The Degu Diaries

It has been a long time since I last posted. I have a mountain of things to do related to my work and while I've had time to tend to my 3 girls, I just haven't had time to post anything new.

As we all know, Claudia Degu is a bit of an intrepid explorer and loves to play in my jumpers while I'm wearing them. She even went to sleep in there the other day! Courtesy of my brother, here's a little Vine clip of her popping out to check that the non-sleeve world still exists. Enjoy!

This morning I fed my goos around 9:15am like every morning. I filled their food bowls, gave them some fresh water and hay, and replaced their toilet roll. Yes, you read write. Thankfully they aren't suffering from some kind of degu toilet trouble. They just like to play with it.

If you've been following my experiences as a degu owner you'll know that my girls decided to destroy their exercise wheels . I was incredibly lucky to even get the 6 months that they lasted.

Choosing the right bedding for your degus (or any animal) is a bit of trial and error. I've tried Bedmax, Finacard, and now I'm trying Megazorb . First impressions are less than satisfactory. It is very, VERY dusty. I've spent the best part of the afternoon armed with a hoover and a pair of tights trying to extract some of the dust. I've read mixed reviews and so far I'm leaning towards hating it. It has the potential to be incredibly good as it seems to be very absorbent.

When I bought wooden exercise wheels for my 3 girls I knew I was taking a gamble. Degus love to chew wood but in the back of my mind I was hoping that they'd realize that wheel destruction meant no running. After all, they are rather intelligent little rodents. Close up of damage After 6 months of little to no interest in chewing the wheels I thought I was on to a winner and had the only non-destructive degus in the world. This afternoon, after a morning out walking I came home to wheel destruction. Degu damage to Wooden Exercise Wheels 4 hours earlier they weren't particularly bad. Just some light gnawing around the edges and on the stands. Now they resemble something that's been, quite literally, blown apart by a grenade. It's like they woke up this morning and thought, "Right, degus. We're going to start chewing these wheels and we're not going to stop until they're gone!" It's a good job I didn't pay full price for the ...

Myka Degu eating the Finacard As it turns out, my degus aren't allergic to wood shavings after all. Shortly after I got them I had to change to Finacard because I thought it was the wood shavings making them sneeze. Coincidently the sneezing stopped when I changed the bedding.

from left to right: Claudia, Mrs F and Myka I've just finished doing a spot clean of my girls' cage. This is them chilling before I went in and destroyed their home. As you can imagine it's not quite so peaceful now. Claudia hates cleaning days with a vengeance. I'm going to have to catch her on camera one day because her antics are hilarious albeit a little painful for me.

Nothing exciting to report on the degu front. Damages to the cage have been repaired. Claudia and Mrs F are still having the occasional heated argument, and Myka still has a taste for cage. She also has a taste for fresh basil leaves.

Every time I open the cage door Myka Degu takes a bite sized chunk out of the edge of the MDF. It's a little bit of an oversight on my part as I didn't think It would need protecting as they can only get at the edge when the door is open. I've left repairing it for as long as possible but the tools had to come out today as it's too bad to ignore any longer. I actually watched her pull a piece off with the door shut!

I suppose I have to be a little thankful that they waited until after Christmas to break their ramp. 9:15am approached, the usual time I prepare their food, and this is the sight I was welcomed with. The crime was committed sometime between 10pm on December 26 and 9:15am on December 27. Suspects were interrogated but nobody squeaked a confession.

The Apocalypse didn't happen (no surprise there) so it's time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Season's Greetings. May your days be filled with degu happiness!

The end of the Mayan 'long term' calendar has arrived and so far everyone is still here. Not that I personally believe the world will end. It is merely, what would have been, the start of a new Era for the Mayans if they were still with us. So from myself, Claudia, Myka, and Mrs F, we wish you a happy 12.21.12!

When I first got my degus they were tiny little things. All three of them could quite easily dust bathe together in a large plastic sweet jar. Almost 4 months on and they've grown so large that they don't all fit in their makeshift bathhouse any more. Technically they still fit but they can't comfortably roll about and do what degus do.

I had to rescue Claudia degu today. Rescue her from the great depths of the couch! Don't ask me how she did it, I haven't a clue. One minute she was squeezing between the back cushions and the next she disappeared in to the couch. That's right, actually inside the couch!

At long last my 2013 degu calendar is now available to buy. It features 12 adorable photographs, thanks to my 3 girls, and is available from Redbubble.

I thought it was about time I introduced you all to my degus now that they are coming up to 5 months old and I can finally tell them apart. The cheeky little madam above is Myka and was originally called Dora the Explorer in the first few weeks that the 'goos' were welcomed in to my home. She's still a little explorer and the only degu who will quite happily jump on you every time you open the cage door. She loves to sit on your shoulder and preen your ears! She's also the only degu with a full bushy tail.

The calendar is almost complete but I'm having a few lighting issues. The only room I have suitable to set the scenes for the photos gets around 2 hours of direct sun now that the days are getting shorter. I'm having to redo a few of the months too because they don't gel with some of the scene.

"Green Tea & Sunflower" available as cards and prints from Redbubble There's not an awful lot of things out there for the degu owner. I'm talking greeting cards, prints, and other goodies we can treasure. As you know, I'm in the middle of creating a calendar but I've already got some degu greeting cards, postcards and prints available of images that will feature in the calendar.

This afternoon I attempted the photoshoot for October of my degu calendar. They say "Never work with children or animals" and I can honestly say that they are right! Out of 50 photos only around 5 are decent. I had wanted a photo of all 3 degus sitting huddled together between the squashes but I could only get them to sit still with millet. What's the problem with that? Well, they won't sit within a foot of each other when they're eating it!