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| At the moment, I care for 12 adult degus. I have no babies at this time and do not plan on having more unless I have homes lined up in advance. Gingy is the most photogenic of all and they are all very hard to tell apart in pictures anyway, so all these pictures are of Gingy. |
| Gingy eating an almond. Be careful not to feed to many nuts and seeds in general because too much fat is not good for degus, especially females of child bearing age (less than 5 years). Nuts with hard shells like this almond can be useful for wearing down a degu's ever-growing teeth. |
| Gingy eating sweet potato, saving the dandelion for later as a special treat. Sweet potato should be peeled and given raw. It contains a miraculous amount of nutrition and is similar to what a degu would eat in the wild. Because of this, I give my degus an inch cube of sweet potato every night. Dandelions also contain a lot of nutrition and every part of the plant may be eaten. Gingy loves the flowers best. |
| Basil and Gingy trying to escape. I have encountered two main face shapes in degus. Basil shows the first with smaller more squinted eyes and Gingy shows the second, a lovely convex snout accented by enormous wide set eyes. Ralph and Lydia have faces like Basil and all the rest more resemble Gingy. Notice the PVC pipe in the background. These are safe, durable and washable hide-a-ways for degus. |
| Gingy eating sweet potato. Again, sweet potato should be a staple food for degus. Gingy began eating double her regular amount about a week before delivery. Be sure to feed pregnant and nursing degus plenty of hay, sweet potato and greens. Still ration fatty foods and be sure to avoid sugary foods. |
| Gingy with a five-day-old baby. Degu parents usually let the young stray from the nest quite a bit more than other rodents. Only intervene if Mom or Dad ignore a baby crying for help. If your degu parents trust you, you should be able to handle baby degus beginning at the age of two days. Baby degus should also be trying hard foods by this time. |
| Gingy with a group of 10-day-old babies. Although only the female degu can nurse the young, the father plays a big role in child-rearing as well. Basil was more protective of his kids than Gingy was, and he would sound the alarm whenever a dog or cat walked by. He would also play with the babies and taught them how to build a pretty nest. |