Eating Degu Pellets

Hey everyone,

 

Just want to share this picture with you. My degus NEVER eat thier pellets since they have been fed thier natural mix, this unfortunately left me with a few KGs of degu pellets. Usually I try to add them into the natural mix but the degus never fall for it ... causing my to throw away many pellets. Today while one was sat on my leg I tried to give him a pellet and he just started eating them! Its a mircale! 30mins later he was back to throwing them at me when I offer them :(

 

 

 

Degus never make thier mind up...

 

CRAZY DEGUS!

Cleaning natural branches and logs

Hey everyone I just wanted to quikcly share with you a couple of methods you can use to clean wood. (note: this is for wood you have found in the wild and wish to bring home and use, not wood that needs to be cleaned becuase of degus)

I was recently given a collection of large stumps and branches by a friend who is a gardner.
 (These are the stumps, I did not get chance to photograph the branches as I was busy getting ready for work, but I will share these another day) (These stumps are all from an oak tree)

So as you can see it was a nice varied collection. I have some that I can use upright as posts for them to stand on and some smaller thinner peices I can use to line the cage or bridge a gaps between ledges.

However all the peices were dirty and needed cleaning, there is not often a problem with freshly cut wood as the tree's natural defences should deel with most parasites and infections. My peices had been fell for quite some time, leaving fungal infections on the wood.

The first task was to scrub away any dirt and infection, I used warm water, fairy liquid and scratchy spounge. This part takes quite a long time from my experience. After this I boiled the kettle and poured it over the wood to remove any remaining dirt and fairy liquid (I had to boil the kettle about 5 times before I was done). Finally I put the peice into the oven and baked it on about 150 degrees. This is the important part now! Please, please keep a close eye on it the hole time it is in the oven and please seek parental guidance also. While my stump was in the oven it did give off smoke but never caught fire. after about 10mins I removed it carefully and left it to cool. 


Getting the log wet then baking it in the oven helps it to go rock hard.


The finished product should look something like this.

As you can see it is very clean and the wood is now more of a golden brown colour as opposed to the creamier colour before it was baked.


The other option you can take is to use a plainer to remove all the bark and then just scrub and hand dry the wood, this is a method I used on some of my branches, I will be sure to share pictures of this shortly.



Thanks for reading, have a nice weekend!


Smithomatic

Cage Glass Runners

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to make a quick post about how I fixed my glass runners to the cage.

My 1st job was to attach the side runners to the sides of the cage. These give the glass something to slot into nicely when closed. When you attach these runners make sure that the runner is flush on the inside of the cage or the degus will chew thier way out.

I used screws to attach my side runners - 3 screws, one at the top bottom and middle. When you put your screws in, do so diagonally, this should prevent the wood from splitting. Then you need to counter sink them.

To count sink : drill a larger hole above where your screw will be. Once screwed in, the head of the screw should be flush with the wood. Otherwise the Glass wont close properly.

As you can see my screw has not been counter sunk, forunately my side runners are deep enough for this not to be a problem.

Your side runners should reach the full stretch from top to bottom, as your main glass runners will fit inside them. Your side runners should also Not be "double u" runners.

See how the main runners fit inside the side runners:

The next job was to glue the bottom and top runners in place. For this I used GripFill.

GripFill is a very strong adhesive that dries relatively quickly and sets like concrete. So be careful not to get it anywhere else on your cage, its a nightmare to remove.


I squeezed a thin line of GripFill along the edge where I wanted my runner to be. Then I press my runner down firmly in place, ensuring that it was flush on the inside of the cage. Now I used all the clamps I could get my hands on to keep it firmly in place. Be careful when attaching the clamps, I myself had to make many adjustments to the runners position as every time I tightended a clamp; the runner would move slightly. Take your time and make sure you get it right.

You need to leave the runners to dry for 24hours minimum. I left mine for 48hours and they have set nicely. For the few months I have had sliding my heavy glass windows along them they have no budged at all.


If you have any excess GripFill (no doubt you will) that gets squeezed out over the edge, you can use terpentine or white spirit to remove it while its wet. Just be careful as terpentine and white spirit are dangerous.

Make sure that if you are choosing to use Glue, think very carefully about what you are planning to do. I had to remove the roof of my cage to slide the glass in, so I made sure that nothing glued would prevent me from doing this. You need to do the same. If you realise you need to take a piece off that you have glued so you can slide your glass in; you will need a new panel of wood.

Many thanks for reading, have a great afternoon.


