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Post by moletteuk on Mar 21, 2012 11:29:46 GMT
Thanks Dave. Very interesting and useful
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Post by Marlena on Mar 23, 2012 10:43:07 GMT
Do not know if I write a good topic. I would like to show my herbs. Ingredients: broccoli, parsnips, mint leaves, birch leaves, grass, parsley, carrots, bark of trees, cucumbers, grape leaves, oatmeal, sunflower very little, very little maize, twigs of trees. Very tasty. I think that you will like it. In the evening I give the composition of other herbs. Regards, Marlena.
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Post by deguconvert on Mar 23, 2012 12:45:36 GMT
WOW!! I think that looks amazing, Marlena! I am really impressed!!
If I may suggest, I think you could also add some grass seed, canary seed, millet seeds, nyger seeds, and barley seeds. Degus use seeds as a large part of their diet in the wild, so the addition of these will be beneficial and make your mix complete. However . . . I am not greatly experienced at putting mixes together myself . . . so hopefully if I am advising you poorly, I will be corrected by those who are experienced.
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hanhan
Newborn Degu
mad about all things animal!
Posts: 22
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Post by hanhan on Jul 30, 2012 14:51:07 GMT
Hi, I am so excited about starting a new natural diet for my degus this forum is excellent and contains so much knowledge! I am learning TONS!! However i dont really know where to start at the moment once a week my degus get a variety of safe fresh vegetables which I did research on what to feed and when on the degutopia website. The rest of the time they gee fed pellet food. How do I introduce a more natural diet?? I know to introduce gradually so to give the new mixes mixed in with pellets until my current pellets are finished, but what do I introduce and when? if seeds make up the main part of a degus diet do i just introduce a seed mix with the pellets? or should I buy a JR farm pack for instance and mix that in with pellets? Sorry about all the questions!!!! Confused.com!! aha Thankyou Hannah
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 30, 2012 20:22:22 GMT
Hi Hannah welcome to the forum You and your degus are going to love natural nutrition The best way to start is to add in leaves, greenery, twigs, flowers and veg, this is what they eat a lot of in the wild and what they can benefit the most from, and you can't really go wrong, its all really healthy. You can buy mixes or parts of mixes or use human food or collect stuff from hedgerows. There is thread listing lots of bought herb mixes and a list and info scattered about pickng your own. If you have a look at the charts for seeds, grains, nuts and veg you can start adding things in small amounts, widening the range ofthings you offer as treats. I hope that helps you get started, feel free to ask questions
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hanhan
Newborn Degu
mad about all things animal!
Posts: 22
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Post by hanhan on Jul 31, 2012 13:15:42 GMT
Hey! thankyou thats great I have already made my first mix it contains bark, leaves and twigs from apple and cherry trees, willow leaves, and a small bit of dried veg. I will use this to add with their pellets. I am also in the middle of a herb mixture contains different herbs which from what i read all are suitable, just waiting for them to dry in the oven! I will also add some strawberry leaves and see what they make of them I will alternate the mixes so they dont have the same everyday. Just one question with the seeds, once the pellets have run out these will be the everyday food so for me to mix my own how much fat would they need daily? and when mixing seeds should i just use the fatty seeds sparingly and provide a larger quantity of the less fatty ones?? Thankyou Hannah
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Post by moletteuk on Jul 31, 2012 18:31:14 GMT
Great! The mixes sound good If you are aiming to stop the pellets completely you need to do it very gradually, over a few months, you need to be pretty confident in what you are doing. Have you looked at the jr farm mixes? Their premium, special or grainless mixes make a good middle ground while you and your goos are experimenting and learning. It can take while to find good sources of everything they need that they like. The way the switch works usually is as you start offering real wholefoods, they get more reluctant to eat their pellets or mix, so it just happens naturally. The proportion of oil seeds depends on how active your degus are. You can start at something like 30% ish, but try to include a good mix as there are good vitamins and minerals in various oil seeds. I can recommend ratrations.co.uk for sourcing loads of different seeds, there's a thread about them, let me know if you need help finding it.
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hanhan
Newborn Degu
mad about all things animal!
Posts: 22
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Post by hanhan on Aug 1, 2012 9:50:45 GMT
yes hoping to stop pellets completely. I have looked at JR farm mixes as well as others so looking currently at which shop and what mixes to buy. Thankyou for your help i will look around at mixes etc and what rations to include for seeds. what is it that makes the diet complete?? for example if I went and bought a variety of different mixes and created some of my own to make the mixes contain a large variety what must it include for it to be a sustainable balanced diet? Thank you!
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 1, 2012 18:57:50 GMT
Well, variety is the key. You need a variety of veg, green matter and oil seeds to provide all the vitamins and minerals they need. Commercial foods are atificially supplemented with vitamins and minerals, so you need to be careful that you are providing everything naturally. You need to keep an eye on calcium and phosphorus content and the ratio between the two to keep bones and teeth healthy.
