We have a Degu now

When we were in Columbia last week getting parakeet feed I saw some degus in a cage. I've never seen one before but our son Kyle has been talking about them and said he wants one. I had a fish trade card the shop man let me use so we are now the proud owners of a young Degu. We know next to nothing about them but I have looked them up online. At first it was frustrating becaise Google has absolutely nothing on them. Says there is no such word. AltaVista has lots and I've printed out several pages. The pet shop man didn't know much either so I took him some info I had printed.

I have heard of a breeder in Overland Park, KS and have e-mailed them. Maybe we'll get another one to help keep Cheryl company.

Mostly she rolls around the house in a pink plastic ball made for that purpose. This one is for hampsters, etc. and we have a larger yellow one made for guinea pigs. She loves to be in it and somewhat free. I let her run on the kitchen cabinets while I am working at the sink. My only concern is that she keeps looking longingly over the edge and I'm concerned she will jump/fall and have too much freedom to be safe.

Does anyone else here have one or had one in the past? I'm interested in learning as much as possible about them. I do know they are prone to diabetes(ten of them were taken to England in the '50s for study of that disease and from those ten all domestic Degus are supposely desended)and are strict vegetarians. This one runs so much I think she can handle a LOT of calories, even a fair amount of carbs. The first few days she lost a lot of weight and then we finally got the feeding amount leveled out. I just keep food in there all the time and she going in every couple hours to eat and rest for an hour or so and then all night. Yes, she spends a lot of time rolling around the house. Even Jack likes her!