Name
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The scientific (latin) name of the degu is Octodon degu
and some scientists state that the degu does not belong to the order Rodentia
(rodents) but to the South American Caviomorpha just as the
guinea pig, the chinchilla, the capybara and so on. For over
100 years and more the Swedish name has been degu. The original
scientific name was Octodon cummingi, but have changed to
Octodon degu long since.
Adult size
The adult degun usually weighs 200 to 300 grams.
Normal lifespan
There are records of degus that have lived to be 15 years old,
but normally they live for about six years.
Natural behaviour and social organisation
The wild degu is an active animal that lives in groups.
The degu group normally contains between 5 and 10 animals, though
they may live in colonies of up to hundreds of degus.
This animal is active during the day, preferably early
morning and evening. They live in complicated systems
of burrown, each group of degus has several different
systems of burrows! Each male makes a pile near a tunnel
entrance, where he often lie. It is thought that the
size of the pile shows the status of its owner. Sometimes
this behaviour can be seen in captive degus. The wild
degu has many social contacts with the members of the
group. They also have ceremonial sand bathings, where the
group sand bathes together in a sandy area of the territory.
Degus are talkative and have numorous sounds with which
they communicate.
Cages and environment
Really big chinchilla cages, with several shelves
and lots of wood to chew, are ideal. Bird cages
are too small, you need to use the kind of bird
cages that are built for expansion and add a lot
of extra space. The expansion parts need to go up,
since degus prefer high cages. Degus
need big cages. Wooden houses are appreciated,
the degu needs hiding places. At least
one shelf per degu in the cage is minimun. Therefore
a big cage with four shelves will only hold
four degus comfortably. The shelves must not be made
of wire, since degus easily develops pododermatitis
from walking on wire.
Degus enjoys re-arranging, so they will like it if you
re-arrange everything in the cage regularly. New toys,
branches, paper boxes, wooden houses, and shelves and so on are
much appreciated.
Degus are highly sensitive to heat, they can easily die
even during warm Swedish summers, so this is something
to plan for from the beginning. They live high up in the
South American mountains and will soon die in
temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.
The degus need
a bowl with fine chinchilla sand, to bathe in. It is
important that the sand bowl is big enough for all
degus in the cage to bathe at once. They urinate
in the bowl after the bathing ceremony, so the
bowl needs cleaning out often.
Escape proof cages
Degus are extremely good at gnawing, and gnaws through most
material in just one night. Suitable material for cage
building purposes does not include wood, only metal and glass.
A thick wooden plank is easily gnawed right trough by only one
degu in just one night.
Social organisation in captivity
Degus should never be kept alone in captivity. You
can have a group consisting of several males or a
group of several females, if the cage is big enough.
For breeding purposes you can keep one male with
several females. It is not recommended to keep
more than one male in the same cage as one or more
females, since males may fight in such a situation.
Wild degus are territorial, and consideration must
be taken of this behaviour when introducing new
degus to old ones.
For this often a cage that can easily be parted
in two by wire is used. You keep switching sides
daily, until they smell the same, which usually
takes two weeks.
Never keep a lonely degu!
Handling degus
Degus are hold in cupped hands - never lift
a degu in its tail, since it is well known for losing
its tail. Never hold tight to the degu, since
it might very well bite - hard! Degus just
don't like being held tight. A tame degu will sit nicely
on your shoulder, or in your hand. It takes longer
time to tame degus than most other small pets, so
it is best to buy already tame degus. They can
get just as tame as any other pet, though. One
way to make them more tame is to hand feed fruit
and vegetables, and go on from there.
Tame degus can be let out in the apartment for
exercise or activation, but only under close supervision.
Taming degus
Take the long way and do not offer treats in your hand or they might nibble on you in hope for treats. I have tamed degus in the past by just putting food in the front of the cage, cleaning my hands so I don't smell of food, and the gently touching their foreheads when they come to eat... As soon as I could just touch their foreheads (usually one is easier to tame than the other), I wanted to pet them on their foreheads and I wanted to touch them behind the ears, it took a while, and then I wanted to touch them on their cheeks or chins, and when I got this far I could usually see that they enjoyed it... Then I just go on from there... Never catching and holding any degu, just touching and gently petting, and soon they climb up in your hands anyway. It takes a long while before you can hold them!! But they live long lives compared to other small pets, so it is worth it!
Nutritional requirements
Degus need free access of good quality hay (green and leafy
timothy hay),
and always good quality drinking water in a water bottle.
In the feeding bowl they should have crushed wheat, oats,
corn and maybe some nuts and sun flower seeds. You can
also give dry bread. Avoid any mix bought in pet shops,
these are too high in fat.
They also need some vegetables daily, and some fruit.
Not much, but they tolerate more than chinchillas. See to
it that they get the same kind of food all the time,
since they cannot tolerate sudden changes.
Breeding
Degus are pregnant for about 90 days, and gives birth to
around 4 to 6 babies (up to 10). They can reproduce all
year round. Never keep two pregnant females in the same
cage, since you will probably loose one of the litters
minimum. Degu babies are born just like mini adults, and
run around in the cahge within a few days. Since the babies
are small and easily walks through the bars of almost
any cage you need to put any pregnant female in an aquarium.
Babies is said to be able to reach sexual maturity
at the age of 6 weeks, but I never met any degus that
reached sexual maturity before the age of 6 months.
The babies should never leave the mother before
6 weeks of age. Wild degus can get 5 litter a year.
Pregnant females often abort if handled!
Environmental changes
Degus does not tolerate food changes well. They do
not tolerate heat (over 30 degress Celsius) and a
healthy degu may die from a Swedish summer heat.
Degus like rearranges in their cage, and they
also like a change of cage or environment.
Common signs of disease
The front teeth shall be orange - just as in rats -
so white front teeth is a certain sign of disease.
Common diseases
Some degus have an inherited problem with their eyes,
that only shows up in adults. And if degus get fat they
can develop diabetes - never let your degus become
fat! If the shelves in the cage are made from wire
degus often get pododermatitis - just as rats and
guinea pigs (infected and swollen sore paws).
Disadvantages of keeping degus
Degus makes noices at night, more than most other
small pets. Don't keep them in your bedroom at night.
They tend to hide in unusual places (see photo!), but I guess that is more of an advantage...
More to read about degus
Booklets about degus and other pets.
More information about the booklet (in Swedish):
Dina första degus.pdf.
About degus and sugar
Degu club?
There is no degu club that I know of, but the
Swedish Hamster Club arranges degu shows!
No-one has the right to use photos or text, in whole or part, from my website and publish it on their own websites. The Swedish Hamster Club (SHF = Svenska Hamsterföreningen) has the right to copy my degu-pages and give away paper copies of these pages for free to their members and other interested persons. They are not allowed to make changes in text or photos.
Everybody has the right to save copies and to print out for their own peronal use.
Photos by Eva Johansson, 1989. Copyright Eva Johansson.
Last update: 8th of August 2007.