Help! Need a sectioned cage

[thekerrie]

Hello,

I really need help!
My brother has two degu's who have been fighting on and off for a few years now. They have been fighting off and on since we got them and last year they were separated for longer than they were together. He gradually re-introduced them and they've been back together for about four months. But now we've had to move the cage and they're fighting again; they're back in separate cages. One of them bit him tonight (first time since owning them) and he's saying the only thing he can think of is giving one up to the adoption centre of our local vet because it's becoming too stressful. The fight before this one I was the one who had to separate it as he was away and one of them had a massive cut on his eye and was bleeding in several places.
I know how much of a terrible idea it is to give one up so I'm taking it on myself to do something about it.

He has been to the vet and they suggested to buy a separator cage. He bought one but it literally would not go together and there were no instructions in the box. We believe it was faulty but the manufacturer said it wasn't so we eventually sent it back after much arguing with the manufacturer.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of any decent cages we can house two degu's in; one in each section. No one in our family has any carpentry skills so we're unable to build one. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I love these fluffs and want to see them back in the same cage, even if it is a separator cage.

[saddlers]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your degus, there is sometimes a specific thing that will trigger off fighting, such as changing the bath, fighting over wheels, food etc. have you noticed anything in particular setting them off. What cage do you have at the moment? The reason I ask is that the most common cause for fighting does tend to be cage size, and in addition it may be that your cage could be easily modified if we knew which type it was. Sorry for all the questions, but we need to gather as much info to make sure the advice we give is relevant.

[deguconvert]

Where did you previously have their cage, and where did you recently move it to? What are the differences between the two locations. Lighting? A busy or secluded location? Chilly, cool or well heated, or perhaps even too hot? Quiet, noisy, more outside sound present now than was before? Strange as it may sound, Degus become very accustomed to where their cage sits, and moving it to a new location, even within the same home, can dramatically unsettle them, depending on what the changes have been.

[thekerrie]

We have two boys and we currently have them in this-
www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/small-pet/chinchilla/chinchilla-homes/chinchilla-and-degu-cage

We think what sets them off is when we clean out the cage. It can be months with numerous clean outs and they'll be fine, but then all of a sudden they'll start fighting for no reason with no changes in the cage.
This time we have moved them from the dining room to the living room. We are having our kitchen & dining room remodelled so they will be in the living room for the next few months, probably until the summer. There's more people in the living room but they're in here frequently what with being in their balls and we also handle them in here so it's an environment they are somewhat used to. They've moved within the house once before (from a bedroom to the dining room) and were fine then, no fighting.

Both my brother and I have agreed it's most likely to do with moving them, but we haven't got the option of moving them back unfortunately. That's why we are after a separator cage.

[deguconvert]

Yeah, it sounds like you need that alight.

[moletteuk]

I think they would really benefit from a bigger cage, it may really help them to get along better. We often recommend something like the Xtrail/ Aventura/ Explorer, they are all very similar, you can extend the half shelves to make better use of the space. These are also pretty easy to close off into top and bottom separate areas. The disadvantage is that with this arrangement of separation, there is no meeting place through mesh on the same level for them to still stay in touch safely (while separate), which can really be an advantage for reintroductions. If you wanted to have that facility, you might be better getting another cage and putting the old cage up close. No reason why you couldn't get an Xtrail type and keep one temporarily in the Pets@home.

They are really sensitive to smells and a full clean out combined with the slightly different smell of a new room could upset them and have removed too many of their smell cues which allow them to know who is in the gang and who has priority over which territory, they may be thinking the cage is now new territory and up for grabs to the strongest. It can help to only do partial cleanouts, or to re-scatter some of the soiled bedding.

[jamiee]

A big cage does help... a lot. Mine were fighting to the point of injury, and we got them a new, bigger cage with more toys, and their fighting just slowly decreased to the regular first breeding season squabbles.