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Post by nicola12 on Oct 2, 2011 9:42:44 GMT
They are here!!! They are in a gerbilarium which is an ok size but I think too small for them. They are very greasy so going to give them some chinchilla sand now. They came with a muesli mix and there isn't anything in their cage except one of those awful barred wheels - they are using it lots though so should I leave it in until we get another or just take it out? I think I am going to cover the floor of a chinchilla cage and put them in there - that should be ok right? Thanks Nicola x  ETA here is their cage (I added the sandbath) going to start converting the chin cage now - I only found out last night they were coming today so feel very unprepared! |
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 2, 2011 9:43:02 GMT
oh and one has a cataract  |
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 2, 2011 10:05:57 GMT
eeek they are mounting each other!! This is just a display of dominance right? They are taking turns to be top-dog
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 2, 2011 10:17:43 GMT
oh dear oh dear I can see Gonzo's willy  how embarrassing! it's just hanging out for all to see while he's running on the wheel! I have named them Kermit and Gonzo can't remember if I've already said this! |
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 2, 2011 19:27:27 GMT
Haha! I don't have boy degus, and I sure am glad I don't!! Yup, there's been plenty a discussion on this forum about male degus and their.... pride!  Apparently has provoked some very awkward questions from forum member kids asking 'mummy/daddy, what is the degu doing?"! The mounting yes is a display of dominance. HOWEVER.... your degus could have also been missexed. You sure you have two boys? To sex a degu you need to look at the distance between the cone (which is not a male degus bits, but the urethral cone) and the anus. Big gap = male, little/no gap = female. Apologies if you have already looked all this up. If one is a girlie then the mounting could be something entirely different than a display of dominance! Has the degu that was doing the mounting bark afterwards? (The mating bark). And finally yup, the gerbilarium is definitely too small, but the chinchilla cage sounds ideal. Do you have dimensions? The barred wheel is also no good, as you know. Kat here on the forum makes fantastic metal silent wheels for only £25 ( deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=saleitems&action=display&thread=9004) which are far cheaper than the metal John Hopewell ones and just as good. Plastic ones tend to get chewed quite a bit. As for the feed, do you know what type of muesli it is? Does it have any fruit bits in it as these need to go out straight away. Other good muesli feeds for degus are Xtravital degu food and Gerty Guinea pig food. However, we are also strongly encouraging members to develop a more 'natural' feed here on this forum that mimics the food degus eat in the wild whilst giving them all the necessary nutrients at the same time. This is the link to the 100% natural diet: deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=food&action=display&thread=8775And this is the 50% natural diet: deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=food&action=display&thread=8933The 50% diet came about as the 100% natural diet is all very new to most of us whilst our fellow German members have been adopting this diet for quite some time. So till we get it right we are aiming for at least 50% natural, and 50% finished degu food. Also some members have difficulty in obtaining all the ingredients necessary for a 100% natural diet, so the 50% is a bit more manageable. Oh, and finally, PHOTOS! (apologies if you already have posted elsewhere) |
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 3, 2011 3:51:57 GMT
What Malteser60 said!! ;D
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 3, 2011 18:02:41 GMT
Thank you this is all really fab advice. They are 4 and a half years old so think they would have had babies by now - and their, erm, bits match. I'm taking them to meet my lovely vet at some point this week just to double check health, sex etc. The chinchilla cage is about 3ft tall with a 2ft x 2ft base (very roughly). After seeing a lot of incredible set ups on here and actually seeing them 'in the fur' I'm having a scout around for something bigger for them as I hate to see animals confined - I have my hammies in rat cages and guinea pig cages!! Oh and of course....... photos     |
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 3, 2011 18:04:33 GMT
I forgot to say - the muesli doesn't seem to have any fruit bits in - I am going to wean them onto a 50/50 mix of guinea pig pellets and chinchilla pellets as I prefer pellets to commercial mix generally. Very open to suggestions on this though! I've also given them some hay for bedding and some to nibble on
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Post by fred on Oct 3, 2011 18:41:50 GMT
Can you tell us which brands of chinchilla and guinea pig pellets you want to feed them? There are some which are clearly not suitable.
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 3, 2011 18:50:42 GMT
Science Selective Chinchilla and Burgess Excel Guinea Pig - again very open to this hun as I know there are some very random websites around so it might not be advisable
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 3, 2011 18:59:52 GMT
Just having a look at the natural diets described in the food section and they are really interesting - I buy in a lot of these ingredients for the bunnies anyway. Perhaps I could do a 50/50 and get the Beaphar degu mix?
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 3, 2011 20:09:46 GMT
In all honesty here in the UK it can be very easy to do a 50/50 diet, especially as you can order in so many lovely dried plants. Add in a seed mix, again quite easy to do with bird seed as a start. And finish off with some shop bought stuff like quinoa. And with a bit more patience you can go and forage for your own plants, dry your own veg, etc. And finally... very cheeky looking degus! And from what you've said about your cage sizes, etc I do believe they're going to have a great life  |
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 3, 2011 20:13:54 GMT
Thank you I love the idea of a natural diet for them and I know of a lovely local pet shop (with no pets for sale!) that sell the Burgess herbs. They came with loads of the muesli so I have a bit of time to research before doing a change over; normally I do lots of research before getting a pet but I found out within about 12 hours I was getting these guys! |
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Post by fred on Oct 4, 2011 19:05:52 GMT
I wouldn't use either of these pellets, they are not suitable for degus. If you want to go for 50% natural nutrition, selection becomes less of a problem. I would then suggest either the XtraVital Degu or, better, one of the JR Farm Degu products Special or Premium. If you prefer nuggets, you can try the P@H ones but I don't expect you can persuade many degus on some natural food to also eat these nuggets.
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 4, 2011 19:25:21 GMT
Thank you Fred I will see if I can find somewhere to but JR Farm Degu. I'm not worried about selective feeding with the natural diet, I'm more worried about it with the commercial mix where they just pick out the naughtiest nice bits and don't eat the good bits! It's difficult to get out of the rabbit mindset. I bought a rat cage this afternoon and have moved them into it, at the weekend I'm going to get my brother to help me attach it to the chinchilla cage so they have a giant cage |
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Post by nicola12 on Oct 5, 2011 17:53:49 GMT
I bought some Degu XtraVital today and some dried herbs. I was going to try and get some bird seed as mentioned in another thread but it was out of stock. One of the mixes has dried carrot and rose hips in but I'm going to pick these out with them being high in sugar - guessing Kermit's cataracts are probably down to diabetes they are at the vets on Friday for a health check. |
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how embarrassing! it's just hanging out for all to see while he's running on the wheel!
Apparently has provoked some very awkward questions from forum member kids asking 'mummy/daddy, what is the degu doing?"!
