Food Supplies
Food bowls are a must-have, as they prevent food contamination by keeping food off the cage floor. These should be shallow, ceramic dishes that allow easy access to food but can't be tipped over (one for each degu is a good idea!). Dietary hay should also be kept off the floor by providing it in a bowl or, ideally, a hay rack. Water should be supplied in a drinking bottle with a spout to prevent water contamination and ensure improved hygiene and safety.
Food
Your degus main feed should be in the form of either a dried mix or pellets. It is highly recommended that your degus are fed on a good-quality guinea pig food as this contains all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients your degus need, without containing any harmful substances. As an alternative, some owners feed their degus chinchilla pellets, or a mixture of these with guinea pig food. This is perfectly safe and provides a bit of variety. However, avoid feeding your degus chinchilla mix, as these feeds often contain pieces of dried fruit which is not suitable for your degus to regularly consume. You must NOT feed degus on rabbit food or mix, as these often contain a coccidiostat compound which are harmful to degus. Coccidiostat drugs are widely used in the animal feed industry as additives to treat and control coccidiosis infection, caused by species of Eimeria and Isospora bacteria (coccidia). Most mammals are able to make their own vitamin C from dietary glucose and galactose, with the exception of humans, some primates, birds and guinea pigs. These animals cannot synthesise vitamin C due to a lack of the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase in the liver. It is not clear whether degus are able to make their own vitamin C or not, but since degus are related to guinea pigs it's a good idea to supplement their diet. As well as being an essential antioxidant that promotes healthy teeth and gums, vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid) is essential for the structural and functional integrity of androgen dependent (reproductive) organs, has immunity functions and can help prevent cancer, heart disease and cataracts. However, vitamin C must not be overdosed, so it's best to supplement by feeding guinea pig food that contains supplemental vitamin C in the right quantities. An adult degu should ideally be fed 10 g of hard feed once a day to get all the nutrients they need without increasing the risk of obesity and related problems. To make this easier, you can use a 25 ml shot glass to measure, which will hold approximately 10 g of most feeds- remember that any diet changes need to be done slowly, and it is important to weigh your degus regularly to ensure they are maintaining a good weight.
Click here for some Brands that are safe
Hay
The most suitable for your degus is good quality meadow hay. The hay should be brown, not green in colour (green hay can cause bloating) and have a fresh, sweet smell. Hay that smells musty or appears pink or white in places must be discarded, as these are signs of mould. To increase the palatability of hay, it is possible to mix a small amount of alfalfa hay with it. Alfalfa hay should not be fed in large amounts due to its high protein and calcium content.
Vegtables
Degus should have a certain amount of fresh vegetable matter in their diet, but restrict fruit as most types of fruit contain sugar. Overfeeding of fresh greens, in particular lettuce, cabbage and peas, can cause bloating, but most vegetable types are safe for degus to eat. Degus also enjoy fresh herbs, such as basil, mint and parsley. As a rough guide, each degu should get a selection of a few thumbnail sized bits of veg once or twice per week. Fresh fruit should be only given in small amounts once per month, unless your degu is diabetic (in which case no fruit should be provided). My degus seem to prefer spinach, chicory, Some carrots and parsley.
Water
Fresh water should always be supplied for your degus through a drinking bottle. Don't worry, your degu's natural curiosity will mean they quickly find out where to get a drink! Cold tap water is fine to give to your degus as long as it's safe for you to drink. ALWAYS check with a qualified vet before treating your degus water or food. As a side note, degus have a relatively low need for water due to their physiology and anatomy being designed to cope with arid environment . Although you wouldn't ever be cruel enough to deprive your degus of water, in the wild they can survive without drinking for up to 13 days.
Treats
Treats mean just that- they are given to your degus as a reward only and not feed in large amounts or on a regular basis. Treats will give your degus a positive emotional experience and are useful for enrichment and training purposes.
Some treat options are sunflower seeds, orange pieces, freeze dried banana, freeze dried apple and Martins Rabbit treats, but only 1 a day due to the sugar content. You can also give half a teaspoon of baby food a day for degus that aren't friendly enough to take treats. the types that are safe are squash, sweet potato, carrot, and peas as these are low in sugar.
Nuts and Seeds
Degus particularly enjoy sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, as well as natural (unsalted) peanuts and whole hazel or brazil nuts (in the shell). Cashew nuts should only be fed if dried. Whole hazel nuts in the shell can be given as a good enrichment exercise and to help incisor tooth wear, but no more than one per degu per month due to the quantity of the nut consumed (once they get into it!). FRUIT- Yes that's right! Although degus can't be fed regularly on fruit due to its sugar content, research has shown that small amounts of sugar are tolerated normally by degus, particularly as fruit sugars (disaccharides such as fructose) take longer to metabolise than monosaccharides (glucose). This is good news for your degus as they love the occasional bit of apple (note that apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide and are therefore toxic to most small animals). Raisins do not make good degu treats as they have a high sugar content, so only give your degus one raisin each per month (or not at all if they are diabetic).
Dried Herbs
Many pet shops sell bags of dried, mixed herbs and flowers that are very much enjoyed by degus. This sort of dried mix is similar to what degus would eat in the wild, and bags of dried dandelion, marigold, parsley, hazel leaves, rose petals etc. make a great addition to their regular hay and diet.
Dried Vegtables
Small bits of dried veg are usually loved by degus, and although it should not replace the fresh stuff due to the natural degradation of nutrients during the drying process, it can help encourage picky degus to get started on vegetable matter. These also make great treats as the smell seems to drive them wild!
Digestion
How does it work? A degu's intestinal tract has evolved two methods of digestion. These two methods are known as 'autoenzymatic digestion' and 'alloenzymatic digestion'. Autoenzymatic digestion extracts nutrients from food by using the degu's own digestive enzymes to break down simple dietary compounds such as carbohydrates. Alloenzymatic digestion extracts nutrients using intestinal microflora to break down complex substances such as cellulose. Although similar to the human digestive system, the evolution of a highly differentiated large intestine is a widespread phenomenon among caviomorphs. Since the degu uses a symbiant population of gut bacteria to help break down otherwise indigestible complex carbohydrates, nutrition can be extracted from even the poorest of diets. The breakdown products of cellulose include volatile fatty acids, carbon dioxide, waterand methane. Degus have evolved to accommodate this specialist population of microflora to help them cope with the low quality and variability of food they find in the wild. In fact, the best possible diet for our pet degus is one that contains little hard feed, but as much hay as our degus want to eat. Wild degus have been given a nutritive class of 216g of crude fibre per kg of dry matter. This is a comparatively high fibre content, and verifies the fact we should give our degus frequent access to good quality hay. It has also been suggested that having intestinal microflora may enhance the the vitamin availability to the degu, and even detoxify plant material to some extent.
Degu Nurition
Below is the nutritional requirements of degus, treat ideas and vegetables they can have.