Degus - Page 2

racinghamster · 03-01-2012, 11:17 AM

Oh good luck Amethyst! I`m sure they will keep you well entertained!

They are a great pet if you take the time and effort, but as far as diet goes, many people use a guinea pig mix or a degu pelleted food and good quality hay 24/7. I would say stick to a well formatted (non-molassed) chinchilla pellet food or a specially made degu food. There are better foods available for degus now since I had my two and Degutopia has a good knowledge base for continuing tto look at what to feed.

Degus teeth are naturally orange in colour. If they appear white, it can be a sign of deficiency or illness or age.

Lougarry · 03-01-2012, 12:05 PM

I'd love some but I've been warned they are incredibly destructive - and judging by the state of the things in their cage at P@H I suspect the warning is correct.

CAB · 03-01-2012, 12:57 PM

I have had degus! they are gorgeous but personally i dont think they make very good "cuddly" pets! they can be rewarding, dont get me wrong, loved em to pieces. but could never recomend them as a pet.

StarlightSerenity · 03-01-2012, 05:30 PM

Random question, are there proper Degu breeders in the UK? I will be getting either Degus or Chins in the next few years or so (long time off yet but thought I'd be cheeky and post a question

) and always wondered. I won't buy pet shop animals so if I can't get them from a breeder then I won't even consider getting any.

**kyrilliondaemon** · 03-01-2012, 05:41 PM

I'd wondered this too! I've looked into it and I'm pretty confident there are degu breeders out there in the UK, but I'm struggling to get specific details for them at the moment, and don't really want to ask the degu forum when I have no plans of buying them for years yet.

Mikayla · 03-01-2012, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racinghamster

They are very cute and intelligent, but they live a long time (around the same as guinea pigs) and are not for everyone. I took on two from someone who wasn`t able to care for them anymore years ago and they had been kept in a shed. I ended up with a male and a female, but luckily, the male was older and never bred with the younger female. He also had to have his penis put back in by my vet and treated twice for a urinary tracy infection. He eventually ended up with a very nasty abscess and when operated on, he sadly had to be put to sleep as his front leg would have to be removed as the tumour was so deep.

My suspicion was that the female bit him and caused the abscess to form, which ended up infected. He was a lovely lad too and the friendliest of the two.

I was left with the feisty female, who I had to (reluctantly) rehome to people who kept chinchillas as degus can co-habit with chinchillas but only if you know how to do introductions and have experience of keeping both species. I didn`t want her to live alone and decided it was in her best interests.

Here is a link to Degutopia for anyone needing anfo on these lovely animals: DEGUTOPIA -(')

')- For all your degu needs

Also, Degu Information Sheet.

Degus are best kept in same sex pairs of small groups. Pets At Home and other places sell them, but unless you have the time, money and space to keep them, it could be a costly mistake and they are not the easiest pets to rehome, even though there are commited people who love them. My friend took on two babies because they were `free to good home` and ended up rehoming them to someone on a farm that she knew and got her daughter two guinea pigs from a breeder instead. I did pre-warm her before she took the baby degus on, but it went in one ear and out the other. Degus are much like chinchillas. They can be affectionate and trainable, but they don`t like being held and will growl or give a high pitched squeal that frightens the life out of me if they are nervous or allerted about something! Not a pet you want in your bedroom!

No, no, no, no. Degus and chinchillas cannot live together. Chinchillas are much larger then degus and can be quite intimidating. Degus are much more active than chinchillas and this can be quite annoying.It isn't fair and it isn't right. I've seen that you've mentioned in other posts that we should try to keep things as close to the wild as possible, and this is most definitely NOT normal. It would be like keeping a robo and a pure WW together, they eat the same food and everything, but that would be abnormal and just...wrong.

Please, never do this, ever.

racinghamster · 03-02-2012, 07:17 AM

It`s not something I would do personally or advise anyone else to do, but I DO know of a few people who run rescues (privately) who have kept chinchilles they had with degus and had no problems. I do agree with you initially though and I don`t want anyone to read too much into this. They are different species yes, but in the right hands with the right knowledge, it can be done under certain circumstances. For example, a lone female chinchilla who won`t accept another female chinchilla as company, but will accept two male or female degus. It`s a fine line really and as I said, not something that`s done on a whim.

They are however best kept to their own kind. Just to clear that up, although I did mention that this should only be done if you have the experience and the knowledge of both species.

Mikayla · 03-02-2012, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by racinghamster

It`s not something I would do personally or advise anyone else to do, but I DO know of a few people who run rescues (privately) who have kept chinchilles they had with degus and had no problems. I do agree with you initially though and I don`t want anyone to read too much into this. They are different species yes, but in the right hands with the right knowledge, it can be done under certain circumstances. For example, a lone female chinchilla who won`t accept another female chinchilla as company, but will accept two male or female degus. It`s a fine line really and as I said, not something that`s done on a whim.

They are however best kept to their own kind. Just to clear that up, although I did mention that this should only be done if you have the experience and the knowledge of both species.

It's good that you know not to do it. But no matter how knowledgeable you are about both species it is not safe. I consider myself very knowledgeable about chinchilla, and mildly knowledgeable about degus. They are totally different animals and should never, ever, under any single circumstance be kept together.

racinghamster · 03-02-2012, 10:42 AM

I bow to your experience then MMMTDF. I`m just reporting on what happened to me in the past and have seen others do this. Not that I would personally keep chinchillas with degus. Your right, they are totally different species, but do have similarities in diet and care.

p_anda · 03-02-2012, 12:50 PM

I remember in school we had a degu in a tiny cage, and there was a boy from another class who came in and decided to pick him up by the tail...guess how that ended...by me chasing after a frantic degu with blood dripping from the remains of his tail, as no one else was willing to catch him. I think I sellotaped some tissue over the wound till the next day when one of the teachers took him to the vets. He never came back.