Emma Jones
Cleanliness plays an important role in keeping degus healthy. Unhygienic conditions can quickly lead to illness.
Unfortunately, very few degus use toilet corners, which would make cleaning the enclosure much easier. Therefore, as degu keepers, you have no choice but to clean the entire enclosure and replace the bedding. How often such a basic cleaning is required depends on the number of animals in the enclosure and the pollution they cause. However, never remove all of the litter, but leave a small amount of the old litter in the enclosure. This has the advantage that the enclosure does not smell completely foreign to the degus. This is important because the degus communicate partly via smell, otherwise, the enclosure will look completely alien to the animals, which leads to considerable stress.
Basic cleaning of the cage
Your degu’s enclosure should be thoroughly cleaned every two weeks at the latest. This not only includes changing the bedding but also cleaning the furnishings and floors. To do this, it is best to use warm water without the addition of cleaning agents, as these can be poisonous or at least harmful to the degus. Disinfection of the enclosure is normally not necessary and also not useful, since excessive use of disinfectant cannot lead to resistance in anyone, which can then ultimately cause serious problems. A healthy degu doesn’t need a sterile environment, but it doesn’t need a heavily polluted one either. So a healthy average is required here.