Choosing a new cage for the little guys

It’s been nearly two years since we adopted the little guys: Daniel, Jack, Sam and Scott. When we got them we put together a cage for them using two second hand pets at home cage (those things are expensive new and just one wouldn’t be suitable for two degus, nevermind four). So. Two cage with lots of extra levels added, a huge metal wheel and lots of hiding places. It’s worked well enough, but the cage isn’t without it’s issues (such as the door being to one side of the cage which doesn’t provide easy access for cleaning out the cage) and the cages weren’t new to start with so the time has come to buy a new cage for the little guys. The cage the big guys (Thomas and Tobias) came with is the same sort of thing, but the way the shelves are laid out makes it easier to clean and the cage is still in a better condition than the cage of the little guys.

After lots of looking around and not really finding anything I was 100% happy with I narrowed my options down to the following cages:

Keep reading for my thought on these cages.

Ideally I would have looked at all of these cages in person before buying one, however I couldn’t find anywhere that sells them locally. All three of these cage have doors which are such that the front of the cage opens fully for easy access to the cage. They also all have solid floors.

Liberta Cage

  • The trays are deeper than they look in the photos, I should be able to put in plenty of bedding without worrying about it all being kicked out again
  • The direction of the bars will make it more difficult for the degus to climb up the cage
  • Hammocks etc. can only be hung from the top of the cage

Critter Nation Cage

  • The trays don’t look as deep
  • The half width shelves look sturdiest on this cage
  • The wheels on the stand look as though the have brakes
  • Hammocks can be hung from the middle level of the cage as well as the top

Savic Cage

  • The cage is solid around the full levels to prevent bedding being kicked out as much, but the actual trays don’t look as deep and it looks as though there is a gap along the side of the tray through which bedding could be lost 
  • It’s possible to hang things from the middle level of the cage
  • The half width shelves aren’t as wide as those in the other two cages

Please note that I have compared these cages for how I intend to use them with bedding, I’ve seen lots of people with rats who use fleece instead in which case shallower trays might be more suitable.

The cage I settled on is the Liberta cage. The cage arrived flat packed and was fairly straight forward to put together by myself. It takes quite a lot of space to put together.

I have added two full wooden levels and replaced the two metal half width shelves with wooden ones. As the levels are much closer together now I have removed the ramps, otherwise I would have replaced these with solid ramps – whilst the ramps provided shouldn’t cause bumblefoot because they make up only a small part of the cage, I would personally worry that a paw or leg might get caught if a degu decides to push someone else off.

Things I wish I’d known before buying this cage:

  • In order to get the trays out the doors need to be opened by 180 degrees, something to keep in mind if the cage is going in a narrow space.
  • The half width shelves rattle and seem as though they would be incredibly noisy with degus running over them.
  • The way the half width shelves are attached means that they can only be attached on the right hand side of the cage.

The little guys have really taken to their new cage and are enjoying redecorating (chewing all the new shelves).

Sexing degus – hint: that’s not a penis

I’ve heard several people say that they have been mis-sold degus as a same sex pair when they haven’t been. If you’re planning on buying or adopting degus it’s a good idea to know how to sex them yourself or you might end up with more degus than you expected!

There’s a more in depth guide to sexing degus here, this is just intended to be a brief warning to make people aware that it’s not as straight forward as it seems. Both males and females have a cone, the penis is stored internally, so you can’t tell the sex just by glancing briefly. The way to tell whether a degu is a male or female is by whether or not there is a gap between the anus and the cone. If there’s a gap the degu is male, if there isn’t a gap the degu is female – photo under the cut.

source

Happy second anniversary to the little guys

It’s been two years since I adopted the little guys and it occurs to me that I haven’t told the story of how I ended up with six degus. I found someone who was selling Thomas and Tobias (the big guys) online, I’ve had them since 21st September 2013. I didn’t decide to get two, it just happened that someone who was selling degus locally at the time that I was looking for some had a pair. If I’d made the choice I probably would have gone for three or four degus so that if one died the other one wouldn’t be left all alone. A few months on I started thinking that I should introduce Thomas and Tobias to more degus for when one of them dies.

I found someone who was giving away degus locally. The story he told was that a friend of his has been sold a pair of degus as being same sex and they weren’t. I’ve heard of pet shops mis-sexing degus several times. The guy we got the degus from had around 40 of them, there were 30 degus in a cage that I wouldn’t deem suitable for two. I went with the intention of getting two or three degus but ended up with four because I felt I had to take as many as the cage I had ready for them was suitable for. I don’t know how old the little guys were when I adopted them, I was told somewhere between a few months and four years.

