🐭 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 pinch of dried herbs — skip sunflower seeds and nuts, which are far too fatty for a degu. 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

Hand-picked gear for this guide. Affiliate links — we may earn a commission. The $/$$/$$$ badges are a rough budget guide, not live prices.

🧽 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 degu setup mistakes

Already have one and something feels off? Start here. These catch almost everybody — none of them mean you have done badly, and every one of them is fixable.

Which vegetables and treats are safe for a degu?

The mistake: Feeding carrot and shop-bought treat sticks.

The obvious sugar is easy to dodge, but carrot, sweet potato, beetroot and parsnip are sugary too, and many nuggets and mixes sold for degus contain molasses or dried fruit. Sugar a degu cannot process stacks up quietly towards diabetes and cataracts.

Try this: Read the ingredients for molasses, honey, fruit and seeds, and switch to a plain degu nugget with unlimited hay. Keep vegetables leafy — kale, romaine, dandelion, herbs. If your degu has started drinking much more than usual, or its eyes look cloudy, ask a vet to check for diabetes.

Is my degu's wheel big enough?

The mistake: Using a hamster or chinchilla sized wheel.

Most wheels on the small-pet shelf are 8 to 11 inches across. A degu that size has to run hunched with its back arched and its tail curled, and month after month of that damages the spine.

Try this: Look for about 14 inches (35cm) with a solid running surface. It is a big wheel and it needs a big cage to hold it, so if you only change one item this year, make it this one.

Why are my degu's teeth white?

The mistake: Not noticing the teeth have gone pale.

Healthy degu teeth are orange-yellow, and white or pale teeth are a warning sign that something is wrong, often diet or illness. Because degu teeth never stop growing, dental trouble builds quietly before anyone spots it.

Try this: Check color, length and shape once a week while you are handling them. Pale teeth, drooling, or dropping food halfway through a meal all mean a vet visit. Keep hay available all day and plenty of safe wood to gnaw.

Are the wire shelves in my degu's cage safe?

The mistake: Leaving the cage's mesh shelves uncovered.

Chinchilla-style cages nearly always come with mesh shelves and ladders. Degu feet slip through the gaps, which leads to sore, raw hocks, and a foot caught mid-jump can mean a broken leg.

Try this: Cover them with untreated wood, kiln-dried pine, or ceramic tiles cut to fit. It is cheap, it wipes clean, and your degus get much better grip for launching themselves about.

Why are my degus fighting after I added a new one?

The mistake: Introducing a new degu straight into the cage.

Degus defend their home hard. Drop a stranger in and the group treats it as an intruder, and degu fights mean deep bites rather than squabbles.

Try this: Start again from separate cages side by side. Swap bedding and hides between them for a week or two so they smell alike, then let them meet in a scrubbed, rearranged cage while you watch. Slow wins here — a proper introduction can take a few weeks.

❓ Common questions

📚 Where this comes from

We check our care advice against vets, animal charities, and government health guidance. Here is what this page is built on.

Vets, charities & official guidance

• Creating a good home for degus — RSPCA
• Merkblatt: degu enclosure size and wheel — TVT (Germany)
• Degu care: cage size, wheel and sand baths — Blue Cross
• Degus as pets: cage and enrichment — PDSA
• Keeping degus together — RSPCA

Checked August 2026. These are other people’s websites, and none of it replaces your own vet — if a pet seems unwell, call one.