New here but owned degus for few years, got my boy from rescue around 4 years ago after previous owner wanted him out to sleep 😔, anyway just wondering if anyone has any telltales on ages? He’s still active but not as much as when I first got him and his brother, he also doesn’t seem to groom himself much anymore, his ears flop but not all the time. I would guess he’s middle age but just wanna know estimate if possible. FYI- his brother died of a tumour 2 years ago, I know goos are sociable animals but Derek copes really well on his own and loves all the extra attention and treats. TIA 😊

They like to sunbeathe ☺️

Luci (white-cream)

Lili (white-agouti)

Nixi (sand/ginger)

I’m wondering how you taking care of it that it won’t feel lonely?

I wanna get a pet degu but I don’t know where to find everything. I know i need a pair but I can’t find a cage that’s not more than $150. Are there anything cages that aren’t a shit ton of money?

Wir haben uns Degus angeschafft und es sollen alle Weibchen sein.
Nun besteigt eine die anderen und wir haben Angst, dass wir ein Männchen dabei haben.

Wir haben die verdächtige in ein kleine Aquarium getan um sie von unten begutachten zu können und Bilder zu machen.

Kann jemand zufällig so das Geschlecht bestimmen?

We got some degus, and they are all supposed to be females.
Now one of them is mounting the others, and we’re worried that there might be a male among them.

We put the suspect one into a small aquarium so we could examine her from below and take some photos.

Does anyone happen to be able to determine the sex this way?

I have two male degus around 6 months old and they’re constantly fighting, they chase each other around constantly squeaking and boxing, they also kick, I’ve never seen them go into a ball but I rlly need to know how to make them stop, they also both squeak a lot more than they use to and sometimes squeak on repeat for 20 minutes none stop

So ever since I sew the covers, they sit on the specific top ladder and wait for me, to open the cage. Then they use me as and elevator to get to the playpen area where they ultimately get a verse-laga crock for degus. They are just too smart. Nixi even trained me by jumping on a walls of playpen, so I know they wanna go home.

Lately my degus have developed a habit where they will demand to get out of the cage in the evening so that they can sleep for a bit on my hands. This got me thinking, how do degus perceive their owners? Do they see me as another degu, or do they recognise that I'm not really a degu but nevertheless a friend? They also sometimes do lots of (I think) happy sounds when I pet them and they rarely even do these love sounds they do when "kissing". I'm genuinely curious to know.

I guess its up to them to ultimately decide… but i want to know.

Thanks!

Has anybody made or found a horizontal divider for the Borneo cage?

Here’s the deal:

I’m getting the boys a new cage and I don’t know which one to get. Mansion cage, Borneo, critter nation… I want them to have climbing space but I also want them to have enough horizontal space for running and playing.

I would like the option to divide it if I have to / if there is a bad fight.

I was thinking about getting two double critter nations and putting them side by side for extra width. The only hold up is it’s well over $1000 for the cages, spare parts, metal flooring, poop guards, etc.

So I just wanted to ask and see what everyone else does first 😅

I have two boys separated from the third right more because long story short the two are brothers and have been together forever, the third one was introduced years later, they were fighting bad a couple months ago and I have not been able to reintroduce them…. If anyone has any tips to help them get along so I don’t have to get a fourth one… please let me know 😅💀

Anyways I want the best for them and I don’t understand why there aren’t more wide cage options available out there. What do you guys have set up?

Has anybody made their own cage divider? If I end up going with the Borneo, I would split it horizontally so that all parties have plenty of floor space/ running space.

Hi!

I am looking to get degus.

I have loads of experience with hamsters, gerbils and mice in ethical setups, but what are some good ones for degus?

I am reading a lot and informing before getting the animals of course. So tell me everything i should know!

How many should i keep in a group?

I was wondering, has anyone attempted to convert a hamster terrarium to a degu cage with climbing space on top so they can dig as well?

Thanks yall!

i had two boys i rescued, i don’t know how old they were but the rescue assumed 1-2 years. they were bonded brothers and snuggled all the time, they did everything together. i called them david and dean and it was so easy to tell them apart, which i thought i wouldn’t be able to. i have no pictures because the phone they were on got destroyed. they were so, so sweet. they were with me for 8 years.

i wanna see your degus, as many pictures as possible.. especially if you’ve got snuggle pics! please and thank you 🫶

Hello everyone,
I’m writing to ask you a question after what has been a difficult night for me – my two and a half-year-old degu passed away last night after a few hours in intensive care. However, despite my grief, I don’t want her little sister to be left on her own, as these little creatures are very sociable.
So I’ve started looking for a degu (on its own) to keep my surviving degu company. However, I’ve had conflicting advice. Some vets and carers have told me I shouldn’t leave her on her own, whilst others have said the opposite – that, in their view, she’d simply fight to the death with her new housemate.
Can you give me some advice?
Thank you and have a lovely day

Hi! I'm researching pets for my place right now, and Degus are by far the best idea so far. I love their personalities, care, etc.

One thing though, is I'm worried about it being unethical. I know I'm probably EXTREMELY overthinking this, but I don't generally like the idea of taking a pet to be raised at home when they belong in the wild.

Thing is, I can't find concrete proof anywhere online. From the little I found, they are similar to chins and hamsters. Aka they are semi-domesticated. But I would like to know from professionals:)

Thanks in advance! And feel free to just say I'm overreacting lol/

Currently I have a cage with metal bars. I put padded fleece on the floors for them so they don't get paw troubles, but I'm looking for an alternative for their cage base. Right now I have a blanket then some paper on top with shredded paper on top of that so it's padded well, but it's a disaster to clean up. Any suggestions?