The guy hadn’t looked up anything about how to look after degus and had a shredded glove that he wore to grab at them. Not surprisingly after the way they had been treated it took a long time to get the little guys to trust me. It took me nine months to get the little guys to the same stage of being handled that the big guys were at. It was challenging. At the start I couldn’t name the little guys because I was scared they would die and that it would be worse if I had given them names. They were tiny, timid, dishevelled creatures with mites who I was now responsible for. Now they’re boisterous, curious, cheeky little guys who climb all over me.

Unfortunately the two sets of degus degus don’t get on. Since we moved house and the degus don’t have to be in the same room any more the big guys are much friendlier again and I’m getting somewhere with training the little guys.

Rescue pets aren’t the easiest to take in, but it’s been worth every second. The first time they took food from my hand. The first time they sat next to me rather than running off with the food.

The first time they felt safe enough to stay in a huddle when I entered the room rather than running to hide.

The first time they sat in my lap. The first time they let me hold them.

The first time they jumped on my shoulders.

The first time they purred. 

Happy adoption anniversary to Daniel, Jack, Sam and Scott.

What should degus have in their cage?

This continues on from my post about what makes a good degu cage.

A degu cage requires:

  • Solid floors
  • Two or three full levels
  • Hiding places
  • Bed
  • Wheel

 Also required:

  • Dust/sand bath
  • Digging

There should be one more hiding places than you have degus so that they can always have somewhere to hide. Having more hiding places will reduce fighting as they will be able to hide when they want to and won’t feel the need to defend their spot.

There are multiple options for their bed: you could go with a wooden bed box, a hammock or a plant pot.  Any enclosed space in which they can feel safe would be suitable. Your degus may have a preference, for example when we first got the little guys we gave them a bed box, but since we gave them a hammock they’ve taken to sleeping there in warmer weather. If using anything that can be chewed this will need to be inspected for damage and repaired or replaced as required. The little guys have chewed through the strap of the hammock before, which gave them a shock when the hammock suddenly moved.

The degus should always have access to a wheel. This should be at least 12 inches in diameter as a minimum as anything smaller can cause damage to their spines. Possible materials for the wheel are metal, plastic and wood. The wheel should be solid in order to avoid injury to paws and tails. I wasn’t able to find a solid metal wheel with a large enough diameter so I made a wheel using a cake tin, lazy susan bearing and rivet gun using this guide.

Both of my sets of degus have an upright wheel in their cage, the little guys also have a flying saucer wheel. 

In order to clean themselves degus require a sand or dust bath – they should not be washed with water unless there are specific circumstances that require it, such as a bad reaction to a topical medicine. In the rare cases where a degu does need to be washed with water something such as a gentle baby shampoo can be used.

Either sand or dust can be used, my guys started off with sand baths and when later presented with the option to choose between sand and dust the vote for dust was unanimous.  As the dust is finer it can work it’s way through the fur to the skin better and perhaps does  a slightly better job of cleaning, however it also makes quite a mess, even with an enclosed bath, and so long as they have a sand or dust bath I wouldn’t worry too much about which one they are given.

It is recommended that the sand/dust bath is not left in the cage permanently as the degus will begin to use it as a toilet. The bath could be put in the cage for 20 – 30 minutes a day, or the degus could have access to it when they’re out for a run. Personally I leave the dust bath out so that they can have a bath while they’re out for a run if they want to, which they don’t always. A bath every two – three days would be sufficient, if they bathe too frequently this can cause their skin to dry out.

It is possible to toilet train degus, so a bowl with a little sand could be left in the cage to be used as a toilet.

In the wild degus live in burrows and where possible they should be provided with the opportunity to dig. This is difficult to incorporate in most store bought degus cages, it could be done more easily if you were building your own cage, however this is time consuming and impractical for most people. If there would still be enough running space in the cage you could provide a small tank or plant pot in which the degus could dig, although finding one large enough for the degus to be able to dig in properly might then encounter the issue that it won’t fit through the door of the cage. I’ve tried to provide a tank in which my guys could dig while they were out for their run, however they were always more interested in running around than digging.

Other things my guys have in their cages include hammocks, logs, branches, tubes and tunnels.