their favorate is sesame seads they go completely crazy for them!
I also when to the health food store and found a mix pack of seeds and they love them too... although i dont give them so often due to the high fat content.

The introductions went great thank you, thanks to all of the information that is provided. they live together very well now.

I am thinking of getting 2 more degus as i feel that my ladies do not have much in common and might benifit from having more of a social group as they are very different degus.

I am going to post on one of the forums which is related to this but would love to know your thoughts as well... i like to get as many opinions and expeiences as posible to give my ladies the best life!

thank you for your advise it has been very helpful.

[davethedegu]

I bought Rosewood Harvest Festival that contains Dill, Peppermint and Flax, then got home and couldn't find if peppermint was okay for them or not, does anyone know? It's super strong smelling

[ntg]

Peppermint is fine and usually well received are those the only 3 ingredients?

[davethedegu]

Thankyou! Yeah it's just that

[Deleted]

Mine adore parsley stalks, it's like cocaine to them lol