|
Post by Ady on Sept 26, 2011 12:52:21 GMT
Hi Heidi, I'm thinking if u got Tesco around u could get quinoa and buckwheat in there and millet in Holland&Barret, those are low in fat and as Fred suggested mix it together with mix u have.
|
|
heidi
Warbling Degu
Posts: 30
|
Post by heidi on Sept 26, 2011 13:09:22 GMT
Sure, we have a Tesco. I will pop in and look for the quinoa and buckwheat, and I already have millet, then create a mix. Thanks guys x
|
|
|
Post by fred on Sept 27, 2011 12:18:01 GMT
My second dried plants mixI recently bought a bag of Rosewood Naturals Nature's Salad (shown in a previous post). Because it contains some flakes and cereals, I 'diluted' it with a bag of Burns Meadow Mix for Rabbits which is much more frugal. This is what the resulting mix looks like It contains alfalfa, birch tree leaf, chamomile, cornflowers, dandelion, edible leaves, marigold, melissa, nettle, plantain, parsley, peppermint, red clover, rose petals, carrots, red beet, wheat, willow bark. It also contains oat flakes, wheat flakes, pea flakes, burst wheat, burst maize, maize flakes, which aren't necessarily a recommended part of degu food but are such minor contribution to this mix that they don't matter. My girls really like it, at least as much as the first one. I have now made two dried plant and one seed mix out of six bags bought locally. The total cost was £ 16 and what I have got will last me quite a long time. I will of course add some more tasty bits like those Kat has found, but as a starting point this is all I needed. Since my two girl also eat a lot of fresh stuff, we are happily at the 100% level now ;D
|
|
heidi
Warbling Degu
Posts: 30
|
Post by heidi on Sept 27, 2011 13:30:09 GMT
That looks great!!
Today I went to Tescos on a misson to get the Buckwheat and quinoa, I managed to get the quinoa but the buckwheat was nowhere to be found and its a big Tescos, anyone know where I can source the buckwheat?? I did but another bird food mix as well today, but I need to check the ingredients is there a safe seed list anywhere??
|
|
|
Post by fred on Sept 27, 2011 13:45:53 GMT
but I need to check the ingredients is there a safe seed list anywhere?? I am not aware that there are any seeds that wouldn't be safe. There is a list on the first page of this thread; you only have to look at protein and fat content. If there is a seed not included, let me know and I'll try to find out and add it to the list
|
|
|
Post by NightwishRaven999 on Sept 28, 2011 2:27:18 GMT
Those are some lucky degu girls Fred ! The mix looks great and varried...they seem to like it just fine ;D
I will be hurrying to try and harvest Birch tree leaves before it is too late. Winters here are very cold and long, the leaves are already starting to redden. I am hoping to harvest a large bag of the leaves - enough so that I am able to include them in the mixes during winter. Same goes for plantain...I have found a place where these plants grow particularly large.
Hopefully it will all work out !
|
|
|
Post by davx on Sept 28, 2011 2:44:49 GMT
Oh Jordan that sounds good. Use this opportunity to collect some plants for the winter. heidiBuckwheat you should find in organic shops or health food shops. It is pretty uncommon in our daily diet and therefore often hard to find in supermarkets.
|
|
|
Post by Ady on Sept 28, 2011 9:25:04 GMT
Tesco sells buckwheat in their Tesco Whole Food range, probably not all stores stock it. Health food shop or online one should have it also.
|
|
heidi
Warbling Degu
Posts: 30
|
Post by heidi on Sept 28, 2011 9:32:00 GMT
Thanks I will check the health food shop then, I have one local and when I get a chance I will pop in. I got the quinoa from the Whole Food range in Tesco but they didnt have Buckwheat, I even read all the labels in case they were just out. Just another quick question, sorry for all the questions, I got another bag of bird seed mix but this one has kibbled maize in it. A lot of the bird seed packets seem to have kibbled something or other in. Isnt kibble just a waste product of something?? and are Degus ok to have it?? Thanks again guys x
|
|
|
Post by malteser60 on Sept 28, 2011 11:31:20 GMT
"Kibble is the act of coarsley griding something such as grain" - taken from Wikipedia.
