Recommended diet

[skern49]

Hi all,

Got another question. What's a good average amount of food per day per goo? I feed them degu-specific pellets (Viva Exotics Sunseed) and hay, and also occasionally oats and sunflower seeds, and would like to start giving them veggies too.

I read somewhere that ~2tbsp/day of pellets per goo is good. Does that sound right? And should they always have a supply of hay?

As for the sunflower seeds, no more than one per day, right?

As for the oats and veggies, I have no idea!

Thanks,
Sasha

[skern49]

up!

[Kins]

To be honest the amount of food isn't really too important. I don't weigh out my goos food, but just top it up maybe every other day when the bowl is almost empty. They are all a healthy weight as they only eat if they are hungry, especially if there is plenty of food for them all the time.

Mine have P@H nuggets, a couple of different herb/plant mixes and a seed mix. I just put some of each mix in their bowl and let them eat as much or little as they want. They do tend to eat all of the mixes first rather than the nuggets but they do tuck into the nuggets as well. I am fairly confident they have a good, balanced diet.

Hope that helps?!

[skern49]

Thanks for your reply. Should they always have hay?

[deguconvert]

Yes, hay should always be available for their consumption.

[Jus]

Generally, you should aim to feed 10g of complete hard-feed (if that is what you feed) per degu per day, however that is just a general guidline. When we only had one degu, we fed her a handful a day but her bowl was rarely empty, now we have three, we have tripled the amount of food we feed and the bowl is always empty within ten minutes of feeding time, so we're trying a bit more food. I think the best way is trial and error. Try ten grams and if your degu eats all the food in one sitting, it is possible advisable to give a little more. If there is a little left over for later, it's probably okay and if there is loads left, it may be a little too much.

It is also very important that you track your degu's weight. This is the best indicator of if your feeding regime is sufficient no matter how much or little you feed how often. If a degu is quickly gaining weight or overweight, chances are you are feeding too much. If the degu is underweight or losing weight, you are probabaly feeding too little. Personally I think weight tracking is highly important as it is often also the first indicator that something could be wrong if your degu falls ill. Good luck!

[luna1]

Hi there,

I feed my lot twice per day and when I used to feed pellets, I gave 4 grams per Degu in the morning and again in the evening. All of my Goo's have their own bowls.

Hay makes up roughly half of their daily diet so there should be an abundance of good quality available 24/7. It is also important for molar wear.

Weighing is vital as has been said, you catch any health problems early that way. I keep a health record including weekly weights of each of mine.

I feed fresh veg ( or try to as they can be picky) twice per week, about an egg cup full per Degu at a time. Oats are fattening so should be used for training/treat purposes only. I feed dried veg mixed into their hay a couple of times per week and they prefer veg this way.

You can buy puffed rice from health food shops that has no added salt or sugar, completely natural, this is low fat and most of mine love it as a healthy treat.

[dusty]

I hope no one minds me tagging on to this thread - it kind of seemed pointless creating a new one if I can find lots of helpful advice in one place.
I am slightly worried that my goos aren't getting enough but have been following advice from "the good pet guide" - P@H nuggets one teaspoon each morning and evening. They have lots of hay although that seems to disappear really quick! Feeding time is like a total frenzy all pushing and shuving each other to see who gets theirs first - we have it sussed now and they each have their own bowl. 2 of the girls will sit and munch the lot but 1 will only eat a few and hide the rest, trouble is she then goes off to try and steal the others which results in a lot of squabbles - its like its a "THIS IS MINE" thing. Are the 2 that eat everything starving and desperate??? They are the smaller 2. Chunky(the larger one) hardly eats any but hides them all, (she also eats way more hay than the others) is she scared of not getting anymore and stashing incase of emergency?
We've had them only 12 days and have never been goo keepers before, so many questions........

[Kins]

With my 4 I just fill up their bowls when they are empty, normally every other day. Even if they do overeat a little to start with they should soon learn that food is plentiful and they will then just eat what they need (along with the bits they bury too).

I'm sure the girly that is hiding them will be eating plenty too. You never know what they get up to when you aren't watching.

My 2 little goos don't eat much hay, but my big goos eat loads. They are different so I wouldn't worry too much.

They are babies right?

Perhaps you could weigh them every week or so to make sure they are all gaining weight? To weight mine I coax them into their dust bath and then weigh them and the dust bath together, then you can just subtract the weight of the dust bath

[moletteuk]

A couple of teaspoons of pets@home nuggets sounds like it might not be very much. I've found the 10g of hard feed to be quite a good amount for adult degus, it's a useful guide to have in your head. Pets @ home biscuits are quite light - 10g of them is about 50 nuggets! Have you got some digital kitchen scales? They are great for measuring small quantities of food and degus!
Have you had a good browse of the stickies in the diet section? There are nutrition charts and lots of mix ideas, there are really loads of things they can eat which can enrich their daily lives and are a good way for you to interact with them You might find herb and leaf mixes useful, they can eat them quite freely and they are good for them.

[dusty]

Thanks Kins, breakfast this morning was really nice. Last night I gave them each about 4 times more - they ate a fair bit, hid a load and left some in the dishes. This morning there was still a couple of bits left so there was no urgency about breakfast. They came and said hi then went of forraging. When I opened the door to top the bowls up they were very chilled out - no fighting, no scrambling to get out. They each took one piece and then sat together munching
Not exactly certain of their age but we think about 10 weeks now.


I don't have digital scales, I have the old fashioned weights, they're still a bit skittish so whether I could get them to sit still long enough could be funny. They like dandelions, loads in the garden that I dried out just wasn't sure how much of it they could have. Will check out the mixes and try to get some other bits and pieces. My garden is overgrown with stinging nettle and other strange things.