Anyone seen one of these?

[andrea]

Warning: Not Herp related!!!!
I keep a variety of animals, including small mamals. I used to breed gerbils and got out of it a couple years ago. I still have one very large agouti male and I check in my local shop everynow and then to see what colors are coming in or being bred. Well, over the past few months, a new animal has been showing up. It's called a degu and it looks like a cross between a gerbil and a chinchilla. It's really interesting and I would love to get one, but they are pretty large (bout the size of a small dwarf rabbit) and about $30. Does anyone have one of these to let me know what they are like? Thanks!

 

[edward]

HI Andrea,
They are South American in origin and are not related to gerbils or Chinchillas. They are handable, prolific breeders and are social.
There are some websites you can check out on them (or a quick peek in Walker's Mammals of the World usually helps).
check out http://degoe.tripod.com/engels/e_info.html

Ed

 

[mark]

Hi
I've got degus, they are indeed very social. A big advantage is that they are mostly active during the day. But they are much more active than gerbils or other small mammals. So you'll need a big setup with lots of wood and thinks like that to keep them occupied. Very cool animals.

Greetings
~Mark