Degu Enclosure Setup: Tall, Solid, and Genuinely Cool

A degu enclosure needs to support an active, social, day-active pair, tall, solid-floored, and cool enough to keep this heat-sensitive species comfortable.

Enclosure Size

About 28 by 18 by 28 inches is the minimum for a pair, and larger is always better. A tall, multi-level cage with ramps and platforms suits this species' active, climbing nature well. Use metal construction rather than plastic or wood, degus chew through both readily. Bar spacing should be no more than half an inch.

Two details most cage listings never mention. Fit a solid roof: degus are a prey species whose main wild predators are birds of prey, and movement above them frightens them. And give them branches of safe wood, pear, apple or beech, with platforms at different levels to climb or jump between.

Skip the fish tank and the glass vivarium. Degus housed in them can develop respiratory problems, because glass sides don't let enough air circulate in and out.

Temperature

Genuinely cool by small-pet standards, 65 to 70°F (18 to 21°C). This species tolerates heat poorly, keep the cage away from windows, radiators, and any spot that gets direct sun, and never let ambient temperature climb toward 77°F.

Humidity

No special humidity requirement. Good ventilation and low dust in the bedding matter more here than any specific humidity target.

Substrate

Dust-free wood shavings like aspen, or a paper-based bedding, combined with plenty of hay and a genuine deep-digging area. That means a solid enclosure bottom under a deep layer of material, hay, shredded paper and paper tissue among them, so a degu can dig and burrow rather than scratch at a tray. Avoid cedar entirely, and skip anything dusty or sugary. Use solid flooring rather than wire, this directly prevents bumblefoot.

Lighting

A normal bright-day, dark-night cycle suits this diurnal species well. No UVB requirement.

The Non-Obvious Requirements

A solid exercise wheel, 11 to 12 inches, is important, wire or mesh wheels catch toes and tails and cause real injury. A sand or dust bath two to three times a week supports healthy coat condition, this isn't optional grooming, it's a real physiological need for this species. Bathing sand is generally the better-suited fill for a degu specifically, finer chinchilla dust was formulated for chinchilla fur and is a reasonable substitute rather than the ideal. A bath house filled with bathing sand covers both, offered in sessions of twenty minutes or so rather than left in the cage, since a permanent tray becomes a toilet and the used sand is carrying information the degus are reading. And provide a proper nest box alongside constant gnawing material, replaced as it gets worked through, since degu incisors are open-rooted and this species chews structurally rather than idly: plastic shelves, hides and wheels do not last. Both matter more for a social pair that's genuinely active during your waking hours than they might for a more sedentary pet.

Rounding Out the Enclosure

None of this needs to be elaborate, but a degu with nowhere to hide or dig is a chronically stressed one.

The gerbil enclosure setup guide covers a burrowing rodent that needs deep digging substrate over floor space rather than height, the opposite priority to a degu's, and Two Pets Where You're Really Buying a Pair has the short version.

Sources & Further Reading