🐭 How to Set Up a Degu Cage

A pair of degus needs a home built around three facts: they chew like champions, they climb and leap all day, and they take dust baths like their chinchilla cousins. Plan for a pair from the start — degus must never live alone.

The cage: big, metal, multi-level

Plastic is a snack, not a home. Choose a large metal cage — a chinchilla-style multi-level cage is ideal — with narrow bar spacing and wooden shelves and ladders replacing plastic ones. Bigger is genuinely better: a degu pair uses every level, ramp, and jump. Put the cage in a cool room out of direct sun (degus overheat easily, like chinchillas) and away from TVs — remember, they're awake all day.

Inside the cage

Furnish with a solid-surface exercise wheel (wire rungs injure feet and tails), deep paper-based bedding in the tray, a wooden hide house per degu, and a hay rack. Add branches and chew toys everywhere — degu teeth never stop growing, and chewing is both their hobby and their dental plan. A heavy ceramic food bowl and a glass water bottle finish the setup.

Sand baths — the flippy show

Degus keep their coats clean by rolling in dust, not water. Offer a chinchilla sand bath in a house or deep bowl a few times a week for 10–20 minutes at a time, then remove it (left in, it becomes a litter box). The rolling, flipping bath routine is one of the best shows in small-pet keeping.

The no-sugar pantry

Degus are extremely prone to diabetes, so their pantry has one iron rule: no fruit, no honey treats, no sugary anything — ever. Feed degu pellets (or a quality chinchilla/guinea mix without fruit bits), unlimited hay, and safe veggies like leafy greens. "Treats" in degu world are a plain sunflower seed or a bit of dried herb. Their reward is a long, healthy 6–8 years.

Playtime and handling

Give your pair supervised out-of-cage playtime in a degu-proofed room (cables hidden, houseplants out of reach) — they're curious explorers that learn to come when called. Scoop a degu under the body with both hands and never, ever by the tail: the tail skin can tear off as a built-in escape trick, and it doesn't grow back.

Quick setup checklist

• Large multi-level metal cage, wooden shelves, cool room, no direct sun
• Solid-surface wheel, hides, hay rack, branches, and chew toys
• Sand bath offered a few times a week, then removed
• Degu pellets + unlimited hay; strictly no fruit or sugary treats
• Always a same-sex pair or group — never a lone degu
• Scoop under the body; never grab the tail

Choosing between small pets? Compare degus and chinchillas, read our best pets for kids guide, or take the pet quiz to see if a degu is your match.

🛒 Recommended supplies

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🧽 Cleaning & maintenance

Spot-clean every day by scooping out soiled bedding, droppings, and leftover fresh food, and rinse the water bottle or bowl. Once a week do a bigger clean: change most or all of the bedding, wipe down the degu cage or tank, and scrub the hideouts, dishes, and wheel. Use warm soapy water or a pet-safe small-animal cage cleaner and dry everything before adding fresh bedding — harsh household cleaners and strong scents irritate small lungs. Litter-trained pets make this quick if you scoop the litter box each day.

Cleaning supplies for this habitat. Affiliate links — we may earn a commission. The $/$$/$$$ badges are a rough budget guide, not live prices.

❓ Common questions