Escaping Degus

[degumotherandamateur]

Hello everyone ?

I have only recently joined the deguverse as I adopted four girls around three months ago.

I just wanted to ask whether anyone has had experience with degus regularly trying to escape from their cage when you open the doors to socialise with them? They are still very timid as they are young so they are quite jumpy but not really very scared of me. 

I wouldn't mind too much letting them have a run around but the room they are in is not really degu friendly and I don't want them to get hurt.

At the moment I am having to *push* them back in each time they run to get out and I am worried about them beginning to get irritated with me. Is this normal behaviour or is there anything I should be doing? 

Look forward to hearing from you!

[Karma]

Mine did that all the time .... Especially when younger. When they got a larger cage it stopped for a while until they wanted even more room (actually even in the half of a bedroom they have for the two of them they still try and "expand" their territory).

How big is your cage? As long as it is not too small and they are under exercised I wouldn't worry about it . Maybe give treats to only the ones that are sitting and not trying to get out and see if you can train them a bit?

[uglibug]

Our girls used to do this. We expanded their cage last year and since then they have become positively antisocial. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they are happy in their new space but kinda miss them running all over us as soon as the door was opened.

[degumotherandamateur]

Thanks for your replies ?

The cage is homemade and quite large (120cm hight and length and 60cm wide with four levels). I've tried to keep them in with treats but they are very persistent!

Haha, they tend not to run all over me uglibug, they just want to go on an exploration!

[degumotherandamateur]

Sorry, just realised my smilies were showing as sadfaces!

[moletteuk]

A permanent or temporary playpen around the cage would solve this but it's not always that easy to set up.

60cm is very narrow for a degu cage, and even with 4 levels the cage is likely to be too small for them, which will be increasing their desire to escape. Would you be able to extend the cage at all? Here is our size guide
deguworld.proboards.com/thread/9396/forums-cage-size-recommendations

[degumotherandamateur]

Apologies, that's me confusing my depths with my widths etc. The cage is 120cm high, 120cm wide and 60cm deep (just over 28,000cm2 in area). Hopefully that's enough room for them, they don't seem to try and escape unless the doors are open.

I've thought about adding a surrounding playpen so that they can leave their cage to play because they are not yet comfortable with being handled. Has anyone on the forum completed something like this?

Thank you for your help

[moletteuk]

Sorry, it was me, I didn't read it properly.  That's a great size cage

Yes, my girls have a permanent playpen, and another active member, Karma, does to.

Here's a thread about my setup: deguworld.proboards.com/thread/15564/changes-gooville-moletteville

They have a digging box in there now too:


I love the playpen and they love it too.  It just means there is zero stress interacting with them and it's the best thing for taming, you just sit or lie down and let them explore you.  I know what you mean about worrying that you are irritating them pushing them back in all the time, it puts a strain on the times when you are supposed to be taming and having fun.

I think the other thing that people do is have the cage on a stand so that the opening is in mid-air so there is nowhere for the degus to go, but you do get kamikaze degus who will jump onto their human or launch themselves out of the cage anyway, so it does have its risks.

[degumotherandamateur]

Wow, your playpen is amazing. I am hugely tempted to start another diy adventure for them but I don't think my other half is quite as keen!

I adore watching them run around so something like this would be perfect. At least if I could get a temporary setup they would be able to play outside the cage when I am around.

I think putting the cage on a stand Will not be an option because I've had my girls jump from the second and third floors quite readily!

Thanks ever so much for your help, you've given me lots of ideas

[moletteuk]

Here's a thread about making a folding playpen if you want to see how that might work before you go permanent deguworld.proboards.com/thread/7310

Have you shown us pics of your cage and/ or your degus yet? We'd love to see

[degumotherandamateur]

Excellent, I may very well give that a go

Haven't posted any pictures yet, it's very difficult to get all four together at the same time!

Here are a few of the girls and I will post pictures of the cage to the thread dedicated to cage building:







:-D

[deguconvert]

Your girls (?) look quite active and happy in that space! May I ask what the round white thing, with the stick on top, is? It looks almost like a giant chewing stone, or a salt lick, LOL, but I'm pretty sure it is neither of those.

[moletteuk]

Oh yes, they look like trouble!

[degumotherandamateur]

Haha, it's their first wheel which they have already destroyed so I replaced it and they were playing inside it the other day! I need to think about getting a sturdier one like molette's cake tin idea but I'm hoping once I have some more branches in there that they might stop destroying the fixings

Yes, I have four very sweet girls with very big personalities

[degumummy137]

My cage is on a table, so my girls have never yet done more than hang out of the door slightly watching me when the cage is open. I understand why you're worried about letting them in and out willy nilly (mine have never liked being picked up and still don't, so when we first started taming and playing out I had a lot of problems catching my more nervy one.

Nowadays I have a stretchy tunnel designed for guinea pigs that I put in their doorway, and they know it means they're allowed to come out (they run down it onto the bed), and there are no hunts since they can now climb back in their cage whenever they want to, and are usually pretty good when they're told to go back in. I'd suggest training yours with treats for staying in the cage, and soon enough they'll learn when you're letting them out and when you're not.

[claire]

I learnt the hard way, don't treat them when they escape, they thinks its a great game, mine now know, they only get treats if they sit calmly at the door when I open it, they did get let out but the chewed literally everything so have to stick totheir pen now

I have one, he sist with his head tilted, waits for the precise moment my attention is not fully on him and ping hes gone, jums right off, little bugger, doesn't go far, comes back for treats in 10 mins lol

as for pushing them back, mine don't care, never puts them off if nything I get squeaked at which im pretty sure means move your hand woman I want out lol

[bouncy]

My goos run straight to the door, but because they're used to me letting them out as soon as the barrier goes across the doorway. The table is a good idea - with the exception of my Spidergoo, they peer only.