Today, I want to make a post only vaguely related to degus. I have been somewhat absent recently from the blog. Hopefully you will notice there is a new enclosure and it's specifications on the Real Estate Project, apart from this I have not managed a great deal lately. I do not like to share anything unless I am proud of it. It has to pass my inner critique first. I have been struggling lately with collecting decent footage and photos of my degus, my enclosure designs, etc... Suffice to say I am in a slump. I am hoping to return to normality soon but I will not be trying to force it, as I believe this is part of the problem. I do however have something to talk about today... Just like the degus, its healthy for us humans to get out and about once in a while to stretch our legs. Get away from home and explore. Some months back I went on a trip to Monmouth (South wales, England). It is a very beautiful place. There is only one small town and the rest is pretty much country side. We had some excellent walks around the local area. We did some climbing and some walking as well as canoeing. I recommend to anyone, to go out and take a walk. It doesn't have to be a holiday or a long trip. Just take a drive out of the city, find a one or two hour walk and do it. Try to experience the wildlife, the animals and the plants. You will find that keeping degus will give you a much more intimate interest in the goings on of nature; likewise, going for a walk and seeing whats out there will inspire you for when you return home to your own little critters. Concerning degus... Many people are often concerned about swapping their degus diet over from pellets to natural feed; one of the main concerns I hear about is the monetary cost of doing so. When looking at natural produce in the shops the prices can indeed be off-putting. The prices of dried dandelion, tree bark slices, mixed herbs are very steep (although great products). The truth is, there is no need to purchase these products from pet shops, the internet or otherwise. All this degu healthy produce is readily available, all you have to do is take a walk (and a bag!). When you go for a walk there is really so much to collect for your degus that will last for months. You can collect many dandelion plants, nettles and plantain, take some birch tree leaves and some birch tree bark. You can take from the tallest Oak trees to the smallest clover plants. There's blackberry, raspberry, roses and daisies. All the plants I have listed here are all widely recognizable -if you are not sure, take some pictures of degu safe plants with you to help in identification. There is of course an advanced list of degu safe plants here on the Degus International Forum, for the advanced collector. All of these plants can be fed fresh to the degus. But of course, you want them to keep for some time so you can feed them in the future. You will want to dry your collections out; you can use cardboard boxes, wrap them in paper, brown paper bags work very nicely. Keep them in a dry and aired space (warm if possible). Here is a small sample of what I collected on my trip, before and after drying. This stuff literally lasts for months. Be sure to get a good haul! Unfortunately I did not manage to capture many pictures of the gathering process (careful concern for my camera!) but I did take some pictures. See the slideshow below. There are more but I must first contact my companions to retrieve them. Perhaps I will share more pictures of this particular trip in the future. I just want to extend a quick thank you to my friends for posing in these pictures. So please do go out and explore! You will find that collecting wild plants is even cheaper than pellets.
A word of caution: please do not harvest any kind of wild mushroom - especially if its for human or degu consumption.
3 Comments
Jordan
10/29/2012 03:05:40 pm
This is defenitely one of my favorite blog entries ! Keep them coming please !
David
10/30/2012 01:27:28 am
Thank you. That's really a good blog entry. And a good issue to mention that the costs of natural foods are lower when collected in the nature. I did this for several years, as long as I kept degus.
Degu Chronicles
10/30/2012 09:24:50 am
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