What needs to be standing ready before the degus arrive
A rescue pair of degus should walk into a finished home, not a work in progress. The centrepiece of the first-week budget is a large multi-level cage built from metal, because degus chew constantly and will work through plastic bases and wooden fittings in short order. Inside it you need a solid-surface exercise wheel wide enough for a running degu, never a barred wheel, which traps feet and tails, plus at least two hideouts so each degu can retreat alone. Add a heavy food bowl, a water bottle with a metal spout guard, and a dust bath filled with chinchilla sand so bathing sessions can start from the first evening.
Why degus make temporary housing a false economy
Owners sometimes plan to keep new degus in a small carrier or spare cage for a few days while the real setup comes together, and degus punish that idea quickly. They are busy, social and athletic, and two degus confined in a bare box will chew the container, squabble out of stress and frustration, and reach their permanent cage already wound up. A bonded pair that has just been rehomed needs the opposite of confinement: floor space to explore, separate corners to decompress in, and the wheel available from the first night, so the stress of the move burns off as ordinary activity rather than building into a falling-out between the pair.
Putting the first-week budget in the right order
Spend first on the cage and wheel, because both are one-off purchases the degus use every day of their lives, and both are expensive to replace if you buy cheap and undersized the first time. Next come the chew supplies: untreated wood blocks, willow sticks and seagrass items are not enrichment extras for degus but dental maintenance, since their teeth grow continuously and need constant wear. Then budget for the weekly consumables in real quantities: grass hay, a degu-specific pellet food, and bedding deep enough for digging in at least one corner of the cage. Finally, keep one part of the budget untouched as a reserve for a vet check within the first days, because these degus arrive with a past you did not witness, and an early clean bill of health is worth more than any accessory you could add to the cage.
First-week watch-outs with a rescue pair
Feed exactly what the rescue centre was feeding for the first several days, even if you intend to improve the diet later, and make any change gradually so their digestion is not upset on top of the move. Keep sweet foods off the menu entirely: degus are unusually prone to diabetes, so fruit, generous amounts of carrot and sugary treats are not a kindness to welcome them home with. Watch the pair's bond through the upheaval, because one unsettled scuffle in the first day or two is common, while a degu that is chased away from the food bowl or left with bite wounds needs the rescue's advice and possibly a vet visit. Note who eats what, how the dust bath is used and which hideout each degu claims, since those first observations become the baseline you compare against for the rest of their lives with you.
Bringing rescue degus home goes better when their past is not lost at the handover, and KinsLe's Transferrable Profiles let the rescue pass on what it knows about this pair, so their new life starts from their real history rather than a blank page.