Jarad
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by Jarad on Dec 11, 2014 21:18:51 GMT
Hi, I'm looking at getting a pair of Degus for Christmas, but I'll be away from the 24th to the 2nd. Would that be okay for new Degus, or should I be around for the first few weeks without any interruptions? I live in Canada where Degus are more rare and hard to find. That is why I am hoping to get a degu before Christmas, while they are available.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Dec 12, 2014 4:09:33 GMT
That is a bit of a long time period to leave them alone without anyone watching them in my opinion. I too live in Canada (Ontario), so I know how hard it may be to get them. Maybe if you go to the place you want to get them at and ask if they can keep them on hold for you if possible ?
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 12, 2014 14:34:02 GMT
You can't leave them unattended for more than one night, or two at a push if they are settled and trustworthy. I would not leave new degus unattended at all. Even if someone else looks after them for you, you would miss all the fun of watching them settle in and adapting their housing to suit as you get to know them for the first few days. Are you sorted for adequate housing and have plans for a suitable diet? Here is our cage size guide deguworld.proboards.com/thread/9396/forums-cage-size-recommendations They need much more space than you might imagine.
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Jarad
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by Jarad on Dec 12, 2014 16:18:47 GMT
Thank you for the replies. I'll try to get them after New Years, then. moletteuk, yes my cage is 60x82cm with four levels (including the ground floor). Not the largest ever, but the largest I could afford and it fits the minimum requirements that I could find online.
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Post by Karma on Dec 13, 2014 1:20:06 GMT
You can't leave them unattended for more than one night, or two at a push if they are settled and trustworthy. I would not leave new degus unattended at all. Even if someone else looks after them for you, you would miss all the fun of watching them settle in and adapting their housing to suit as you get to know them for the first few days. Are you sorted for adequate housing and have plans for a suitable diet? Here is our cage size guide deguworld.proboards.com/thread/9396/forums-cage-size-recommendations They need much more space than you might imagine. I disagree .... I leave mine for a full 72 hours (2 nights) very consistently and they are completely fine with this .... I have left them for up to 4 nights with them alright but not happy when I couldn't find someone to come check on them. I have an extra water bottle and put treats and food into cardboard boxes and other toys so they have to work to get at it (home made delay feeders lol). I would wait to get new degus, babies can get into much more trouble and you never know what they can get into ...... They could destroy a toy and get caught in it, start fighting and most important they aren't getting use to human contact.
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Post by moletteuk on Dec 13, 2014 11:59:30 GMT
I guess it depends to a degree on the owner, the degus, and the circumstance, but it is actually illegal to leave pets for more than one night in Britain, although I realise Jarad is in Canada. I would worry about freak events that you can't plan for, like the heating failing, or a degu getting caught up in something, or fighting or illness.
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Post by yasmin on Dec 15, 2014 0:56:24 GMT
Maybe if you go to the place you want to get them at and ask if they can keep them on hold for you if possible ? I'd wait until after Christmas if at all possible. Looking forward to hearing from you when you get your new negus. (I'm also in Ontario.)
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Post by klbishop on Dec 17, 2014 9:21:12 GMT
we don't do more than one night away, they are such complicated things that require supervision
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Jarad
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by Jarad on Jan 4, 2015 3:35:19 GMT
Just to update: The breeder could not hold onto the Degus for me, and they are now all adopted. If anyone knows any breeders in Southern Ontario, I'd be very interested to hear from you. Otherwise, I will just keep searching and waiting
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jan 4, 2015 5:05:47 GMT
Just to update: The breeder could not hold onto the Degus for me, and they are now all adopted. If anyone knows any breeders in Southern Ontario, I'd be very interested to hear from you. Otherwise, I will just keep searching and waiting Just out of curiosity if you don't mind me asking where/who was the breeder you had contact with? I too am still trying to find me some degus. I would keep looking on kijiji as there are some listings on there if you want older degus. There actually is a breeder located in Toronto who has a listing on kijiji. But I'm not sure if they have any degus at the moment though and nobody has ever answered the phone when I have tried to call.
