Husbandry and breeding in the Octodon degu (Molina 1782)

The Octodon degu is a native rodent species from South America, which lives in colonies with a well-structured social organization grouping of 5-10 young and 2-5 adult animals sharing a burrow system. They show a temperature-dependent diurnal-crepuscular activity pattern. In nature they rarely survive 2 yr, mostly because of predation. However, in captivity, females reproduce for 4-4.5 yr, and both sexes live for 5-7 yr. Males remain fertile until death. Some care is required to maintain healthy degus, particularly breeding females. Here we describe husbandry and breeding guidelines from the experience of the University of Michigan degu colony. With the husbandry practices described here, 90% of pups born in our colony reach maturity (6 mo of age), and no diarrheal diseases are apparent in our adult population.