Degus are talkers — it is a feature of the species
If you keep degus, you will hear from them. They are among the most vocal small mammals in the pet world, with a working vocabulary of chirps, whistles, chattering, squeaks and low grumbles used to run a busy social life: greeting cage mates, announcing food, warning of a scare, and generally commenting on events. For most owners this running chatter is the pleasure of the species. It is also, undeniably, audible in a quiet house, and worth knowing about before the cage is carried through the door.
What the different sounds mean
Relaxed degus produce soft chirping and chattering while grooming and exploring; excited degus whistle and twitter when food appears; an annoyed degu chatters its teeth or stamps a foot; and a sudden loud squeak is an alarm call, usually answered by the whole group freezing in place. At the other end of the scale, a degu who screams repeatedly, or one who goes suddenly silent and hides away, is telling you something may be wrong — pain and illness change the soundscape, and a vet check belongs ahead of assuming it is just noise.
When the noise happens — and when it does not
Here degus beat every nocturnal pet: they are diurnal. The chatter runs during the day and early evening, exactly when a household is awake and making its own noise, and a healthy degu colony is quiet through the night while the house sleeps. A degu cage in a bedroom is rarely a problem for the sleeper in it; a degu cage beside a home-working desk, mid phone call, is the more realistic complaint. Introductions between new degus, and the excitement of a changed routine, temporarily raise the volume before it settles again.
Reducing noise without muting the animals
You cannot, and should not, silence a social animal — but set-up choices genuinely help. A pair or trio in a roomy metal cage chatters contentedly at conversational level, while a lone, bored degu is the one who calls and calls for company; companionship is the single biggest noise reducer there is. A solid running wheel, branches to chew and a sand bath absorb energy that would otherwise turn into shouting for attention. Placing the cage in a family room rather than a study also spreads the sound into ordinary background noise.
The honest verdict for quiet homes
Degus are noisier than hamsters and far more talkative than a chinchilla during the day, but silent when it matters most — at night — and none of it carries through walls the way a dog's bark does. In an ordinary family home they register as cheerful background, roughly on a level with a budgie's daytime commentary. In a silent flat with a noise-sensitive home worker, think carefully about cage placement before committing.
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