Greedy.....or not?!!

[laineybell]

hey, ive got 2 10 week old degu. ive currently got a smallish food bowl in their cage as i dont want to over feed them, but as soon as i put the food in there they empty it,leaving only the pellets, which they dont seem to like. i re-filled this a couple of hours later, and the same thing happened again. i dont really know if i am over feeding them or not. can anyone help?!!! i dont want to end up with degus the size of rats, but dont want to keep them gerbil size forever either!!

[greenlily]

What do you feed?

If your food has a lot of herbs and dried flowers in it and if you always feed a lot of hay, you could feed them more.
My food is mixed with dried herbs, flowers and vegetables and I have food in the cages all the time.
My degus end eating, if they got no hunger anymore.

[gooey]

leave the pellets until they eat them. degus are like small children--eat what they like first and then leave the "healthy good for them" stuff for last. if you are feeding a mixed food, like for chinchillas, make sure you pick out anything that is no good for the goos, dried fruits and the like. Sunseed makes a degu formula food--it is just the pellets. i feed my guys this once a day, if they eat it all fine, if not, then the next day i see how much is in the bowl and fill accordingly.
you may also check to see if they are storing the food somewhere else. degus are notorious for burrowing their food away to snack on later. you will notice that if you give them a treat, they will run away with it and bury it and then if they are like my guys, run back up to you as if to say "i didn't get one yet where's mine?" in the hopes of fooling you into giving them seconds!

[greenlily]

but pellets often contains melasse. If I were you I would change to a food with many herbs and with things they do like.

[gooey]

no molasses in these pellets--they are made especially for degus

[laineybell]

its so funny to watch them bury it isnt it!! their little arms flying everywhere!! i feed them chinchilla food, not sure if its ok though,
its carrot and fruit flavour, and clams to have only grass,alfalfa,peas,wheat,carrot,maize,soya,raisins(3%) natural flavourings,vitamins,minerals,inulin.yeast & EC permitted colours. any thing i need to be taking out of that? if so let me no asap as i currently give them it as it comes.

[greenlily]

gooey: have you got a link to this pellets? I´m interested in information. There is no product as this in germany.

[gooey]

lainybell, you need to take out the raisins, no fruit for the goos. and the maize, is it dried corn? if so, i would limit the amount you give them.
greenlily, i am looking at the label for the food and they list a European link, at least i think it is a link--i will write it here exactly as it is on the label:

Europe: Quiko Heimtierprodukte
Franzstrasse 95|46395 Bocholt Germany|quiko.de

the name of the product:

Sunseed
Sunthing Special
Sunscription
Vita
Degu Formula

the container is 28oz and generally sells for about $8.00 here in the US.

Hope this helps!

[greenlily]

They are in germany. Unbelievable. I never saw anything from them anywhere here and have never read about them.
I will search for them, thank you.

[greenlily]

Only retailer can order there. I have downloadet their catalogue. The pellets wasn´t on it.

[gooey]

hmmm. maybe you can ask your local pet store to order it for you.

[greenlily]

The most of our pet store don´t have the amound, I need. I would like to order online. I made a email to them.

[jolie]

An empty food dish... sounds familliar. My guys will eat most of their favourites out of the dish, then dig in it, flinging all of the leftovers and pellets all over the place. A rather bad habit, but they end up eating some of what they dig out.
So be sure to check and make sure that they're not hiding (burying) food in their cage before topping up their dish.