Smithomatic

Degu Diet

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share some information with you about my Degu's deit. Please see the pictures below with descriptions. (Please be aware that all oweners feed thier degus differently, this is my way and will not be suitable for all.)

My collection of food

I always purchase a few bags of mountain medow and country garden herbs from the local pet shop. You get lots of exciting things in these like dry crispy birch leaves, rose petals and small twigs which my degus love to chew / gnaw on (especially the twigs!?)

Seeds: I purchase 3kg of bird seed, it is very cheep the more you buy and keeps for a long time. This bird seed lasts for about 8 - 9 months. I buy 3 different kinds of birdseed.

The first seed I buy is Niger seed.

I also purchase 2 different bags of regular bird seed. One is lower in fat and the other higher, containing sunflower seeds etc. The reason for 2 different bags is because I can easily decrease or increase the fat % of thier diet without having to individually pick out the fattier seeds.
 

Low Fat

High Fat

I buy 6kg of assorted Guinea Pig / Rabbit / Chinchilla food. This selection consits of dried carrots, peas, locust beans, rolled oats and a few other things. There are 2 important things to know about these mixes; 1st is that you should make sure that there are no raisins or other sugary foods in your mix, 2nd is that if you are choosing to use locust beans try to limit them to about 1 -2% of your mix as they contain very small traces of sugar. Degus are diabetic, this is why the no sugar rule is important!

Although there are some pellets included in the rabit mix I also offer Pets at Home Degu Nuggest as well. My degus tend not to bother eating these but I like to offer them as they tend to be very hard which is good for degus teeth. 

Treats

My favorite treat to offer is millet spray. Some owners offer this as a regular supplement to thier degu's diet, which if fine. The reason I offer it as a treat is becuase my degus get so excited whenever I open the box, I dont want to spoil thier excitement by always making it available.

Next we have Oats. I list this under treats however more and more owners have started to move toward feeding this as something to build wellness after injury or sickness, including myself.

Also under treats, I have Monkey nuts. These are so high in fat! Please do not feed your degus more than 2 of these a month. Degus go very crazy for monkey nuts, VERY!

Finally, Carrot logs. I tend to keep 1 of these in the cage almost all the time. They are great for the degus teeth, as they try to get to that "carroty" inside they must 1st chew the wood around the carrot.

Hay

Finally and most importantly - HAY. All degus should be provided with fresh hay all the time. In order to keep my degus interested in thier hay I try to change it up once a week. I generally rotate between regular hay, dandelion hay, camomile hay and natural hay from a local farm shop which is really fluffy and long (below).

I am intending to create another post that details my completed mix, portion size, proportion of ingredients and my Degu's eating habits. Hopefully this should help with any questions anyone might have.


Thanks everyone for reading.


Many thanks,


Smithomatic

Degu Cage is finished! Bottom level looks like a forest..

Hey everyone, I know I have not posted for a long time but I have been really busy with my degus lately. Please see below some pictures of the bottom level of my finished degu cage.

 I have added Birch tree and Oak tree branches (with the leaves still attached) to the cage. It helps the cage look much more natural, it gives the degus something to clamber on, they can chew the branches and they love to tear and rip at the leaves! They will often eat these leaves too.

 When introducing a mini-forest to your degus you must be careful. You must remember that nearly all degus are born and raised in pet shops and often do not have access to these materials. Most degus will be completely fine with Birch and Oak (Degus are adapted for a high tannin intake) but precautions must be taken when introducing these items.

It is best to introduce the new woods and leaves slowly. I began with introducing the Birch first. I added a few leaves removed from the branch mixed in with thier hay and a few twigs of Birch littered around the cage. I then monitored thier reaction to it over a week, once I was happy with the "all clear" I began to introduce hole branches of birch with the leaves still attached. Increasing over time. I repeated this entire process for introducing the Oak Branches. They have gone down a treat!

 I used some slabs of Oak and some Bark to create this small shelter in the corner of the cage (below). They are currently using this as thier nest, it is crammed full of leaves they are using as nesting material. On the bottom level they also have access to clay roof tile tunnel (above). These make fantastic tunnels as they are a great shape, durable and easily cleaned. Bury these under your bedding as your degus love to dig and uncover these tunnels!

This is just the bottom level of my degu cage guys, I will hopefully post some more pictures soon of the hole cage. I would like to do this level by level so I can talk a bit more in detail about each one.

Many thanks,

Smithomatic - Have a great weekend!

