The Degu, Octodon degu

Copyright © for this page 1998 by Jörg Eberbeck. Copyright © for Sue Green's article 1998 by Sue Green

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Degus

By Sue Green (corrections and additional information by Dietrich Degenhardt)

What they are

Bigger than a Mongolian Gerbil but smaller than a Shaw's Jird and somewhat chubbier than both, the Degu has been described as looking like "a gerbil on steroids". However, despite its gerbil-like appearance, the degu does not belong to the gerbil family at all. It is a rodent from South America and more closely related to the Guinea Pig and Chinchilla. Its Latin name "Octodon Degu" is derived from the worn enamel surface of its teeth which forms a pattern in the shape of a figure eight.

Degus come from the lowland areas of Chile where they live in large groups making their homes in rocks or hedges. They are considered an agricultural pest.

Degus as pets

Pet degus are commonly kept as pets in the USA and in many European countries and are exhibited in small mammal shows alongside gerbils. However, in Britain they are virtually unknown. I have had a mixed sex pair for 2.5 years which I bought as babies from a private zoo. Like gerbils, degus are social animals and should never be kept singly. They are very lively and curious. It is rare for them to bite, but they do have very sharp claws. They clearly recognise me, and come running up to greet me as soon as I call their names. If I stick my finger in their cage, they grasp it delicately in their paw. However, degus are much more nervous and wary of strangers than gerbils. I would not recommend them as pets for children under 12, nor would I keep them in a school as I do with my gerbils. Degus are diurnal (active by day, sleep by night) so they would be a suitable pet for someone living in a bed-sit. Although I handle them regularly, they need to be handled with care. Like gerbils, degus can shed part of their tail as a defence mechanism. This is much more serious for degus than it is for gerbils as degus make much greater use of their tails for balance. When nervous, Degus spin round and round and shed their tail in the process. Unfortunately Adam, my male degu, has already lost the tip of his tail because of this.

Degus have an incredible range of vocalisations. When they are scared or surprised they shriek loudly. Their shrieks let me know about visitors to my flat even before they have even knocked at the door. Degus make cheap and reliable burglar alarms! When a degu is happy it warbles. Being groomed by another degu or tickled under the chin by a human are things that make a degu warble.

Housing

Degus prefer climbing upwards rather than burrowing downwards. Therefore I keep them in a cage, not a fish tank like my gerbils. As they are very active, they need lots of space. They like to climb up the bars and sit on perches like birds. They particularly enjoy tightrope walking on a couple of old belts which I have strung across the cage, bathing in chinchilla dust and engaging in boxing matches. Like gerbils they are avid nest builders. Apparently in the wild they spend a lot of making piles of twig. Status within the degu community is thought to depend on the size of their respective twig pile. In the absence of twigs, my degus collect paper tissues which I give them for bedding. A final point worth noting. Degus do not come from arid parts of the world like gerbils do. Therefore, they drink a lot more water. This in turn results in more pee and more smell (about equivalent to a hamster or a rat -they are not as offensive as mice or rabbits) Thus degu cages require cleaning out more frequently than gerbil cages.

Diet

This is problematic. Wild degus mainly live on bulbs, tubers, twigs and bark. It is difficult to replicate this narrow and specialised diet in captivity. Excess calories rapidly lead to excess fat. More importantly, degus are unable to metabolise sugars. If they are fed anything containing sugar, and that includes the natural sugars that are found in fruit, they often become diabetic. This shortens their life span considerably. Additionally, the diabetes causes cataracts and thus the degu becoming blind. I feed my degus on chinchilla pellets, guinea pig pellets, hay, the occasional alfalfa cube and nothing else. For treats they get another paper tissue for their collection. They also appreciate a piece of wood or cardboard to gnaw. If you are the sort of person who cannot resist giving titbits to your pets, then degus are not for you. Stick with gerbils. A small piece of biscuit or the odd raisin or whatever else your gerbil fancies does no harm to them.

Breeding

Like all South American rodents, degus have a comparatively long gestation period and the young are born fully furred and with their eyes open. In the wild they rarely live longer than 1.5 years. In captivity they usually reach an age of four to five years. Females become become sexually mature at the age of about seven weeks, males become mature at an age of three months. The gestation period is 3 months and the average litter size is 6.

If the father is kept together with the litter, the daughters get new litters even before reaching an age of five months. Therefore males and females should be separated at an age of six weeks, when they are weaned and curious for new things but not yet sexually mature.

My degus have had two litters (5 babies, then 6 babies) and are about to have a third litter. All the babies have been healthy and successfully raised. Both parents help care for the young. Degus are unusual rodents in that they are very peaceful. Adult degus that are strangers can usually be introduced and housed together sucessfully.