Are these products safe for degus?

[ava]

I'm just looking around Zooplus for things to buy for the degus and came across these. Not sure whether the wood types are safe?

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/accessories/bridges_stairs/33514
www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/snacks_supplements/natural_treats/jr_farms/189618

Thanks for any help

[abirose]

It says on the log that it is suitable for degu's I've always been tempted to get one of those!

[davx]

Hello,

the first one I think should be ok, even I couldn't find any hint what sort of wood that might be.
I assume wine, but I'm not shure.

The second one personally I wouldn't buy because it's for me an object of the category "food toy with dubious ingredients". That is of course not an objective evaluation, but a gut decision.

For a more objective approach, we should analyse the ingredients:

Wooden log, parsley, red millet, yellow millet, starch, flaked corn, marigold petals, rose petals

Parsley = sounds good, but it might be, that they use in particular parsley stems, a by-product poor in nutrients... we have to guess
millet, starch, corn = all food items rich in energy, especially in starch. Starch rich diets are supposed as possible contributor for metabolic diseases (especially cataracts commonly assumed/pretended of diabetic origin)
marigold petals = sounds good and in fact, my degus loved the (fresh) marigold flowers
rose petals = also good sutff and it seems that degus love this flowers

Obvious is the high content of starch products as well as the amount of parsley. Starch is a questionable part of degu diets, but in smaller quantities it might be useful, at least in the deguforum.de we use diets with moderate starch contents for several years and it works.
The parsley is questionable because it is a aromatic herb usually fed in smaller quantities.

Another question you can think about is the price. Often it is cheaper to buy the single ingredients and mix with them the proper mixture. In addition - depending on the producer - the food quality might be better as well.

[malteser60]

I think the wood is ok. And I have given my degus the log as 'treat', maybe once every 3-4 months or so.

[ava]

Thanks for the advice. I decided not to go with the wood in the end, since I wasn't sure whether it would be big enough for them (the cheaper one) and it was out of stock anyway.

Davx, I planned on getting the log as more of a one-off, so I didn't expect it to benefit their diet - but having had another look, it doesn't look like it holds that much stuff anyway.

Instead, I have bought a wicker bridge (50x30cm) and a bag of dandelion roots. I'm going to make them some Christmas crackers too out of toilet roll tubes and wrapping paper, with hay and hazelnuts inside. Will they be pleased, do you think? I've been looking for stuff to get them for ages and I just don't know what they would enjoy that they wouldn't instantly chew up.