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Post by Kat on Sept 23, 2011 11:48:41 GMT
OK, So I have been thinking of posting a few things about my degus diet. I am hoping to swap them to something a little more healthy and engaging than pellets but I am scared to go the whole way at the moment. So enter The 50% natural nutrition project Big thanks to Fred for starting this off. This thread will be about my attempts at some dried mixes. Mostly bought at the moment but I will be collecting a drying my own as and when I can. It's going into winter here so this may be a way off yet. A lot of my posts will me photo heavy, this is ok right??? I hope that people will read this and post. If it's not too boring, I do tend to ramble....(wonders off mumbling something about ketchup) Kat x
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Post by Kat on Sept 23, 2011 11:49:13 GMT
Hi, I have ordered quite a few dried items from these 2 stores and would like to share my thoughts on them. THE HAY EXPERTSI had emailed them previously to ask about paypal and they gave me the the details for this. I placed my order on Sunday and made the payment to there paypal account. Within 30 minutes they had emailed me to confirm the payment and to say that my order would be will me on Tuesday. On Tuesday morning I was emailed again with a 1 hour time slot for my delivery. I was very pleased with this as I wouldn't have to make sure that someone was in all day. When my goodies arrived I quickly riffled thought the box and took some photos. The only thing that I can say that I'm not 100% happy with is the herbs plus mix, but I had taken a gamble on this one anyway. I'm sure my hamsters will enjoy the majority of that mix though. I thought some close photos would be good as it can be hard to see the mix on some websites My total spend was £30.16 including delivery. I got Rosewood Naturals Ginko PlusRosewood Naturals Dandelion & Nettle RootsRosewood Naturals Natures SaladRosewood Naturals ConeflowerRosewood Naturals Fenugreek CrunchiesRosewood Naturals Herbs Plus Now for the hamstersExcel Mountain Meadow HerbsExcel Country Garden HerbsBurns PlantainBurns Meadow MixVitakraft Alfalfa SlimsI'm really happy with the food I received they all look intact and smell good too. I already have a few dried things dandelions, blackberry leaves, strawberry leaves and Rosewood Naturals Herbal Garden. I have now just got to figure out which ones to mix together. SHELLED WARRIORS EBAY SHOP[/url] I have since found that they have a website of their own Here. They are a turtle shop but sell a big range of dried flowers. If you are buying a few I think that it would be cheaper to buy from ebay though due to combined postage. Again I was very happy with the service and prices from this seller. If I am being super picky...The Mallow flowers were a little more crushed than I liked. Anyway with Shelled Warriors I spent £7.10 including delivery. I found a couple of buy 1 get 1 free offers too. In detail I got... 20g of Blue Mallow Flowers 2 x 20g of Calendula Petals 2 x 20g of Flower Mix Rose Petals, Calendula Petals, Mullein, Marsh Mallow and Hibiscusand 20g of Marsh Mallow Flowers I have dried a few flowers at home, daisies, sunflower petals and more rose petals. I have put them together to make this hopefully yummy mix. I am looking forward to giving my boys a better and more interesting diet. If anyone has any thoughts on possible mixes please let me know. Kat x
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Post by fred on Sept 23, 2011 14:23:10 GMT
These flowers look absolutely delicious . I think I need to give up my buy locally approach and get onto the internet!! Looking forward to reports how your boys take to these delicacies ;D
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Post by Maravilla on Sept 23, 2011 15:13:25 GMT
Congratulations!! I think you found good shops and ordered very nice products!! They look so nice, so natural, so yummy. I am sure your goos will like them. The fenugreek crunchies are really nice titbits!!
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Post by amie on Sept 23, 2011 16:41:31 GMT
OMG, Kat! Well done! I'd eat that! lol! I will be putting together the same diet as you just as soon as I've found a new job and can afford it
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Post by blossombrooks on Sept 23, 2011 17:57:37 GMT
That looks awesome! Great photos, you can see the products much better. I've been looking online but got confused, your posts have helped me realise which is which. :-) it all looks yum, lucky googles.
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Post by davx on Sept 23, 2011 20:23:13 GMT
Aww, that looks fine . You tried already?
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Sept 27, 2011 2:37:02 GMT
KAT ! Those products look fabulous ! The mix looks really great ! Thumbs up to you and your lucky degu boys.
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Post by malteser60 on Sept 27, 2011 21:40:09 GMT
How did your degus take to the new mix?
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Post by Kat on Sept 29, 2011 15:19:03 GMT
Hi, Thank you everyone for your comments and to NWR for choosing my photo for your site. I never thought I would get one on there.
The degus seem to be really liking the new "treats" There is usually alot of rushing to see what is in the bowl every morning. When I feed the boys roots, Scrat in particular has become a bit of a snatch and run kinda fella.
I do have a couple of proper entries and some photos to post. My PC isn't working properly at the moment, so I am currently posting on my phone. Grr
I am hoping to have is sorted within a day or two so I will update then.