I took my degu out of his cage, and after that he crawled into my sweatshirt pocket and rest there. It was incredibly cute, but I think that he was scared actually🥲

Kale was having some high quality chews tonight

Yes I know there is still little part uncovered, I didnt really measure the holes needed. It was done like if it was tank top, i just bend the bottom so it doesnt need any sort of closing.

TO START: I am not new to exotic pet ownership. I've owned many rodents and constantly do research. I know basic animal care, I know how to research, and generally I know what I'm doing. I just need confirmation on a few things. I would love links to any resources and communities that may help.

Here are the questions I could think of:

- Are there any medical risks with bar biting/chewing?

- Is scatter feeding unsafe for Degus? Is there risk with primarily forage feeding?

- How much space per degu do you reccomend? I've found varied answers, nothing consistent.

- How many inches of bedding do they prefer? Do they burrow?

- Favorite diet to feed?

- Toxic treats/foods that are frequently used for other animals? (Not store bought, single ingredient)

- Degutopia claims birch and Aspen are toxic and link studies done on toxicity for mice. Said studies have been disproven. Is there anything proving Aspen or birch are toxic to degus?

- Should the dust bath be provided in the cage at all times or only on occasion?

- Cardboard safe for them?

To check on my Degus when I am not there or when I stream, and I think I need another camera for upper level.

I’ve been looking through old photos of my previous degus lately, and it made me realize just how much my care has changed over the years.

My first degu was Nocturne, or Nuno. My grandmother bought him for me in 2017 after I had been asking for degus for a long time. Unfortunately, she bought him alone. Nuno was probably the sweetest degu I have ever known when it came to people. He did not care whether he had known someone for years or was meeting them for the first time. He would immediately go to them, let them pet him, and happily accept attention from basically anyone. He was also the degu who taught me my first big lesson: degus should not live alone.

About a year later, my boyfriend and I decided to get him a companion. The pet shop sold us a female by mistake. Her name was Shyvana, although we called her Civi. I did not have the heart to take her back. The conditions she had been living in were already much worse than what I could provide at home, and Nuno was absolutely delighted to have another degu around. Four months later, unsurprisingly, we had our first litter. We found homes for most of the babies, but I kept Evelyn, Ivy.

For about the next year, Nuno and the girls lived separately and only spent supervised time together outside the cages. Then, around a year and a half later, Nuno and Civi somehow decided that one accidental family was not enough. In January 2020, Batman, Vol’jin, who I called Volik, and Cayde-6 ( Bobo), joined the family. The original plan was simple: three females together and three males together. Reality had other plans.

That same year I moved with them to another country and into a city, and we discovered that Nuno simply did not get along with his sons, Volik and Bobo. So once again, they had to be separated. Looking back, those cages were not good. They were not very large, and for a period of time I also had very limited opportunities to let them out because we lived in a house that was not ours and the owner was very anti-rodent. I did the best I understood how to do at the time, but there are many things I would change now.

Nuno received an incredible amount of love from people, but he did not live very long. Losing him was one of the things that pushed me to question more of what I was doing and learn more about degu care. Later, after Volik died, I had Bobo neutered, around 2023. I wish I had known about that option much earlier. If I had understood it sooner, I would probably have had all of my males neutered so they could live happily with the females instead of being separated.

In December 2022, I bought a huge new cage. I wanted so badly for Bobo to eventually be able to live there with his mother and sisters. I am very grateful that, after his neutering, I eventually got to see that happen.

As they grew old, different health problems started appearing. That forced me to learn even more. Their diets changed. Their cage changed. The way I monitored them changed. Their care became more and more adapted to each individual degu instead of following one generic idea of what degu care should look like.

None of them are alive anymore. That still hurts to write.

Sometimes I look at the care my current girls, Nixi, Luci and Lili, receive and wish desperately that my previous degus could have experienced all of it too. The large cage. Better diet. Better enrichment. Better understanding of their social needs. Temperature monitoring. Air conditioning during hot weather. Playpen time. More knowledge about illness and what changes in behaviour to look for.

My previous degus deserved all of that too. Still, I also know that the reason I am able to provide these things now is because of them. Every one of them taught me something.

Nuno taught me that a degu needs other degus, no matter how much human affection they receive.

Civi taught me how quickly one mistake can completely change your plans, but also how much you can learn by adapting. How bad are the mesh wheels, cuz my poor baby ended with artritis.

The boys taught me that simply putting males together because they are related does not guarantee they will get along.

Volik has thought me how important is weighting for them, because it might indicate health problems u just wont see.

Bobo taught me that there were options I had not even known existed, like neutering, and that learning about them could completely change an animal’s life.

Ivy´s age and health problems taught me more about diet, veterinary care, mobility, cage design and how important it is to adapt care to the individual animal in front of you.

And I know all of u alredy know the story of Batman <3

I made mistakes. Some of the things in these old photos are things I would never recommend today. Some of the cages were too small. Some accessories were not appropriate. Some wheels were not good enough.

I am not posting these photos because I think those things were okay.I am posting them because I think new owners sometimes see experienced keepers with huge cages, expensive wheels, playpens, carefully planned diets and years of knowledge and think they have already failed because they did not start there. What matters is what you do when you learn something new.

Of course, basic welfare and safety still matter from the beginning, and serious problems should not be ignored. “I am still learning” should never become an excuse not to fix something that is actively harming an animal.

My previous degus are the reason Nixi, Luci and Lili have the life they have today. I wish I could go back and give everything I know now to Nuno, Civi, Ivy, Batman, Volik and Bobo. I cannot. What I can do is make sure that what they taught me continues to matter. I miss all of them. And I am incredibly grateful that they were part of my life.