Care Guide Reference

Degus
Octodon degus
Chile

Habitat:

Coastal and mountain regions in burrows of rock crevices.

Diet:

Tubers, roots, bark, and cacti.

Reproduction

Four to eight young.

Social Structure:

lives in small groups. Males generally tolerate each other but sometimes fight to win females.

Introduction

I kept Degus for about eight years and have always remained charmed by these docile characters since then. For they are indeed a relaxing animal to work with if you can forgive the endless cycling of their wheels, which unlike hamsters: who give up after a period of time. Degus are continually working their muscles on the wheel.

I know there to be critics of allowing this species to have use of an exercise wheel, for fear of tail tangles and tail loss but my philosophy has always looked at two angles.

1] In the wild they can walk vast distances in a single day.

2] When using the wheel the tail is always held just a little bit higher than normal walking. l never had tail losses in any of the Degu pairs, trios or colonies l maintained.

From the first time l ever laid my eyes on this species, l have been a constant supporter, and there are many keepers still out there who also support this species.

Oddly enough, l am still surprised by some retailers whom claim they have never seen a Degu yet alone actually sell any. For this species attained most of its commercial popularity by being distributed in the masses during the last five years.

It is as already described in my opinion a charming creature, you will either take to it or you simply will not. But with its remarkably structured face and ear carriage l do find it to be genuinely a lovely animal to maintain.

Unlike an earlier species comparison – the hamster, the Degu is a diurnal animal, meaning it is active when most keepers are active – during the day, so for all its foot stamping and tail wagging, exercising is limited to sunlight hours only, which for many is simply a godsend.

Nowadays there is more widely distributed information on this species in comparison to five years ago when most of the information was restricted predominantly to either private UK ownership or European ownership and back then most of the information conflicted and contradicted heavily to each written document, making it difficult for most new owners to know ‘how to actually care for this species’.

Luckily we are in a climate where upon not only do we have reams of Internet information but also some small care guides have been written and are on sale in most good pet retailers.

Which in itself is a bonus, so that there is little confusion over the identity of the actual species now. It is not a Jird, nor a rat nor some other odd critter. No, it now stands as a separate species, which it was in the first place anyway.

They have also changed slightly since their first ever arrival on the buying public’s doorsteps. Back then they were more prone to illnesses and often fell victim to poor dietary control, improper management in terms of husbandry and pitifully bad handling, in terms of child petting.

I suppose we can not really blame the pet stores who were in glee at the prospect of selling an unusual and new pet species. No, we had to look really at the nonchalant attitude of the suppliers of the Degu to the sellers, for it was down to them to provide beneficial information. But as said they had very little.

I think in all honesty, and perhaps l will get shot for this, but l do feel that the Degu should have remained in the exotic keeper domain, where more information was available. And it would not have joined the disposable pet market.

As a breeder, again l can be criticised for making mention to that but sadly there are certain animals that are just treated like a razor and once used interest dies on them. With the Degu, l should imagine most pitfalls began when people learned that they could live in captivity under the right management for a considerable period of time. Which might prove detrimental had someone bought their child a Degu as a first time pet.

Do not misunderstand me, l think that the Degu does make for an ideal pet for a responsible child, one that has the dedication and responsibility and of course love and passion to maintain this animal for the time that it is deserving. For like many animals that can be petted easily due to their medium size, unlike the fancy rats the Degus’ lifespan was so much longer.

But this is now the market in which we live, people have so many ‘disposable animals’ at their picking that boredom creeps in. That is the saddest point of all. When boredom creeps into a child’s mind concerning its pet.

If perhaps there had been tighter controls laid out by retailers concerning the purchase of this animal and in reality a lot of the animals sold in pet stores, then just perhaps the tedium of ownership would be recognised earlier and the sale would not be made.

But in a brief synopsis this is a very loveable and affectionate creature, that will return ten folds what is placed before it. It is an animal that is active, yet does no how to relax, an animal that sleeps when most sane people sleep, and in today’s’ market an animal that is very easily maintained if information is adhered to correctly.

The one main attribute l just love about this species is it always seems to be happy, perhaps this is just something l notice with mine, but they are pretty adaptable to new environments. Eager to please, enjoy being handled and petted and crave interaction with their owners.

The Degu is an animal that is not as short-lived as some of the other widely available [commercial pet’s] animals in today’s market place. Fed correctly, housed, kept safe, maintained well etc, this is an animal that can and could easily attain a life span with its new owners of between 5- 11 years.

Housing

There are many differing views to housing the Degu, l favour and always have done glassware for two reasons.

1] I have a vast amount of surplus glassware

2] This is not an easy material to gnaw out from.

