[Gpdd] [MISC] Degus

[a.mills at portset.net]

Hello

I noticed there were a couple of posts concerning degus and, as I have two, I thought I'd give you a bit of information about them.  As already mentioned, they come from Chilli and are closely related to guinea pigs and chinchillas.  Like guinea pigs and chinchillas, baby degus are born fully furred and soon start exploring and eating solid foods.  They can be very vocal, similar to guinea pigs although obviously their sounds are quite different.  When they are happy, they sing to each other and sound similar to birds.  When they are upset or angry, they can scream at each other and make quite a noise.  If you want to hear some of the sounds degus make, go to www.degus.com.  Their life span is similar to a guinea pig, between 5 and 7 years.  They are very active little animals and enjoy running, jumping, climbing and chewing.  Their behaviour is similar to a chinchilla although, unlike chinchillas, they are active during the day.  The best type of cage to keep degus in is on!
e designed for chinchillas.  Plastic bottom cages are best avoided as the degus will probably find a way of chewing their way out.  Degus cannot digest sugar and therefore should not be given any foods containing sugar as this will make them diabetic.  Their basic diet should consist of chinchilla oandor guinea pig food and hay.  Treats such as green vegetables, carrots and sweet potato can be given but these should only be given as treats.  Degus should never be picked up by their tails as, like gerbils, they will pull and the end of their tail will fall off.  Unfortunately, one of my degus has a short tail from mistakenly being grabbed by the tail.  It doesn't bother him at all, his tail is just shorter than it should be.  Unlike guinea pigs, degus can be rather difficult to sex.  It is very common for people to be sold two same sex degus only to find that they have a pair and end up with babies.  Degus are social like guinea pigs and should be kept together.  Obviously sa!
me sex pairs are best unless you want to breed.  Once your degus get to know you, they can become very tame and will run to the front of the cage to see you.  They are not particularly keen on being picked up in my experience, but once you have got them out of the cage they are fairly easy to handle.  Mine like to sit on my shoulder and run up and down my arms.  I find the best way to pick mine up is to use a tube.  The degus will run into the tube and I can then pick them up in the tube and let them run out onto my arm.  They are very entertaining, amusing pets and I would recommend them to anyone who has experience of looking after rodents and wants something a little bit different.  In my experience they are not that much different from looking after a guinea pig or a chinchilla.