Chinchilla Degu

Degu or a chinchilla?

they are pretty much they same-ish.
but idk.

price difference or care.

personal opinions or past knowledge.
i really dont know.
details pleaasse.

Hey there. ^_^ Glad you're thinking of adopting an animal. It's great to see people interested in degus.

I've never owned a chinchilla (though I'd love to adopt an extra dark ebony one), but I could tell you a whole lotta stuff about degus.

First thing's first, degus are "congenitally diabetic like us, so too much sugar and it triggers the disease." -Mulder @ Paw-Talk.net

Meaning, they are prone to diabetes. No dried fruits, no candy, no molasses, no cane sugar, nothing like that. You have to be extra careful what food you feed them. There is no cure for diabetes in degus, so go wrong and it could cost them their life.

Also, degus should be kept in pairs or more. One lone degu is not good for them, as they are social animals. Unless you could spend hours a day playing with the lone sweetie, your best bet is adopting two or more so they could live a happy, healthy lifestyle.

Degus live a pretty long time. As the lifespan for a hamster is a mere 2-3 years, 4 if the little hamham's lucky, degus can live up to on average 8-9 years. They could live up to around 11 years. Not seen as often, but it's possible. ^-^ So when you adopt a degu (or more, for the health of them) you need to dedicate yourself to them for their lifetime.

Degus are not hamsters, they are not gerbils, they are not chinchillas (even though they are cousins, their diet is different), they are not rats, and they are not like any other mass-owned animal out there. Degus are special, and need to be taken care of properly. I've seen/heard/read of way too many people adopting one, treating them horribly, not feeding them correctly, and the poor little goos barely make it past their 5th birthday; if that. It makes me sad.

Degus are wonderful and loving, caring, intelligent..I could go on...., and it's just heartbreaking to hear that. So I try my best to inform everyone and anyone about degus. You could even look through my previously answered questions and you'll see a lot of degu ones. ♥

I would never trade my goos for anything in the world. They are the best little monsters I could ever ask for. I recently just built (well, still in the process of building) a cage for my 8 girls. I still need to add some more perches and shelves and toys for them, but they love it. It's 6ft in height, 16in in width, and 40in in length, and it's great. It makes me happy that they are happy. I only wish I could give them fresh herbs more often. xD

The prices of degus pretty much depend on where you adopt them from. From a breeder, around $10 - 20 (keep in mind I'm guessing on the prices) If you find someone unable to care for them anymore, they could be free, or up to $100+ (usually because they include whats left of the food, bedding, their cage, waterbottles, food dish, dust bath, toys, hay, etc, etc)
From exotic pet stores, around $15-30. It all really just depends on who has them.

As for chinchillas, they could be anywhere from $25 to even $500. Once again, it all depends on who's selling them, and for chinchillas, what kind they are. Standards are usually the cheapest and what's often seen in places like PetCo and Petsmart. (Note: never buy them from there. You'll be lucky if they live past 2 years. ): )

Well, I hope I've answered what you've been looking for. ^_^

Good luck!
-Jessica

P.S. Here are some sites that I deem the best out there:

http://www.degutopia.co.uk/

http://www.degurock.moonfruit.com/

http://www.paw-talk.net/forums/f12/ (Forum discussion, which has various 'what to feed' threads and other degu stuff) x3

Tags: chinchilla, chinchilla degu, chins, degu, фото, шиншилла

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Supplies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.