Post by davx on Sept 2, 2011 0:58:26 GMT
Hi,
I'd like to ask you about your experiences beyond the classical beddings.
I tried several substrates, also such ones I was disadvised:
- sand
- soil
- soil/sand mix
- drieds leaves (easy to collect in winter from oak or hornbeam)
- newspaper snippets
and more classical:
- straw stacks (good solution for deep bedding in cages with shallow base)
- old, long grasses
My conclusion
Sand: it was not suitable in my aquarium-cage, because the degus brought other bedding in and the aquarium was to small, in my outdoor enclosure it is very useful, after rainfall it drys quickly und for the degus it is easy to burrow. Only for the plants is it not such a good choice, soil is better.
Soil and soil sand mixture: I only used in a excavation box (also used as dustbath) and in my outdoor enclosure. In indoor cages I think it's not really a good choice, in the excavation box it worked and the degus excavated here their nuts (hazel, walnut, pecan etc.). But another degu owner told me, that the degus ignored it when he spilt the box with water and maintained the moisture in it (woodlice in the box cleaned the soil from mould). Outdoors it worked fine.
Leaves: I collected them from several tree species (oaks, hornbeam, beech, but I also dried in summer the leaves from hazel and raspberry) and covered the normal bedding. It worked fine and the degus liked it.
Newspaper snippet: that was one of my first ideas, it is easy to test and works fine as addition to the classical beddng. As standalone solution it didn't convince me. It is too light.
Straw stacks: this solution is my favourite. It works fine and is much fun for the degus.
Old long grasses: I only used it as addition to a deep substrate (mixture of classical bedding, twigs from fodder shrubs, hay and straw). It worked fine and was a good idea for the enrichment in winter. It's because in winter the grasses grow very slowly and recover hardly. In contrast old long grasses from autumn are abundant, if they weren't cut in autumn.
I'd like to ask you about your experiences beyond the classical beddings.
I tried several substrates, also such ones I was disadvised:
- sand
- soil
- soil/sand mix
- drieds leaves (easy to collect in winter from oak or hornbeam)
- newspaper snippets
and more classical:
- straw stacks (good solution for deep bedding in cages with shallow base)
- old, long grasses
My conclusion
Sand: it was not suitable in my aquarium-cage, because the degus brought other bedding in and the aquarium was to small, in my outdoor enclosure it is very useful, after rainfall it drys quickly und for the degus it is easy to burrow. Only for the plants is it not such a good choice, soil is better.
Soil and soil sand mixture: I only used in a excavation box (also used as dustbath) and in my outdoor enclosure. In indoor cages I think it's not really a good choice, in the excavation box it worked and the degus excavated here their nuts (hazel, walnut, pecan etc.). But another degu owner told me, that the degus ignored it when he spilt the box with water and maintained the moisture in it (woodlice in the box cleaned the soil from mould). Outdoors it worked fine.
Leaves: I collected them from several tree species (oaks, hornbeam, beech, but I also dried in summer the leaves from hazel and raspberry) and covered the normal bedding. It worked fine and the degus liked it.
Newspaper snippet: that was one of my first ideas, it is easy to test and works fine as addition to the classical beddng. As standalone solution it didn't convince me. It is too light.
Straw stacks: this solution is my favourite. It works fine and is much fun for the degus.
Old long grasses: I only used it as addition to a deep substrate (mixture of classical bedding, twigs from fodder shrubs, hay and straw). It worked fine and was a good idea for the enrichment in winter. It's because in winter the grasses grow very slowly and recover hardly. In contrast old long grasses from autumn are abundant, if they weren't cut in autumn.
