Chincilla or Degu's

[Euphoric]

I owned Degus, and there are nothing like Chins. Very independent, don't like to be held.
They also need to be in pairs.
I built my cage super naturalistic..but like it has said before they are climbers not jumpers. They also don't chew as much.

The only similar items is the dust, and the fact both are pretty intolerant to sugar.

 

[Anna]

chinchillas all the way! :thumbsup:

 

[ultimicea]

I've had a degu for 7 years and they make wonderful pets. Completely different than chins but they have their own personality and based on the sounds they make, you can tell what kind of mood they are in. Mine died 6 months ago at age 7 so they live almost as long as chins providing there are no health concerns. Mine died prematurily.
I only had one but paid an absurd amount of attention because as Euphoric said they are best in pairs as they are sociable animals and can get depressed easily. Mine liked to be held quite a bit. My little guy went thru a lot with me so we had like a pet to owner bond I guess.....
I love my little chinnie though!

 

[LilanChilla]

Do degus need differnt cage types? What I mean is can you put a degu in a cage that would be suitable for a chin? I was assuming so, but now am not as sure. I lost my oldest chin recently at the age of 18, and was offered a degu by a friend who knows I love animals. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea since I still have three chins. Could you keep them both in the same room, or will the degus constant activity disrupt the chins? thanks in advance!

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

My chins are from from being sneaky about it. I've watched Chula pull it straight from his butt and take a bite off the top like a pellet. Ewwwwwww.

:laughitup: :rofl:
Sonya and Rodya do that! I'll be watching one or the other sleep, and then (we'll use her as an example ) Sonya will tuck under and come back up nibbling, and I'm just left to say "eeewwww". But they don't pull it out and hold it like a pellet, like Chula. That's just weird lol
Pico and Mork seem to be more sneaky about it.
I've never had a degu...so I have to stick with my fuzzy squirrel tailed chin butts.

 

[arf2184]

You can keep them in the same room. The chins (if bothered by them at all) will get used to them. They're really not all that noisy most of the time (unless you have a squeaky wheel).

Most chin cages would be fine for degus too. They are smaller so you'd need to make sure you have appropriate wire spacing (I'd say nothing wider than 1/2" just to be safe). Degus are climbers so you may need to add branches and/or ramps, depending on the cage.

 

[menagerie]

Do degus need differnt cage types? What I mean is can you put a degu in a cage that would be suitable for a chin? I was assuming so, but now am not as sure. I lost my oldest chin recently at the age of 18, and was offered a degu by a friend who knows I love animals. I'm not sure if it would be a good idea since I still have three chins. Could you keep them both in the same room, or will the degus constant activity disrupt the chins? thanks in advance!

It depends on the spacing of your chin cage. Degus and chins do fine in the same room. I would suggest getting a same sex pair of degus as they are pretty social and like to be able to speak degu to teach other.

 

[mommyslittlechins2010]

sorry but chinchillas allt he way for me. i love chins and if i a degu i think i'd loose it cause thier so small . how about a sugar glider now thier cute but too small for me ...

 

[jamanalo]

Posting this poll on this forum is biased...its a "chinchilla" forum...haha, my vote is chinchilla

 

[greychins]

I had both at one point... I no longer have degus. To me, they were actually more of a mess. Maybe that's not the case for everyone, but most of my chins don't pee on their shelves... the degus would pee on the shelves, on everything, they had a 6 foot cage and the entire time I owned degus it was a big sticky mess. They were great pets, but at least my chins seem to go down to the shavings to pee.

Other than that, they were definetly different. The wheel never stopped spinning in the degu cage, and like people said, they are active like 24/7. I loved the noises they made, some talk to you (I suppose some chins do too). Nice animals, just not for me.