Rat Rescue
:: Guide to Degus
Guide to Degus
Degus are lovely, entertaining little creatures. However, if
you are thinking about getting a couple, then be warned that
they are very messy little devils and they need a special diet.
While they can be friendly and handable, those that aren’t can
give you a nasty bite!
The background to how degus became household pets is from the
1950’s. They were transported to Europe and North America from
Chile, where they live from the West Coast to the Andes Mountains.
The primary reason for this transportation was that in the
1950's, degus were used in laboratories for tests relating to
diabetes. This is because degus are naturally diabetic l - they
lack the ability to digest sugar in their food. Even the sugars
in an apple, can lead to eventual death. See more about their
diet in the relevant section.
Never try to catch a degu by his tail. In defence against their
natural enemies, degus can loose the end of their tails. The
result is a bloody injury, and the end of their tail never grows
back again. If left untreated, a degloved tail can get infected.
Degus in captivity often live 10 years or even more. The hair
is tweed brown coloured, the tummy has a cream colour and they
have lighter circles around the eyes.
They have long whiskers, and their big ears are dominant. The
hind legs are shorter than their forelimbs. Each has five hair-covered
fingers that degus often nibble on, so their claws do not grow
too long.
The teeth of a healthy degu are yellow or orange coloured. White
teeth are an indication of a serious disease. Degus' teeth become
orange a couple of weeks after their birth because of the reaction
of chlorophyll from green plants with degus' saliva - this reaction
also makes the degus' saliva orange.
Degus are sociable animals, so it is best to keep at least
two animals. Never keep one degu, as it will not be happy and
will not live as long as it could have if it had a same sex
friend. If kept alone, it could become depressed, and cause
it to become aggressive.
Degus are very vocal and have a large spectrum of sounds which
includes beeps, whistles and squeaks. Ours tend to squeak at
us when it is food time!
Supplies for your Degus
Diet
The Degu is herbivorous. In nature, he eats various plants,
bulbs, farm crop, leaves and bark from trees and bushes. Try
to give them similar food. Don't give degus any sugar, and very
little carbohydrates and fats. If you overfeed these foods to
degus, you can cause serious problems to them, which are similar
to diabetes.
We feed our degus the following combination of food as advised
by our vet: 70% hay (timothy hay is best); 15% hard vegetables
- carrots, green beans etc – and cucumber and 15% chinchilla
pellets. Now and again we also mix in good quality guinea pig
food and uncooked pasta.
Housing
Degus like to climb and have fun. An ideal cage would be a
three tier wire cage, like those made by terenziani and used
for chinchillas and rats. However, the wire base should be removed
(the cage sits in a metal base) to prevent bumblefoot (see below).
As degus do like to make a mess kicking out hay and bits of
food, you can use perspex secured to the lower part of the cage
to stop you having to clean the area outside their cage every
ten minutes!
For suitable bedding, we either use a paper based cat litter
such as biocatolet or carefresh supreme or a cardboard bedding
such as EcoPetbed or Financard. In our experience, in some cases,
woodshavings/sawdust can cause respiratory problems which can
kill.
Also add a little hay to cover the floor of the aquarium and
some paper for nest material. Clean the housing out about once
a week. The more degus who live together, the more often you
will have to clean it.
If your cage/aquarium is big enough, leave a dish filled with
chinchilla dust in there. Like chinchillas, degus need a daily
'bath'. If their house isn't big enough, make sure you place
their 'bath' in there for at least 10 minutes a day.
Because degus are susceptible to various ailments, do ring
around and try to find a vet who has plenty of experience with
small rodents and is interested in finding out about Degus even
if he/she has not seen one before.
It is worth doing this before you need one in an emergency.
Degus seem to be generally robust little rodents but there are
certain conditions that you should be aware of.
Health
Diabetes: Degus cannot metabolise sugar; therefore, if they
eat too much of it they can become diabetic. The first sign
of trouble can be that your Degu gets very fat. They will drink
more water than normal and towards the end may become very thin.
Diabetes is always fatal and cannot be treated in small animals.
Don't feed your degu any food that contains sugar. That includes
fruit, and raisins. Don't let your degu get too fat - it is
not kind to feed an animal treats until it becomes obese and
dies young. If you have a fat degu reduce the amount of pellets
and cut out all treats letting the animal eat mainly hay.
Bumblefoot: Having to walk on wire surfaces continually can
cause this painful condition. The degu may have difficulty walking
and might show pain while on his feet. Remove wire-mesh bottoms
from chinchilla cages and try to provide a solid wheel. See
you vet for a suitable treatment.
Liver Disease: If Degus are fed too much fat, they will contract
liver problems. These can have similar symptoms to Diabetes
in that they animal may drink lots of water and get very thin
after being quite fat. Don't feed your degus too much food that
is fatty, such as sunflower seeds, peanuts and nuts.
Mouth Disease: Degus are very prone to infections of the mouth.
Make sure that the water bottle is kept spotlessly clean.
Inbreeding: Because of the small population of Degus in the
country inbreeding inevitably occurs. This can cause many health
problems in the babies and should be avoided.
Cataracts: Cataracts in Degus are a genetic condition and the
symptoms are greying of the eye and sight problems in older
Degus. Degus have whiskers which prevent them from bumping into
things and a good sense of smell and so should manage fine.
Eye Infections: We have had a spate of eye injuries with degus
in the past, this has been caused by two things, firstly sand
baths. (Make sure you clean out your sand bath daily as they
will climb in and kick hay, bedding allsorts into the bath.)
This can get into the eye while they bathe.
Secondly – their teeth. If your degu has recurring eye problems
(such as a white discharge) and your vet has looked inside your
degus mouth and his teeth seem fine, an x-ray should be carried
out. This way the vet can see if the root of the teeth are growing
upwards and causing pressure on the eye socket.
Degus have what is called an open root – if the back teeth
aren’t used constantly (by gnawing and grinding on lots of hard
foodstuffs and hay) they keep on growing – inside the mouth
as well as up towards the eye sockets and down through the jaw
(the same as chinchilla and in some cases, guinea pigs).
By giving your degu lots to gnaw on – like timothy hay and
hard foods – you are doing your best to keep their teeth healthy
– as well as their general health too.
It must be stated here that there is no substitute for good
veterinary advice when treating your rodents. If you know of
a good specialist in this field please email us with their details.