So with the bird food it is either deliberetly ground to break open the grain, or it is the 'waste' pieces of grains that are not good/whole to go into whole grain bags. So it's not technically waste as you think of it as it's still perfectly good grain, it's just been ground open.
|
|
heidi
Warbling Degu
Posts: 30
|
Post by heidi on Sept 30, 2011 13:14:03 GMT
Ah Thanks malteaser60, I must have gotten a little mixed up!!
Im still having trouble locating buckwheat, Ive tried Tescos, Holland and Barret, Julian something, Marks & Spencers and Waitrose and no one appears to have any. Ive looked online but postage is as much as the buckwheat, of course if I have too I shall get it online but I was just wondering if anyone else had ideas or has seen it anywhere. Thanks.
|
|
|
Post by Maravilla on Sept 30, 2011 15:28:40 GMT
Hello heidi, don't worry about the buckwheat!!! It is a nice ingredient, but not essentially in the food of your degus!! There are so many possible seeds to feed, not only buckwheat, quinoa, millet or amaranth. Unfortunately I still didn't manage to find out the correct English names.
|
|
|
Post by fred on Oct 2, 2011 21:26:56 GMT
My third mix – kitchen herbs and veggiesThis has been a rather strange one for me since my girls eat all of its ingredients bar one fresh. But I wanted to find out whether I could produce a decent mix from ingredients bought fresh from my local supermarket and dried on a heater. It seems difficult if not impossible to buy dried plants in North America and this mix is mainly a suggestion for our members there how they can get started with a natural mix. It contains many of the ingredients in Jordan's mix but I have included some more kitchen herbs and vegetables - basil, carrot tops, chives, dill, mint, rosemary, tarragon, thyme, sage, salad cress - aubergine, beetroot, celery, courgette, cucumber, peppers, cherry tomato I have discussed it on a German forum and to be honest it wasn't received too well there. They don't like some of the kitchen herbs very much but this is easy to say when you can order so much other stuff online. My girls eat a lot of herbs fresh and are very happy with it. Because there are so many different ingredients, there is no risk that they get too much from a particular herb or vegetable. Without any doubt, from the three mixes this is the most popular one Where possible, they get the herbs as large pieces and you can tell they like this very much. Small dried vegetable pieces are also great as treats.
|
|
|
Post by malteser60 on Oct 2, 2011 21:53:25 GMT
That looks tasty enough for me to eat fred!
|
|
|
Post by Kat on Oct 3, 2011 6:20:32 GMT
That looks really good what was your method for drying the tomato? I have thought about doing this but have worried because tomato is so wet.
Kat X
|
|
|
Post by NightwishRaven999 on Oct 3, 2011 6:50:49 GMT
@ Fred That looks very tasty ! Thanks so much for posting the ingredients used in this mix. This mix is indeed do-able for those of us who have little access to dried plants and flowers. I will try out some of the ingredients you have used....hopefully my girls will like it as well Fred's latest mix is a MASSIVE WAKE UP CALL for those of us in North America. It shows creating a degu-friendly mix is indeed something that can be done.
|
|
|
Post by fred on Oct 3, 2011 8:12:53 GMT
@jordan You have correctly identified my motivation for this mix; I tried to be subtle but can't disagree with the bold and underline ;D I would have liked to work on it a bit longer but brought it forward because right now our North American members may still have a few weeks (depending on where they live) to go and collect some material. for example birch and nettle leaves are easy to identify and collect in reasonable amounts which can be added to the kitchen herb mix. I know it's more difficult over there but 25% natural nutrition seems a realistic goal over this winter for those interested.
|
|
|
Post by fred on Oct 3, 2011 9:18:40 GMT
That looks really good what was your method for drying the tomato? I have thought about doing this but have worried because tomato is so wet. I have cut cherry tomatoes in thin slices and dried them on top of a heater (Scottish summer ). Within two days they became hard little disks like the one you see in the picture. It worked really well.
|
|
|
Post by Kat on Oct 3, 2011 9:30:27 GMT
I have taken my little one out foraging this morning and we have found a few things. Is there a difference between milk thistle and thistle? Can degus eat the regular thistle?
Kat X
|
|
|
Post by fred on Oct 3, 2011 9:50:44 GMT
I have taken my little one out foraging this morning and we have found a few things. Is there a difference between milk thistle and thistle? Can degus eat the regular thistle? I found absolutely nothing on the German sites. It appears that I may have been the only one who has tried it so far. My girls liked the flowers very much and I will be collecting a lot next year.
|
|