After looking at the Sooty Mangabey, which probably wouldn’t make a great pet due to their disease sharing ways, we are heading to Chile to find an animal that you could have as a fun, little pet. Yes, that’s right! The Degu, which is endemic to Chile, are cute enough to be quite common amongst pet owners. If this rodent looks familiar, it could be due to the fact that they share an infraorder with other creatures such as the chinchilla and the incredibly popular, Guinea Pig. Who didn’t have or want a Guinea Pig as a pet? Well, move over little piggy because the awesome Degu is in town!

Small but Deadly……to Vegetation

As you can tell by the picture, the Degu is a small, brown rodent measuring about 25 – 31 cm (9.8 – 12.2″) in length and weighing in at an astonishing 300 gram (11 oz). Okay, so you can probably guess that the Degu isn’t at the top of the food chain with measurements like that. Nonetheless, if you are a shrub or a blade of grass then you had better watch out for these hungry little herbivores.

Diabetic Rodents

It is important for the Degu to be conscious of their diet since they are unable to handle free-sugar substances and as a result are susceptible to developing diabetes. Sure, this probably isn’t an issue for the wild animals, however, if you have a pet Degu…you should be checking their feed. If it contains free-sugar substances like molasses, honey or syrup then your little friend could be in trouble. Why are these rodent unable to handle these free-sugars? It is believed to be a result of evolutionary pressure. Since these substances didn’t exist in their natural environment, they never built up a tolerance to them. Bottom line, if you are feeding your friend non-Degu specific food, they could be susceptible to diabetes.

The Value of Teamwork

Back in the wild, the Degu is known to be very social and they understand the value of teamwork. For example they realize that by working to together to communally dig a burrow, they can make it more complex and larger than they could ever do on their own. It is kind of like the old days when you would have a good ol’ fashion barn raising party. Only, this would be a burrow digging party, which sounds just as fun.