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Jarad
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by Jarad on Jan 4, 2015 16:38:10 GMT
I have been using kijiji to find my breeders. I've seen a few older ones put up, but as these will be my first degus I don't feel comfortable taking on any that may already have baggage that I won't be experienced enough to overcome. The breeder I contacted in December was from kijiji and in St. Catharines. I also contacted the one in Toronto, but similarly received no response
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jan 4, 2015 17:54:09 GMT
I have been using kijiji to find my breeders. I've seen a few older ones put up, but as these will be my first degus I don't feel comfortable taking on any that may already have baggage that I won't be experienced enough to overcome. The breeder I contacted in December was from kijiji and in St. Catharines. I also contacted the one in Toronto, but similarly received no response Oh okay.... I realize you want to get them from a breeder (same with me actually lol) but have you considered getting them from a petstore? Because degus in ontario aren't as popular as other small pets in my opinion, it may be harder to find breeders here. The lady from St. Catharines, I too had contact with, and almost got them from her, but there was a misunderstanding and she sold them to somebody else. Althought she did tell me she will have contact with me when she breeds them again, so if you can't find any until then I can post here for you, so you can contact her also if you like .
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Jarad
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by Jarad on Jan 5, 2015 1:35:18 GMT
Thank you, I would appreciate that My issue with petstores is that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to sexing Degu, and from what I hear, Petstores also have no idea what they're doing. I don't want to risk a) taking a boy and a girl home together or b) taking two females home, but one of which is pregnant because they weren't separated from males soon enough. I've also read in other forums that you don't want to travel with them for any more than about 2 hours, so that leaves my (and our, it seems) options somewhat limited.
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jan 5, 2015 3:01:27 GMT
Thank you, I would appreciate that My issue with petstores is that I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to sexing Degu, and from what I hear, Petstores also have no idea what they're doing. I don't want to risk a) taking a boy and a girl home together or b) taking two females home, but one of which is pregnant because they weren't separated from males soon enough. I've also read in other forums that you don't want to travel with them for any more than about 2 hours, so that leaves my (and our, it seems) options somewhat limited. I see... I for one never read about traveling more then 2 hours with them being bad (I need to travel 4 hours as I live in sudbury ontario). Here is a link...they give some useful info on traveling with degus: www.degutopia.co.uk/degutravel.htmWhile looking in the website there is also things about sexing them www.degutopia.co.uk/degusexing.htm (just for general reference... Even breeders can get things wrong once in a while) and other things you may or may not know yet. I for sure will tell you about any updates with the lady from St Catharine's .
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Post by Maravilla on Jan 5, 2015 17:05:39 GMT
I've also read in other forums that you don't want to travel with them for any more than about 2 hours, so that leaves my (and our, it seems) options somewhat limited. Don't worry too much about them travelling more than 2 hours. There are some things you can do to prevent bigger problems. And then they can travel even 5-7 hours (this is about the maximum I have heard about). Some of the degutopia advice is great, with others I do not agree. They are right about having a good and secure carrier. Degus can escape easily from plastic carriers. When you fill a big enough carrier with lots of hay and straw, the degus will probably sleep most of the time. I only have seen few degus exploring the carrier during longer trips. I have never used water bottles but provided fresh stuff. Degus normally do not drink a lot during a day so it should be enough to have some fresh herbs or pieces of cucumber or lettuce (if the animals are used to it). But you have to make sure that air temperature inside the car is neither too hot nor too cold. Best time in hot summer months would be the morning and evening hours and the night. In winter, mild temperatures inside the car are best. I also would not check them every 30 minutes or so as this normally would mean having to open the carrier... and maybe have escaping degus. Besides, when travelling on a lone highway and seeing that something might be wrong, what can you do? If there are fights, you will hear this. But even then, there is little you can do and so far I have heard of only one case of fighting degus when travelling. Also making stops every hour sounds a little bit too much. And the best place for a carrier, in my opinion and experience, is the legroom behind the front seats (if there is enough space). Securing the carrier during the journey is a must, both for the safety of the driver and the animals, but doing it really good with the seat belts is quite difficult.
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Jarad
Newborn Degu
Posts: 6
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Post by Jarad on Jan 5, 2015 22:11:55 GMT
Thank you for all the tips. Hopefully I'll get to put them into practice soon!
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