Kat X
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Sept 30, 2011 6:31:05 GMT
Anxious to see more photos of the treats and mixes Kat. I am always on the lookout for sharp, clear and useful photos...so dont be surprised to spot a few more in the articles ;D
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Post by Kat on Oct 1, 2011 6:38:49 GMT
As some of you may know I have 2 lonely boys. They both want to be top goo and dispite many tries are still not willing to live together. Violetfae has 2 boys at 3 weeks old that could come and live here when weened/happy to leave mum. What I'm asking really is can anyone offer any advice on this situation? I am hoping to have one pup with each adult boy. My boys are currently in a P@H triple stack that has been spilt with mesh. Should I make this division solid now?
Kat X I have also posted this in the introduction section.
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Post by Kat on Oct 4, 2011 16:42:43 GMT
I currently store some of my degu, rodent, and bird foods in glass jars on a ledge in my weird indoor shed type room. Spotted the missing jar? Can you see where this is heading? I have just knocked one off the shelf. My FLOWER mix. It is probably my most expensive and the one have have put the most effort into collecting and drying so far. Thats a photo of about £12 of flowers mixed with broken glass. Yummy! Grr. I'm so cross with myself. I will be moving over to plastic storage this weekend and making a new order for flowers. On a plus note though... Scrat does not seem to be very keen on the dried foods any more. I have now figured out why. He only likes the stuff that I have dried and not the bought stuff. What can I say...he likes mamas "cooking." ha Kat x
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Post by blossombrooks on Oct 4, 2011 20:40:26 GMT
Awwww Kat! Nooo not the flowers! They looked so good! Can't you salvage any of it? What a shame. If you don't mind my asking what are the buckets in the cage? They look interesting. :-) I bought a packet of the coneflower mix today but after an initial 'oooohhh!' from the girls they both dropped their flowers :-( guess it's gonna take a bit of persuasion, they like their 'convenience food'.
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Post by NightwishRaven999 on Oct 5, 2011 7:28:50 GMT
Great example of how to organise the different feeds ! Sorry to see/hear about the dropped flower mix Hopefully you were able to seperate mix from glass. Glad to hear Scrat is enjoying the natural feeds more than the pellet food. I think most of us have noticed the degus' defenite liking of dried flower/plants/herbs and veggies over the pellet foods. Anxious to hear more !
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 5, 2011 11:06:56 GMT
Yup, mine now go crazy over the dried plants even more so than the bits you get in herbal delight, for example. blossombrooks - be persistent with the coneflowers. Mine do that all the time, hastily snatching various leaves and flowers only to instantly drop them. Then the following day or two I see them heartily tucking into them. It's as the others have said, by giving them choice they can pick and choose what they want to eat, and when they want to eat it, which is lovely to see.
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Post by Kat on Oct 5, 2011 19:04:48 GMT
Awwww Kat! Nooo not the flowers! They looked so good! Can't you salvage any of it? What a shame. If you don't mind my asking what are the buckets in the cage? They look interesting. :-) I bought a packet of the coneflower mix today but after an initial 'oooohhh!' from the girls they both dropped their flowers :-( guess it's gonna take a bit of persuasion, they like their 'convenience food'. I bought some bigger shelves for my cage today so will be fitting them withing the next day or so. The shelves will be 14" deep then, instead of the standard 6". I didn't manage to save any of the mix in the end. I did try but kept picking up glass with it so just chucked it. I will start again on that one. The smaller bucket is a plant pot that I got from ikea. I use it for hay. I got this tin planter from asda last year. It's a really good size and is high enough to keep most of the sand in. This is Gerrard modeling it. I have a couple of orange ones that I am going to give away on the for sale section. I just have to sort out my scales so I can get a postage price. Kat x
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Post by blossombrooks on Oct 5, 2011 19:14:42 GMT
Ahhh I see they look really good! I might have to find something similar to that for hay, the rack isn't as pretty! I'd say I'd buy your orange ones but I'm picky on colours in my cage, lol. Sorry you didn't manage to save the flowers! Cute pic of gerrard in the bath btw.
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Post by Kat on Oct 5, 2011 19:31:06 GMT
I just drilled a hole and bolted it to the cage. The little scamps kept knocking it over before. I'm picky about the colours too. It took me ages to find a pink sandbath. I have natural wood houses and pink/purple hammocks.
Kat x
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Post by Kat on Oct 5, 2011 19:35:33 GMT
I have been collecting a drying some things and would like to present my first self made green mix. Carrot tops stolen from mums garden Blackberry leaves from my garden, I no longer hate the bramble patch. A few of these oak leaves Willow from a pals garden. I have found a big tree now, so may get more. Dandelion from my garden again. I bet you all think my garden is full of weeds. I have found that either hanging things in the window or putting them in baskets dries best for me. This is what I ended up with (that plate is about 14" across) The boys really like this one. I can really see how much nicer home dried stuff is too. It's so much greener (sp) and is in nice big chunks. Kat x
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