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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 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. |
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| Above: A two-day-old degu baby. Degus should be born fully furred and with their eyes open, but some degus, especially those raised in Eurasia may be born with eyes unopened. American degus and European degus came originally from two groups of wild-caught degus and have been kept segregated ever since. Even so, there are very few differences between them. Right: This is a litter of newborn baby degus. They may only be a few hours old. |
| A baby degu tasting a nibble ring (tm). Baby degus pretty much look like miniature adults. Although they will nurse until they are nearly 4 weeks old, you should provide growing degus with the same foods as adults require. I gave mine the dry food mix, Timothy hay, and sweet potato daily. Greens like romain lettuce, parsley and dandelion were given three times per week. |
| Left: A five-day-old degu baby. Degus grow quickly compared to people or dogs, but grow much slower than other similarly sized rodents. Gestation is about 90 days and the babies should not be removed from their parents until they reach a full five weeks. They will not be full-grown or sexually mature until they are 7 months old, but littermates should be segregated by sex before six weeks to ensure that no inbreeding will occur. |