However there are those who believe the glass tank to not provide adequate ventilation. Having said this, l have never experienced any problems with my animals in glassware. But l do recommend using a framed wire lid for the top.

For pairs l keep them in 30" x 12" x 15" however for larger numbers l have kept them in a variety of bigger sizes than this. From 36"– 60"L x 18"– 24"W x 18" – 20" H.

However there are many keepers who maintain their collections of Degus in Ferret cages and will argue the dos and don’ts of cages over glass tanks. My argument has always been that with cages most people tend to buy those with wire floors and my fear would be for the Degu, as it would be for rabbits kept under the same conditions, you could induce bumble foot to your pets.

In general the bigger the better. And if you must go for a cage do so with one that has a solid bottom.

But above all, the main ingredient to the cage is not just size but the insertion of a great big metal wheel. Chrome ones may be expensive, but do not buckle and bend like the lesser metal ones, and trust me this is quite possibly the single most important investment next to the animals themselves.

Environment

Well apart from what has been mentioned above [wheel] which is considered by most Degus to be single handily the best invention by man, you can place in tubes, and other stimuli for your animals, but the one stimulation readily used is the wheel.

I have known Degus to throw tantrums if this piece of equipment is extracted for any length of time, be it short or long.

The introduction of a wooden nest box is considered by many to be helpful to the species for privacy and l can agree to a point. The points being that if you do not mind that the box will eventually be gnawed to nothing then consider it an investment.

Like Chinchillas, Degus enjoys a sand bath, here they will urinate and defecate and play, but above all it helps in the grooming process. Chinchilla sand is available alongside chinchilla baths in most decent pet stores.

Providing the water in a bottle rather than a dish or bowl is far more acceptable. To protect the bottle from the Degus’ teeth, either make a galvanised wire tube for the bottle to sit within or simply protect both the top and the actual drinker cap, although l find it easier by far just to protect the overall bottle. The easiest way by far to ensure that the Degu does not chew on the bottle is basically simple – make sure it is never empty.

Also always ensure that there is plenty of quality hay available for your Degus as it provides a cover – a nesting blanket and also an edible supplement. Hay also helps to keep the teeth in check, a little bit like dental floss.

[The teeth of your Degu should always be an orange colour, should they start to become white or whitish then your Degu is ill.]

Providing branches from fruit trees complete with their bark will also stimulate your Degus further, they love to strip the bark off and enjoy the gnawing experience.

[Always ensure that you wash all the branches in a soapy wash so as to remove any unwanted attachments such as droppings, lichens etc.]

Diet

Feeding these little creatures is relatively easy. However it must be pointed out that as a species they are sugar intolerant. Hence as a species they are prone to diabetes. Although the long path of commercial breeders have improved this situation slightly. It is still advisable to ensure that your Degus does not receive huge volumes of sugar feed – free of fruit sugars]

You could try to replicate their natural diet and to a certain extent you can, but for an easier life, a combined mixture of guinea pig or chinchilla mix and chinchilla pellets will basically keep your pets safe.

As a treat or indeed part of the weekly feeding ration [perhaps twice a week inclusion] you can add broccoli, sweet potato, carrots, apple. But you can provide kale, cauliflower, sprouts, spinach, and turnips, Chinese cabbage and beetroot, although the latter does turn the urine red – so do not be alarmed. Just remember to exercise caution as to how much you actually feed in – so for safety sake – slices or cubes at roughly one-inch size is best.

The biggest problem with an unsupervised Degu is that bless them, they will eat anything. Which would be fine if they were able to digest the sugar levels in most feeding ‘stuffs’ – however as they are simply unable to do this, due to their body just not being equipped to deal with it, it just isn’t acceptable.

This inability to digest fruity issues has come around as a result of the natural environment in which they normally reside. In Chile, there just isn’t an abundance of fresh fruit neither grown nor made available to what is considered a pest, vermin. So evolution stepped in and basically decided that the Degu would not be equipped to deal with a sugar intake.

They also enjoy alfalfa cubes, pellets etc again readily available from decent pet stores.

Breeding

I have noticed Degus breeding at as young an age of four months, but most usually start around six to seven months of age. In the wild this species confines breeding to the seasons whilst in captivity they are fairly easier about things and appear to breed all year round. However their gestation is roughly 3 months or 90 days. So they can produce one to two litters per year comfortably even three.

I have had and have noticed larger litters from first time mothers, large being roughly seven to nine animals per mothers’ nest, although as they mature and balance themselves out the litter sizes are realistically looking at four to six per litter.

The youngsters are born fully furred and with their eyes open and crawl around almost immediately. Eating solids at roughly four weeks old, and although they can be weaned off from their parenting [of which both male and female are active with the litter] l usually take my youngsters out at between seven to ten weeks of age pending the actual size of the litter