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Post by davx on Mar 4, 2012 20:31:12 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2012 20:54:35 GMT
I don't get it, this is the second time today that my links suddenly do not work :/ Anyway, I've modified the post so they should work now.. I hope. Very annoying. Thanks for linking to my list, at least that one works  |
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Post by smithomatic on Mar 10, 2012 15:02:34 GMT
Hey all, I have an almost completely dead strawberry plant in my garden. We plan to remove all the dead foliage and leave the few remaining healthy leaves. We hope after a bit of watering and care this plant will be revived. What I was wandering; is the dead foliage degu safe? All the dead leaves and stems are very brown and dry making them extremely crispy. I have checked the plant over and there are no parasites, bugs or infections in the plant - its simply dried up. I have already fed one of these dried leaves and the degu devoured it in nothing flat. I would imagine there is little to no nutrients left in the leaf, would it help the degus digestion in the same way hay does? now thats its completely dried out? Will it have no usefulness at all and just pass straight through? I am excited about the prospect of giving the degus these dead leaves, I think the degus are too  |
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Post by davx on Mar 10, 2012 20:25:35 GMT
Yes it is. The leaves dry out when water is scarce or when they are old, often both is the case. The idea is, that the plant first lose its old (and little important) leaves and only if there is no other way (long and strong drought), the young leaves too die off. As consequence the plant cannot grow and dies. As you can see, this is a vivid function for survival of plants and of course it is a process of renewal.
No the matter is more complicated. Yes you are thinking right in respect to poor nutritional value. The leaves are old, but that is not the result from drying, but it is the result caused by aging:
Leaves changes their composition during their life. Young leaves are tender and contain many nutrients. They use them for growing process. But with increasing size, the plant has to stabilize their leaves. It stores robust polymers ("bricks" of the plants) composed of sugar chanins (cellulose, indigestible carbohydrates) and chains of phenols (lignin), the "bricks" wood is made of.
Here we can see the difference between old dried leaves and hay:
Hay is a product we cannot know what it really is. But if we know the farmer, he can tell us important details, e.g. young grasses are cut in late spring. This first cut is rich in energy, all plants are young, pretty tender and containing much of nitrogen (and thus also protein). If we dry this hay, we have a totally different product. But if the hay is from long, old grass, e.g. cut in the late season in autumn, it might have a similar quality as we find in died off leaves.
Btw. I always found it a good enrichment offering my degu even such dead leaves. Sometimes they ate them, sometimes they used them only as kind of natural bedding, but this doesn't matter, because it has it function anyways.
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Post by smithomatic on Mar 10, 2012 23:16:16 GMT
Excellent news! I will harvest it tomorrow  |
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Post by davx on Mar 12, 2012 1:11:07 GMT
Tell us what your degus mean whether the dried leaves are suitable food for them or not . |
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Post by liyah512 on Mar 16, 2012 21:16:23 GMT
I had some wild dandelions growing in my yard. I cut them at the base of the stem, but wanted to know, should I clean these before giving to my goos? Do I need to dry them out? Can they only have certain parts?
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 16, 2012 23:36:42 GMT
No, they don't need drying out, but a rince and then a pat dry to remove the water is good. Degus can eat flower, stem, leaves, and root!! The whole plant is good for them, and they LOVE them!
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Post by davx on Mar 17, 2012 3:31:35 GMT
Yes the roots are also good. Here In central Europe you can buy dried dandelion roots. I used them few times and the degus were fond of this stuff. But there is of course a good reason to let the root in the ground: after cutting the plant recovers faster.
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Post by liyah512 on Mar 17, 2012 3:35:23 GMT
I gave one flower to each of my lil goos and when Daisy was done with hers, she tried snagging Stewarts lol How many are they allowed to have a day?
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Post by davx on Mar 17, 2012 9:44:33 GMT
There is no limitation because dandelion is a very good fodder plant. But generally it is useful to start with small quantities and increase them gradually. Normally the degus show if they like a plant or if there are bad tasting compounds (=often problematic in bigger quantities) in it. Thus the degus normally can regulate the intake of food suitable for them. Therefore problematic stuff is mostly consumed only in small and suitable quantities. Degus also have to deal with problematic plant compounds (the plants use them as defence against herbivores, fungi etc.) in wild and are adapted to handle them useful under normal conditions.
Intoxication in wild often are the result of scarce food and/or hunger (e.g. caused by droughts) and distrbance/destruction of their habitat (e.g. introduced species, human activities etc.).
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Post by liyah512 on Mar 17, 2012 13:39:48 GMT
TY Davx! I want to be able to give my littles new food once in awhile so they dont get bored. I really appreciate everyones advice!
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Mar 25, 2012 12:30:40 GMT
Is there any information available regarding the suitability of Cacti (+ their fruit and flowers)? Chile must have tons, so it seems logical that they would be a natural food for Degus. I already have three, one of which produces small flowers, and I have ordered some seeds to grow more, so it'd be great if I could feed bits to the Degus sometimes.
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 25, 2012 16:07:21 GMT
I think it probably depends on different species of cactus. I know some cactus flowers are safe, I have a packet of Mucki brand cactus flowers that are safe, but it doesn't tell you anything on the packet about what type of cactus flower they are.
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Post by dyzired on Mar 26, 2012 2:57:31 GMT
I'm not sure if I passed by it on the list...Don't know if this belongs on this thread or not...but isn't sweet potato okay for degus? Maybe I'm completely wrong..but I swore I read somewhere that raw sweet potato (I believe no skin) is okay and they supposedly love it? Please correct me if I'm wrong =]
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 26, 2012 4:00:53 GMT
I am pretty sure it's OK for them too.
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Post by davx on Mar 27, 2012 0:19:42 GMT
The Mucki flowers are probably Opuntia flowers (prickly pear). Opuntia is one of the most common used cactus species, thus I assume it as probable source.
Sweet potato is in fact safe, as Faith already stated.
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ava
Burrowing Degu
Posts: 215
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Post by ava on Mar 28, 2012 17:25:14 GMT
Great - I'll look out for a mature Opuntia then.
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Post by davx on Mar 28, 2012 20:26:45 GMT
In wild degus make considerable damage on Opuntia cultivations. They also eat the grapes from Chilean wineyards and make damages on cereal plantings. |
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Post by moletteuk on Apr 2, 2012 17:08:25 GMT
My goos have been enjoying catkins from poplar and alder trees.
With the early spring here, I've also picked dock (Rumex obtusifolius), ground elder (Aegopodium podagraria), and cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)(being careful with ID on this), and they've enjoyed those dried out very much.
I also found quite a lot of Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), the info I found on this doesn't look promising for it being safe for degus, but I thought I'd ask Davx anyway?
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