The Chilean squirrel will not take up much space in the apartment, caring for these animals is easy. Knowing what to feed the degus and how to care for the rodent is essential. The content of the article:
- Description of degu
- Buy or not buy Chilean protein
- Cell
- What to feed
- Hygiene procedures
- Reproduction
- Video and photo
Degu are adorable little rodent animals. They look like squirrels and jerboas at the same time.
Related article: Squirrel content at home
Description of degu
The body length of these animals ranges from 9 to 22 cm; at the end of the long tail there is a beautiful tassel. The head is elongated. Small, wide-set eyes, dark in color. The ears are rounded, slightly wavy at the edges. The hind legs are slightly longer than the front ones.
Degu have 8 pairs of teeth, like other rodents, they grow throughout their life.
The degu's coat is tough and dense. The color of the animal is brown-gray or brown-yellow. The weight of an adult varies between 200-300 g. At home, with proper maintenance, care and feeding, the animals live up to 6-8 years. It will help you understand what a degu looks like, photo.
The Chilean degu squirrel has an interesting twist. If the animal is caught by the tail, the animal sheds its skin and runs away. In a safe place, degus simply gnaw off the exposed part of their tail.
Buy or not buy Chilean protein
If you like this cute nimble animal and decide to keep degus at home, you need to know about their character. These animals are very sociable, so in nature they live in groups. It would be nice to buy two or three individuals, then they will not be bored, and the animals will be in a good-natured mood.
If you want to acquire one individual, you need to pay due attention to it, talk, tame it. If you do not have time for this, the pet can grow up wild. When this is picked up, he can show aggression and even bite. Therefore, after you acquire a degu, do not forget to talk to him often, sometimes stroke the animal. Gradually teach him to eat from his hands. Then the animal will not be afraid of you, but will gladly accept your appearance near the cage.
The great advantage of the animal is that, unlike its counterparts, it leads a daytime lifestyle, so it will not bother you at night.
The price of the Chilean degu squirrel in Russia is from 450 rubles (per calf)
and 1,000-1,500 rubles per adult. There are advertisements on the Internet where they offer to buy degus with a cage, food, etc. for 2000 rubles.
Degu cage: keeping a rodent
Pictured degu cage Although the animals themselves are not very large, they need plenty of room. After all, degus are curious. They will explore every corner of their room in which they have to move a lot. Therefore, the degu cage should be spacious.
In one corner, place a house in which the homemade degu squirrel will live, in the other - a tray with wood shavings. Pour it on the bottom of the cage. You can use white paper, pressed corn cobs as bedding.
The animals like different kinds of hiding places, so place one or more old clay pots in the cage. Put pebbles, tree branches, roots on which the homemade degu squirrels will climb. In addition, the animal needs to grind its teeth every day, so twigs in the cage are necessary.
Place several shelves in the cage. An inquisitive animal will often drop in here for research purposes. Of course, the shelves must be very well attached so that the rodent does not fall or get hurt.
It is necessary to allocate space for the wheel, in which the animal will spin, spending the accumulated energy.
There should be several bowls for food. It is also necessary to hang a special drinking bowl for rodents, into which you need to pour fresh water.
The degu squirrel at home, as well as in the wild, does not tolerate drafts and direct sunlight. Therefore, when choosing a place for a cage, take this into account. After you bring the degu you bought home, do not put it in the cage right away. Leave the carrier with the pet next to it for a while. When the animal calms down and gets a little used to the new stop, gently mix it into the cage, placing part of the bedding there from the carrier so that the degu can smell its scent.
When the animal gets used to you, the new environment, let it go for a walk sometimes. To do this, fence off part of a room or other room. There should be no breakable objects, electrical and other wires on the floor that these animals can chew. Some indoor plants are dangerous to the Chilean degu squirrel: rhododendron, ivy, calla lilies, sansevier, anthurium.
In order to lure the animal back into the cage, place it next to it and open the door slightly. The animal will get hungry or thirsty and enter it. If there is no time to wait for a long time, take the treat in your hand and lure the animal with it. Do not cover it with your palm to catch it; such a degu can be very stressed. You can't catch him by the tail. As mentioned above, the rodent can shed the skin from it, then gnaw off the bare part, which will not have the best effect on the appearance of the animal.
How to feed the Chilean degu: menu
When composing it, do not forget that these animals are rodents. Their diet should include:
- corn;
- cereals;
- dried peas;
- some ground crackers.
You can buy ready-made degus food available from pet stores. There you will also buy hay, put it not only on the bottom of the cage, but also in a special nursery so that the degu rodent will eat it as needed.
Juicy food should be up to 50 g per day
These are hard vegetables and fruits. The animal degu loves to feast on seeds. Place a few on your palm and place it near the cage. Soon the rodent, at first cautiously, will take the treat. So gradually you will teach him to sometimes eat from his hands.
Please note, Chilean degu squirrel should not be fed with sugary fruits
because then these animals can develop diabetes mellitus! They should not be given overripe or green fruits either. When cleaning the cage, throw away leftover fruit and vegetable pieces. Food should be fresh, at room temperature.
Also, do not feed the degus with fermented milk products and milk
Degu hygiene procedures
These animals are very clean, so they do not need to be bathed. Moreover, it is contraindicated for them. Chilean squirrels dry clean their fur. To do this, place a sand bath once a day inside the cage. With the help of it, degu wool will be defatted, which is very important for these animals.
To eliminate odor, disease of animals, hygiene is also necessary for the cage. Leftover wet food must be removed every day. Change the litter as it gets dirty, but do not remove it completely, as it is important for these animals to smell their own.
If you want to wash the entire pan, set aside a small portion of the litter. Wash the tray with laundry soap, rinse well, wipe it dry. After that, lay white paper, on it - sawdust and quite a bit of old bedding.
Reproduction of Chilean degu squirrels
Despite the fact that Chilean squirrels become fully adult at the age of one year, the first mating of individuals can occur as early as 50 days of age. On average, this happens when the weight of the female individual reaches 205 grams - by 6 months.
Chilean squirrels should know each other well and treat a given individual of the opposite sex favorably. If you decide to buy a degu squirrel, and the second animal already lives in your home, put the couple together. In this case, you need to observe the behavior of animals, see that they do not show aggression towards each other. If Chilean squirrels are not afraid of each other, do not fight, then the rodents have found a common language and offspring can be expected over time. Then remove the shelves and the wheel from the cage so that the pregnant female, and then her cubs, are not injured.
Blood relatives should not participate in the reproduction process, otherwise there is a high probability that the offspring will be weak and sick. Choose healthy individuals over 6 months of age and sufficient weight.
After the birth of the babies, the male must be temporarily isolated in a separate cage. After a week, it can be returned back. This is necessary so that the female does not become pregnant again, since for her health it is possible to bear and give birth to offspring no more than once a year.
After 90 days after mating, the Chilean degu squirrel will give birth to cubs, there can be from 1 to 12. On average, there are 5-6 babies. After giving birth, try to bother the young mother and her little ones less.
Do not keep the animals together for a long time, as then the slightly grown rodents will begin to mate. Transplant the boys and girls into separate cages when the toddlers are 4–6 weeks old, until that time the degus should be together. The fellowship of brothers and sisters has a beneficial effect on their development.
Here are some basic guidelines for keeping degus at home. Of course, there are unforeseen cases, so you need to know in advance where the veterinary clinic is located, which has a specialist who can treat Chilean squirrels.
But if you feed the degus correctly, eliminate drafts, treat the animal well, for several years a nimble pet will be next to you, will respond to your care with devotion and love.
Video about keeping degus at home:
More photos of rodents:
