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Post by nuttz on Oct 7, 2010 11:29:17 GMT
hello everyone, im a newbie with a question that i hope somebody will be able to help with???
i brought a degu last friday thinking he was a chipmunk...lol long story that i may one day go into but i just found out yesterday that he is in fact a degu.. after researching degus over the net i realized that he needs a buddy so my question is...
im going into the petshop where i brought mine from to buy another from the same breed.. he is a baby but not sure how old he is.. anyway, i would of had him one week tomorrow and was wondering how to re-introduce them... will they remember eachother or will i have to start introducing from the beginning???
also.. i need to be totally sure what sex they are, i cant have babies...lol plus ive read that its best to have the same sex degus as to prevent them from future fighting?!
any help/advice would be greatfully recieved as its no use suggesting i speak to the petshop as i live in spain, plus they were the one that told me he was a chipmunk, they are totally useless out here!!!
please help, and thank-you in advance!!
heidi x
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Post by emz on Oct 7, 2010 12:13:18 GMT
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Post by Bexi87 on Oct 7, 2010 12:13:28 GMT
Heidi, the best place to look is www.degutopia.co.uk - it is the degu bible! It has loads of advice about sexing, introductions, housing etc. You can also contact Chloe (the founder) if you have a specific question that you can't find the anwer too. There are also topics on here that might help  P.S. Welcome! Beci |
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robyn
Newborn Degu
Posts: 19
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Post by robyn on Oct 7, 2010 15:02:00 GMT
hiya, i am quite new to this forum but have had my two degus for around two years! you are right that he does need a buddy as degus can get extemely lonely without one and this shortens their lifespan considerably. perhaps try to find out from the petshop if the two are related, its not unlikely that if they were together in the petshop that they are siblings and in that case i think the reintroduction will go a lot smoother for you! also i have had to separate my two for a few days before and they have just been thrilled to see each other when they get back together, so if they have lived peaceully together in the pet shop then i would assume that they would get along just fine! and they have only been apart for a week so thats good at least. i know you said the petshop is a bit useles but they should be able to tell you if they are related, get along etc. i would hope so anyway! some fighting is perfectly natural and is only cause for concern if you find they lock into a ball and roll around fighting each other! i attempted to introduce a degu i adopted to my bonded pair and it did not go well at all. you will definately know if theres a problem, and there was a marked difference between the normal squabbling of my pair and the vicious fighting of them and the newcomer! as dingle87 has already said there is a really good step by step guide to exactly how you should go about introducing them on degutopia! although i actually believe that if they were friendly before and have only be separated for a short amount of time you shouldnt have problems! as to the sexing of your degus it is quite simple when you know how! i bought my two thinking they were both boys and never thought to check, and now one seems to be pregnant so i am picking the brains of everyone on here to find out lol. so although it is not difficult it is very important to make sure it is done properly so you dont end up in the situation i have found myself in  there is a guide to sexing your degus on here and also on degutopia, as well as a few videos on youtube! check these out and you should be able to do it yourself (i found putting them in a glass bowl is a useful trick that someone on here suggested) if possible maybe take photos and post them on here to get some opinions and put your mind at rest that you have a same sex pair, i have done that myself around a week ago and everyone has been really helpful! good luck and i hope everything goes well! |
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Post by nuttz on Oct 11, 2010 10:30:05 GMT
morning everyone!!! firstly, thank-you to everybody that replied.......  well, good news! i brought my little chips a buddy on saturday, we named him chocs (choc-chip..original i know..lol) i was very weiry of putting them together to begin with so left them on the the table cage to cage for about an hour, they straight away showed alot of interest in eachother are were both sqeaking and sniffing like crazy.. i didnt know if this was a good sign or not but thought id take the chance and opened the cage doors to let them roam together... it went great, no problems atal.. theyve had their little squabbles but nothing serious, its lovely to see them grooming and snuggling up together at sleepy times, they constantly talk to each-other, my chips looks so much happier now that he has his little bro back!!! im so happy we got them both, ive given up on the TV, they are so much more interesting to watch ;D im a little surprized as they both already eat from my hands and sometimes if we are luckly, they let us tickle their chins and bellys, ive read that this doesnt normally happen for a while but maybe the fact they are babies its made that process easier??? do you know if there is anyway to tell how old they are roughly? i asked the lady in the shop and she doesnt know  oh, and im pretty sure that they are both boys, i studied degus and the sex quite alot last week and im pretty sure ive got it right?! just a quick question tho... do boy degus poke out their little bits like boy dogs do? ive seen both of mine do this whilst cleaning themselves. anyway, thanks again... thought id pop back and give you all an update of how things were going. im just off now to give them their first sand bath, i brought them some this morning and cant wait to see what they do  heidi xxx ps, i will try to send some photos ASAP, thats if im clever enough to upload them to the computer (my hubby normally does all the tech stuff...lol) |
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 11, 2010 20:30:29 GMT
Yes, boys DO stick out their "little" boy bits when cleaning. It's kind of a joke on the forum. LOL! In fact, the boys are very interested at different times in keeping their bits "clean." They have been known to suddenly invest a good deal of time during a dinner party even. Rolling eyes!