Hey guys,

Quick update before the glass arives. The cage is finished now, I'm just adding the final furnishings. This is a picture of the vivarium in place and ready to go.

 

While the cage is being set up and prepared the degus are living in a make-shift pen in my room.

Im still looking for some decent branches and logs to put into the cage, im attaching some small shelves and ledges at the moment. When you build your vivariums, try not to throw anything away! You can make some cool extra ledges and things from offcuts and spares. Below is a picture of what I made out of my offcuts:

Offcuts

 

 What you can Build!

To join these together, I used Gripfill. I don't usually agree with using glues and pastes to fix things together in a degu cage as they do like to chew and I'm worried they will ingest the glue. However, in this case I ran out of budget. I have glued them in a way so the joins are not easily chewed, I will also be monitoring thier chewing; if I see them taking a special interest they will be immediately removed.

Thanks for reading everyone! And to finish a quick picture of the new baby, hes about 7 weeks at the moment.

Smithomatic :)

Degus getting ready for bed

Hello,

I just wanted to share this video with all of you, its a video of my degus getting ready for bed time after a play. I have had it sat in my computer for ages and never released it. The cage in this video is the one they used to live in, back when I made this post. The video also gives a bit of an idea of my old cage set up.

Degus featured are Chewy and Scut

Enoy! :)

Glass has been orderd!

Hey everyone,

The glass has now been orderd should be here in the next 3-4 days. I have also managed to give the garage a huge clean out, so I will be able to get some better snaps of the set up. Also I am hopeing there will be enough space on the floor in front of the cage to create a run for them.

The glass is more much more expensive than PVC windows, I will display in a future post why PVC may be unsuitable for many cages. My current degu cage uses PVC, I bought one large sheet from Wickes and cut it to size my self. You can see the PVC I used here http://www.wickes.co.uk/acrylic-sheet/invt/210002/. Unfortunately I could not find a link to the same material in BNQ however I do know that they sell it and that it is cheaper there.

I ordered my glass from Roman Glass (http://www.romanglass.co.uk/), they have a fair few outlets across the UK. When you order the glass, be sure to ask for it Edged and Toughened, this will strengthen the glass so that if it does break it will be in large peices (not the dangerous spikes and dust that some glass smashes into). Having it "edged" will also help it to slide in its runner. The total cost for my 4 peices of glass was £120.00 inc. VAT.

Roof Tiles

Hey everyone,

Quick update, I just wanted to share these with you while they are fresh in my mind. You can get them from building industrial estates, offer to buy the spares off people who have just had extensions to thier homes or Ebay. Obviously they will need a tidy up depending on thier condition. Stay tuned to the blog, I myself have some of these roof tiles and will post them here when I get my cam fixed.

They make excellent tunnels and hiding holes for Degus, I love the lip at the front of the tile. Reminds me of a little hobbit home or something. They are great for burying under bedding for the degu to find aswell!  They still look very natural above bedding too, I cant wait to share my pics of the ones in my cage.

Degu Cage Progress

Please find below a video of my degu cage progress so far. The cage is structurally ready, just need to add the furnishings, metal work and glass. Very near the end now!

Please also note that it does not take as long to make a degu cage as I have been taking. I have been purposefully only doing small bits at a time as my degus live in the garage and the garage is also my only place to perform wood work. I do not wish to disturb them too much or fill the room with saw dust.

Many thanks all,

Smithomatic

Degu cage - Shelves

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to show everyone that I have built and installed the shelves (or levels) of the degu cage. Below are some pictures of the steps I used.

As you can see below, I have the shelf already cut (I had this done previously when I had all my peices cut) and I have trimmed off the 4 corners so it fits inside the cage around the (inner) frame.

I have used a jigsaw to cut 2 holes into the shelf at the back, this way the degus can get from level to level.

In the middle I have bolted 2 strips of pine down. My "divider panel" will slide in between these 2 strips, this gives the degus an equal share of the cage without being able to get to each other.

In the picture below my "divider panel" has a large rectangular hole in the middle. This will be covered in mesh so the degus can see each other but not attack each other.
 

I then attach two long panels of pine wood onto the front of the shelf. This will keep the bedding in. I bolted two strips of pine wood frame to the front and then bolted my two pine wood panels to them.

This is what the finished product looks like:

I then had a friend hold the shelf in place while i drilled the holes through the side and into the frame underneath the shelf. We then bolted everything together.

Below are some pictures of the shelves inside the cage.

Many thanks everyone, keep an eye, more updates to come!

Smithomatic