The Delightful Degu

A degu (say day-goo) makes a lovely pet and entertaining pet that will give you hours of enjoyment. Their native home is in Chile where they are considered to be agricultural pests. They live naturally on the west coast of Chile up to an elevation of about 1.5 kilometers above sea level. In their natural habitat they are very abundant and are found in large colonies of about 10+ degus. They build a series of underground tunnels with many entrances in which they live. It is thought that the social status of a male is decieded by the size of their trinket mound. Males keep a pile of sticks, stones and other things near the entrance to burrows as a status symbol. Usually if the male chases away another male or mates et cetera they will drag some more trinkets to their pile. If, however their mound is destroyed they loose their status in the group.

I have been asked many times one question: "What is a degu?" People do not usually know what they are or what they look like. The easiest way is come over here and look. Therefore I am going to soon have a few pictures of my degus "Rocky and Bulwinkle" on the page soon. Also what they look like depends on your point of view. Some people think they are large gerbils- others that they are part rabbit or chinchilla. One person even said "Wow- does your mom let those rats run around the house?" A friend of my sister said they look kinda like rabbits and then Bulwinkle got onto his back feet. "There look! They're kangaroos!" (keep in mind that she's about 25 :o) ) Other people say they look like squirrels. Actually they are similar in shape etc to that of a gerbil or rat but their face is kinda like a squirrel or a chinchilla. They have a dark brown coat on top (actually brown with black mixed in). Right now all degus are this color more or less but I have a feeling that with demand selectice breeding will give us more colors (black and white). They have a gray-white color on their stomach, legs and feet. Their tails are like a rats, but a little shorter and have a small amount of fur at the tip. A sight of goo health is bright orange teeth. If they are white- it means that they are going to die soon. The reason their teeth are orange, is that the chlorophyll in the greens that they eat reacts with an enzyme in their bodies and produces an orange organic fluid in their saliva. You will notice that when they walk the hold their tails partially up, possibly to keep it from wear or damage or even getting caught. A full grown adult is about 6" long with another 6" in tail with a bit of fluff on the end of the tail.

PLEASE NOTE!! Do not for any reason catch your degus by the tail. If you do this they may drop it off leaving a bleady stump. It is painful for your degu, as well as they will not be as balanced, and quite unsightful for you.

Their Latin name is Octodon Degus. They are mammals and are currently being classified as being order rodentia (rodents) sub order caviomorpha (cavies) , family octodontodae (octodont rodents). However recent studies are indicating that caviomorph rodents are not rodents at all. Many people now believe that they are in actuality closer in relation to rabbits (lagomorpha) . However, since they do have many physical characteristics that are different from rabbits, many also feel that they should be classified as a new order separate from the rodents and lagomorphs. If this does happen then we will have three different orders for these kinds of animals, order rodentia , order lagomorpha and order caviomorpha . Confusing isn't it? If I hear any more on this subject I will add it to this page. If you hear anything that hasn't already been added please email me.

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