Pet Feature ~Dash the Degu

I thought today I would introduce you to one of my babies- Dash the degu!
Pets are a pretty big part of my life, I certainly wasn't very old hen I first started asking for an animal to look after, though I must admit I wasted a years asking for a dog alone before realising that just wasn't happening :x
A few years ago I had a 'pet boom' where Dad seemed to allow me every rodent I requested, and the degus were a result of me asking to get some rodents larger than gerbils after my last pair had died and left behind a massive cage. I'd read up on them quite a lot and and found they could become very tame, so when I saw 4 girls being advertised for only £50 with a large cage, I rung up and was soon going to collect them!

The old owners told us that the four had been saved from becoming snake food as babies and had been happily living together as pets since then, about 18 months later. They hadn't given them names as they were hard to tell apart, so when I got home I started figuring out who was who and assigning names- in order of the photo above- there was Indie, named for music but decided her namesake should be the movie explorer; Juno, the matronly one (who Dash looks lot like now, come to think of it!); Dash herself, named because she used to like speeding away and finally Kendrix, who was slightly chestnut coloured compared to the others :]
Because they came with a cage they were used to I didn't worry about putting them into the cage I had initially planned for them, and they went to live in the conservatory. At first I used to barricade parts of the conservatory off and let them out to run around, which they quite enjoyed, but I didn't really foresee what little escape artists they were! After a few escapes leading to hours chasing them round the floor and furniture, it was decided that they could only come out into ourdoors pens from then on XD

Dash herself has changed a lot over the years. Starting off as a sleek, shy degu, she's now feeling her age a little I think, and has become a little more rotund and fluffy. She's never become as tame as the ones I read about online right at the beginning, or even as outgoing as her siblings, but she certainly has her own charms and moments of boldness, usually encouraged by a treat or two. (How do you think I got these photos? xp)

Considering she's been a solo degu for some time now, she's lasting well and other than a small teeth problem her health seems to be holding up too x3 She hates having her teeth clipped (understandably!) but it must be done and she is unfazed by it at the end when I pass her the biggest degu-safe biscuit I can find so she can go sit in her cage and get used to her new teeth length!
So that's my Dashie! Surprisingly, perhaps, not named after a My Little Pony :x Do you have degus? They seem like a pretty uncommon pet, although the ones at Pets at Home constantly change, so I guess they're getting more popular ^^



Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :3
Bloglovin - Twitter - Instagram - Pinterest - Youtube