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[Camogirl83]

I have two chinchillas and maybe rescuing some degus. I know this might be a stupid question, but can the two live together and/or play together? Thanks in advance for your input and advice! Have a great day!

[chinclub]

In theory they can live together as they eat about the same diet and both take dust baths.  In fact the two are pretty closely related. Getting them together might be another story.  Chinchillas tend to bite as a last resort and then they very seldom break skin.  Degus will bite and the first bite will be to the bone.  This means it could do serious damage to your chinchilla.  It will also do serious damage to you if it is not tame!!

Degus are worse chewers so be sure your cage is ALL WIRE.  Don't try one of the chinchilla cages with the large plastic pans. A degu will chew out of that quickly.

If your degu does bite you disinfect VERY well!  Most people don't know that degus carry a bacteria in their mouth than can cause a very bad reaction in some people.  I didn't learn that until I was bit and it was terrible.  I didn't think I was ever going to get my finger normal again.  It took almost a year for it to heal completely.

[Camogirl83]

Thanks for the information. Someone else is going to take them. I used to work at an animal shelter and when I can I always take in animals that need homes, even just to foster. But I am glad that they found another good home.