Degus teeth less orange then normal

[marracraighead]

I have a Degu and it seems her teeth are almost white I am started to really worry I feed the goos sun degu feed I have 4 goos total and the other 3 are not having this problem and way I can supplement their diet some? my goos eat no fresh veggies I have tried many different veggies with no success (except frozen peas)
I have tried coating in oats and nothing works.
ty in advance for reading

[deguconvert]

One question to ask . . . does she chew on the bars of your cage, any other objects in your cage that are very hard? Sometime excessive gnawing will actually scrape off the coloring on their teeth.

Next, have a boo at this link to a page on the forum. deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=food&action=display&thread=8772
There are a number of different greens etc. that you can offer. Try some of these, I'm sure you are bound to find some that tickle her fancy!

Lastly, loss of color in the teeth is not a true reflection of poor health. The color on the teeth is something that builds up as a result of the chemical reaction between their saliva and the components within green foods. So, it is something that can fluctuate, be scraped off, and change from very dark orange to white, depending on their sources of food. You do want to be sure they are getting good greens though, so for the most part, they will have nice orange teeth.

[marracraighead]

TY for the fast response and I will be at the store tomorrow so I will take the printed copy with me.
And yes Eva was in a cage with plastic shelves before moving to the new cage and the shelves were chewed I noticed when I took them out.

So hopefully they might return to orange after some time in the new cage and I might be able to get something green the girls like.

[Maravilla]

Aug 22, 2011 18:44:25 GMT deguconvert said:

does she chew on the bars of your cage, any other objects in your cage that are very hard? Sometime excessive gnawing will actually scrape off the coloring on their teeth.

Lastly, loss of color in the teeth is not a true reflection of poor health. The color on the teeth is something that builds up as a result of the chemical reaction between their saliva and the components within green foods. So, it is something that can fluctuate, be scraped off, and change from very dark orange to white, depending on their sources of food.

Do you have any further information about this topic? Any articles etc.? It's the first time I read this and I didn't find any information in the sources I have access to. We always discuss white teeth as a problem resulting from a lack of different minerals and suggest supplying a mineral complex used for reptiles and birds.

[ava]

Just an idea, maybe a stupid one - assuming they're all together in one cage... do you think there's a chance that the other Degus are eating more than their share of the food, or the particular bits of food that keep their teeth healthy orange?

If this makes no sense just ignore me

[fred]

The orange in the enamel is iron. White teeth MAY point to a deficiency in iron or a decreased efficiency in its incorporation. This may in turn be effected by deficiencies in vitamins or minerals like calcium (I don't think the biochemistry is completely understood). I would definitely suggest to give a mineral complex as Maravilla suggested. I don't know whether there are different kinds around (Maravilla, could you please give a link to something that is tried and tested in Germany so that one can find something similar in the USA?)

Can you tell us a little more about their diet? If I understand this correctly, Eva and Juliet had the same food before and since you got them? How old are they?

I am also a bit sceptical about the scraping off. Rodent enamel is very hard and by definition it could only scrape off on something harder, definitely not wood or plastic.

[marracraighead]

ava they are in a cage divided into 2 separate cages. 2 food dishes in each side

@fred Yes same food now as before except previous owner said the goos ate fresh veggies which I have not been able to get them to eat. I feed a dandelion mix timothy hay and previously they were fed just basic hay. They are approximately a year as they were rescued by their previous owner as well. The cages upper portion was made of wire but cant tell if she was chewing more or less then Juliet.

[deguconvert]

The scraping off of the orange comes only as an observation of my boys. There was a period of time when one of them was persistently gnawing on the bars for hours at a time, weeks on end. As he continued to do this, he wore away the powered paint covering in many places, and he teeth grew less orange, and were nearly white by the time he finally decided to stop. Once he stopped this action, he teeth were very soon orange again and have never faded since. My assumption, as I should probably call it, was that his gnawing of the bars has effected a removal of the color on his teeth.

I have always understood that the color was more a build up of the chemicals that have reacted from saliva and food combined, rather than a colour inherent to the enamel itself. Is this not so?

[fred]

So Maravilla and I have looked into the question of incisor enamel colour. Maravilla posted the question on a specialist rodent forum and got a long, detailed and very well informed response from one member ( www.degupedia.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2421 ). I had a look at several scientific papers and some chin and rat information sites. This is the simplified take on the question.

The orange colour is due to iron incorporated into the enamel at the root. Since the incisors are continuously growing, the visible colour is a reflection of the metabolism several weeks back. There are a few substances in food that could potentially stain the teeth, but these would be expected to produce a different colour and not as vivid as the orange normally observed.

It is therefore possible to distinguish between the scraping off of enamel and a discolouration caused by metabolism. If the enamel is scraped off, there will be a strip with the original colour where the tooth comes out of the gum. If the incisors are whitish throughout, this points to a metabolic problem, and will most commonly be related to the diet.

I have kept this short, if there are any detail questions regarding the information we have dug up, we will try to answer them.


@ marracraighead – if you want to check Eva's incisors and let us know, we may be able to give further advice.

[deguconvert]

Thank you Fred and Maravilla. I will switch out my mental files and update them. LOL!