A degu cage will be where your pet spends a lot of their time, so it has to be right. As they can live for 6-7 years, it also has to be quality.
More akin to gerbils than rats or hamsters, a degu will enjoy digging, chewing and jumping their way through life and so need a suitably large cage to help them thrive inside your home. You can read more about their behaviour on the RSPCA website.
This means a really big hamster cage or a low ceilinged guinea pig enclosure isn’t suitable. Instead, degus require tall, multi-levelled structures similar to a chinchilla or rat. It is recommended that they are kept in pairs too, as they’re naturally sociable animals, so this means cages have to be spacious for both.
However, you may have noticed that as degus are still a fairly uncommon pet, enclosures made specifically for them are hard to come by. So your best bet is to purchase a rodent cage that can still provide them with the space they need.
These can be costly and so it’s imperative you make a measured decision when purchasing a degu cage to ensure it provides security, durability and longevity. A degu cage will also need a solid roof, as they’re naturally prey in the wild. They need vertical space to climb, too.
To help you pick the optimum choice for you and your degus, we’ve cast our expert eyes over the small pet cage market to help find the most suitable home for your degu.