Degus...

Degus are now becoming an ever more popular reodent in the family home.

A South American rodent native to a large part of the Andes mountain range, these elusive rodents can be found at elevations of up to nearly 4000 feet. Living mainly in Chile, Degus number more than 100 per acre and are considered a pest in their native country. Measuring 5-8 inches long, the degu makes a perfect pet for children as it is diurnal (most active during the day) although recently they have been classified as a 'crepuscular rodent', crepuscular coming from the French word meaning 'Twighlight', which refers to their peaks of activity during dusk and dawn with irregular patterns of sleep during the night.

A degu will live for approximately 5-9 years depending on nutrition and diet, so purchasing one at an early age is best to assure that the degu will adjust to your lifestyle. They are also very sociable pets so if you are not around alot during the day, i would advise keeping two together where possible.

HOUSING YOUR DEGUS...

I'm not going to start off by telling you how big your cage should be as i'm sure you all know it should be as big as you can get it, but i will tell you the suggested minimum size which is 12" wide by 24" long and about 9" tall, anything smaller wouldnt provide your degus with enough space for exercise. Ideally a multi tiered wire cage similar to the ones designed for chinchillas would provide excellent housing for two or more degus.

Degus are very active animals that love to run, so an exercise wheel would make an ideal addition to any degus cage. The bigger the wheel the better, and a solid plastic one as opposed to a wire one is far more desireable for safety reasons, as degus have long tail that tend to get caught more often than not.

They would also require a dust bath, again similar to the ones designed for chinchillas, as this plays an integral part of a degus socialisation. Each degu will use the dust bath over 2-3 times a day, which will result in all of the degus having the same scent. Its main purpose though is to take excess oil out of the coat,WARNING:- DO NOT LEAVE THE DUST BATH IN THE CAGE, the degus will eventually use it as a litter tray, which will result in you having to make another trip to the pet shop to buy more chinchilla sand!

FOOD...

Finding food for your degus is now easy due to the nationwide popularity of other rodents such as hamsters and gerbils. Nearly all good pet shops sell a quality rodent/hamster mix of some sort. In my experience a rat mix or guinea pig mix is best because they either contain extra protien or vitamin c which will keep your degu looking and felling great. When buying your degu food take time to check that there isnt too many nuts or sunflower seeds as this have a tendancy to make you degu put on a lot of weight as they are very high in fat. For obvious reasons try not to feed your degu any cooked or processed food as these will lack in vitamins and could contain additives and preservatives which may be harmful to your pet.

BREEDING...

In the wild female degus breed seasonally but male degus are willing to breed year round (if you get what i mean). In their native country they breed in September as it is the beginning of plant growth time, which means that babies are born when food is in abundance Female degus have an unusually long gestation period of 90 days, compared to other rodents of 16 - 18 days, and they also reach sexual maturity much later than other rodents. The female degu could reach sexual maturity at six months old but the average is 14 - 20 months, the general rule is that the female needs to attain a weight of about 200g for conception to become successful.

Thanx for reading this info i hope you find it helpful!

Special thanx to Dan Clarke for lending us some of his wealth of knowledge about all things animal!