THE TAIL

Never try to catch a degu by his tail. In defense against their natural enemies, degus can loose the end of their tails. The result is a bloody injury, and the end of their tail slowly dries and then falls away or degu chews it away. About a third or even a half of the tail goes away and it'll never grow back again. So better not mess with the tail, or you might end up with a stubby baby.

Degu (Octodon degu) is a tweed brown (other colors are a rare exception), long-tailed rodent. Their tail makes up one third to two third of the whole body length and has brush-like hair at its end. When walking, they wear their tail up with pride and when climbing they wave with it to keep their balance.

LOOK LIKE

They look a little like gerbils, only bigger. Some people find them similar to chinchillas, with whom they are related. Behaviour-like, they act a lot like squirrels and that is the reason why they are called "Chilean squirrel".

SIZE

The degu is as big as a small guinea pig. Remember this when you are buying a degu. People buy degus when they are as small as hamsters (when they are very young). They buy a small nest-box, small running wheel and a small cage. Then, after a few months people are surprised at how much the degu has grown and the fact that everything they bought is now too small for the animal.

HAIR

The hair is tweed brown colored, the tummy has a cream colour and they have lighter circles around the eyes. They have long whiskers, and their quite big ears are dominant. The hind legs are shorter than their forelimbs. Each has five hair-covered fingers that degus often nibble on, so their claws do not grow too long. Therefore you don't have to cut them, like you do with dogs.

Octodon means "eight-toothed rodent" which means that their molar sorfaces look like a figure "8".