If you are seeing this activity in your boys, then it is certain that they are past six months of age. At six months is when they begin to come into sexual maturity, and they have no ability prior to this age to extend their bits like they do when cleaning. Often they are more around eight months of age when you start seeing it a lot. I would venture a guess that your boys are at least between the ages of 6 - 12 months. If you can weigh them, that might help to establish whether or not they are near adult weights. Most adults are between 150-300 grams. Degus less than that are either still young, or unhealthy.
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Post by nuttz on Oct 12, 2010 9:12:57 GMT
thank-you deguconvert for your reply! "phew" i cant say how much im relieved about them both being boys, as i said, i did do alot of researching and was confident that i sexed them right, however..now i know for sure i can relax knowing that we wont have any bubbas ;D im quite surprized to hear that they may be as old as 6months, or even 12  the adults in the shop were atleast 2-3 times bigger than the babies. im so happy we got them both, i cant believe id never even heard of them before last week, what a shame as i would of had far more rather than having the 6 dogs 2 cats 3 rabbits and hampster...not to mention the 4 kids...lol they had their first sand bath yesterday in which they loved, only problem was, they started sqabbling quite alot more than normal and i got scared so took it out after about 15 mins  at present they have quite a smallish cage, well, im guessing the cage is ok for a short while (they have one cage, a little like a rat, chinchilla cage and a small hampster cage safely adjoined to it), we are looking at making a lager one for them to have enough space for a good run around etc... i was wondering, i have one of those metal type shelving units, its quite big and stands the height of me (5ft1) i thought, if we were to adapt that into a cage, meshing the sides and making lots of interesting levels etc it could work out to be a cheap way to make a new cage, plus..as we live in spain, it really does get hot in summer, we were thinking its best to have as much ventalation as possible and to be enclosed into a wooden type could make them over heat (my hampster really struggled this year with the heat and we had to supply him with cold tiles to lie on and even ice cubes to nibble at ) what do you think?? maybe its best to post this quetion in the cage part of the forum...........hmmm ok, thats what im going to do, copy and past it there.........!!! anyways, thanks ever so much for everything!!! heidi xxx ps....... i have been using a chipmunk forum for the past week as i was told by the pet shop that my degu was a chipmunk, anyway, a lady there was asking me lots of questions regarding degus as she was thinking about getting a pair, i cant answer all as im new to this myself so i shall suggest she comes here... a great site!!! thanks x |
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 12, 2010 14:39:59 GMT
I'm going to think on this . . . one question I do have right off the bat though is, what is the depth and width of the shelving unit?
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Post by nuttz on Oct 12, 2010 14:43:49 GMT
hi deguconvert again ;D
please see my thread on the cage topics... i have found some great pics on another forum and have posted a link, please take a look and tell me what you think? good or bad!
thanks, heidi xxx
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the adults in the shop were atleast 2-3 times bigger than the babies. 