HELP! DEGU OWNER AT A LOOSE END!

I may not be the best to answer this but could you maybe get Big Boi neutered? It will reduce his testosterone levels and you could maybe try introducing him after a while and see what happens. If that fails you could get a female to keep Big Boi company instead?

It would be very helpful to know the dimensions of your cage, as Maravilla said in her post, a cage size that may be too small to house the needs of four degus will definitely contribute to fighting among them. Age is also a contributing factor if the degus in question are between the ages of 6-18 months old. During this time they are in a stage of puberty, and competeing for dominance of the group is an important accomplishment for purposes of heirarchy within the colony and for mating rights.

You description thus far makes me think that Andre is the current top degu, and Big Boi is hoping to topple his throne.

A single P@H cage is definitely too small for four degus.

For 4 degus, you need at least 19k cm^2 running area, and ideally 25k cm^2. Even taking into account the extra space the shelves provide, there still wouldn't be a total running area of 19k cm^2.

deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Cage&action=display&thread=9396

How good at DIY are you? There are excellent examples and guides to build your own cage, and it's definitely cheaper than buying a commercial one. I've just priced raw materials to build a cage for my two boys, and the total was about 70 quid. (maybe 75 quid to splash out a bit) An equivalent commercial one was in the 150-200 range!

Hello parisng,

Unfortunately you have, like many, been misled by pets at home. 1 thickets cage is definately too small, for even 1 degu..

I know exactly how you feel, I myself was in the exact same situation as you a long time ago. I was sold the thickets cage and 4 boys. All was fine until fighting broke out a while later.

Unfortunately I had to rehome one of the 4 who became too agressive, it has taken over 1 year to reintroduce the remaining 3 degus to each other (plus one more from another litter) I had to entirely seperate one degu from the other 2 for 6months. You are correct, they do require companionship. My single boy began to display very strange behaviour after a few weeks of being alone. Eventually we had to get him a pup to play with. 1 year later we have finally managed to reintergrate these 2 groups.

So as you can see my situation was exactly (EXACTLY) the same as the situation you find yourself in now.. its very sad and an extremely stressful situation to be in.

Unfortunately there is no magical answer. The truth of the matter is, get a much much larger cage or build your own enclosure. Keep the degus seperate for a long while, and then begin introductions.

I am very sorry to hear about your current position, it brings back so many bad memories.

I note that you live in the midlands, although it is about a 3hour drive from yourself to me, if you are ever in the wiltshire area, I would be more than happy to have you round. It can be difficult to explain everything via a PC but if we were ever to meet I would be able to give you alot of information on what I did, the things I tried, my mistakes, my acheivements etc. Just send me a PM if you ever want to talk.

This causes me so much anger when pets at home do this to people, excluding myself, you are not the fist I have come across in this boat

Kind regards,

Josh

Paris, there are ways to work with your cages for a temporary solution, which will make it better for your degus. What you have read about them requiring more ground space than high space is correct . . . they do need a lot of surface area on which to run, verses climbing, but even some of the tall cages can be modified to accomplish this.

Now for your cages imagine if you had two levels in each one, the second level the same size as your ground floor, except for a small entrance through which the degus could access it. Just by doing that, you have increased their surface area by nearly 100%. If you were able to put a level just above the top of your exersize wheel in there, you would not have to lose the wheel. You can also still make use of the shelves you currentlyl have in there, just placed slightly differently. If you are able to apply a small lip to the top of the second level surface area around the outer edge, you can load that level up with substrate and have better control over their odors as well. If this is a modification you can make, you will find that your degus will be THRILLED with it. This idealy is not something that can last the length of their lifetimes, but it will do for now, and give you ample time to consider the matter of caging and what will work for you. There are so many options that can be used for caging, options that never occur to us until we get pointed in a few different directions from others that have faced the same issues as you. And believe me . . . there are a LOT of us!! Your imagination will go wild with possibilities once you see some of the options you can persue.

As for how to make new full levels, B&Q is a great place to look, and they can cut the wood for you . . . that is if you need to find wood. You may know someone that will gladly let you have some wood they have sitting around. Anyway, plywood works great as the surface, and you want it to be about 3-4 cm thick. Then for the edging, kiln dried pine (practically every soft wood sold in DIY stores is kiln dried, so you needn't worry about the pine, unless you are detecting a distinct pine fragrance from it.) is great because it is safe for your degus to gnaw on , and they WILL GNAW. LOL! Parrot ladders are excellent for access to upper levels, or thick sisal ropes.

Will this help?

Thank you all for taking time to read my thread and reply with such useful information. I am absolutely useless at any sort of handywork so I won't try and modify their current cages as it will be a failure waiting to happen...

I am currently waiting for a lift to P@H to make a formal complaint and demand compensation for their wrongdoing. Hopefully they will compensate me enough to cover the costs of hiring a handyman to build a suitable cage.

I will keep you all updated, thanks again

I am going to design my own cage and get it built. Think thats the way forward, will minimise mess also and the degus will be happy. Thanks for the suggestion abirose

In fact I am so so excited about designing one and getting it built

It is my only option really. I would never want to have an animal that is not cared for properly and now that I know the cages P@H provided are unsuitable I have to get one that is. Money is an issue at the moment also so my only options were to get one built (and try get some form of compensation from P@H) or put my Degus up for adoption, but obviously i don't want to do that.

I have taken inspiration from the thread in which people have posted pictures of their cages, I will probably draw up some designs tonight and tomorrow and contact a few joiners/carpenters I know on Monday. I can't wait for my Degus to be in their new suitably sized cage I look forward to sharing the pictures with you in the future.

N.B - Has anyone ever heard of a carpenter called John Lockwood who specialises in building cages? His name was recommended as apparently he is good and local to me (Midlands)