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hanhan
Newborn Degu
mad about all things animal!
Posts: 22
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Post by hanhan on Aug 2, 2012 15:56:16 GMT
hey, would this be a good mix to make a good balanced diet??? (I am not stating it now! I would just like to know what i am needing for when i do eventually do the 100% switch) as a daily mix: millet, dari, canary seed, niger seed, hemp, linseed, oats. mixtures: dandilion delight-dandilion, lemon balm, plantain. ginko plus- ginko biloba leaves, green oat, aarons rod summerfield-carrot, pea, ribwort, marigold blossoms, sunflower petals, dandilions, hibicus blossoms, rose blossoms coneflower seed mixture fed once weekly as a treat in replacement as daily seed mix. supreme wild bird seed-whole wheat, whole oats, pea grits, whole barley, kibbled maize, micronized maize, black sunflower seeds, white dari, red dari, white millet, soya oil. ^i understand with this that i will have to take some maize out and feed it sparingly, i could maybe switch the maize for pumpkin seeds? please tell me if there is anything i need to add/ remove. Thankyouu! as you can tell i am new to this stuff! Hannah
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 3, 2012 15:58:32 GMT
That sounds pretty good to me as a starting point. You might find it cheaper to look at some of the JR Farm coarse feed mixes, you get bigger bags than the Rosewood Naturals ones. On a full natural diet they need lots of green mixes, so you might want to check a few out. I can also recommend gathering greenery from the hedgrows if you can, you get nice big pieces, and obviously it's free and fresh. Also don't forget vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower (including stalks for both), greens, green beans, green peppers, courgette are all good.
You need to bear in mind that 100% natural nutrition is still quite new, so you need to be very observant with your degus as you go, and actually it would be great if you stay in touch on the forum and let us know how it goes, we still have a lot to learn about natural feeding.
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hanhan
Newborn Degu
mad about all things animal!
Posts: 22
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Post by hanhan on Aug 3, 2012 16:53:45 GMT
thats great. Is there any particular JR farm mixes you can recommend? I will let you know, at the moment i have been drying a few bits my self and introducing small amounts to them all which they have loved, i will obviously keep doing this daily. Thankyou for all you help
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 3, 2012 18:00:46 GMT
Me and my goos like Garden Herbs, Ribwort, Parsley Stalks and Chinchilla Flower Garden. Glad to help
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Post by degufan123 on Aug 3, 2012 19:45:28 GMT
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hanhan
Newborn Degu
mad about all things animal!
Posts: 22
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Post by hanhan on Aug 4, 2012 8:46:38 GMT
thats great thankyou Oh thats good they are already used to having a bit of fresh veg once a week anyway, and yes i will be giving them dried mixes anyway. thanks for the links
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 4, 2012 9:48:29 GMT
Of course you could make the change overnight if you wanted to, I'm just suggesting it's easier and you are more likely to do a good job if you take some time over it.
The toxicity of beans referred to applies mainly to kidney beans. We have no reported problems with green (french) beans.
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Post by squeak96 on Feb 25, 2013 21:03:11 GMT
I've just started switching Squeak to a 50% natural diet. Since I'm not in the position to get anymore degus at the moment , I decided to give it a go now. That way when I do get more I will be able to feed them it. It also gives squeak something interesting to keep him busy.
I managed to get some dried plant mixes in Pets at home, made by Woodlands. Which contain most of the ingredients I wanted. Then added a few extras. I've got his seed mix sorted ( mainly millet seeds but with a few oil seeds added in) and dried some salad leaves, beetroot, carrot and parsnip(but the carrot and parsnip will only be fed occasionally).
Aswell as that he will get Pets at home degu nuggets (Though I've found that as I introduce the healthier food to him he seems to leave the nuggets) and of course unlimited hay.
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Post by moletteuk on Feb 28, 2013 12:50:19 GMT
That sounds good, Squeak. The Woodlands products are quite good, you might like to look at the JR Farm stuff on Zooplus.co.uk too, and of course the growing season starts soon for picking your own in the hedgrows.
Do mix in a few different types of seed, don't be scared of the oil seeds, they contain lots of minerals and nutrients. It's important to mix in some fennel seeds or celery seeds too as they contain lots of calcium whereas the grains contain lots of phosphorus and it's important to keep the two in balance.
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Post by squeak96 on Mar 2, 2013 9:59:28 GMT
I will have a look at the JR farm stuff. Because I live in the city its quite hard to find things to dry. But I can get to places where there is stuff growing, so when I can I'm going to get plenty so I can get it dried and stored.
I wasn't sure how many of the oilseeds I shoud feed him, so I tried to just feed a few. Millet seeds were the only ones I could find but I will try to buy some more aswell.
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Post by moletteuk on Mar 2, 2013 17:37:05 GMT
You can find seeds in supermarkets, healthfood shops, pet shops (look for bird seed), ratrations.com
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