Different shapes for different goos.

[uglibug]

Someone said this moght make an interesting conversation, so I wonder if anyone else has noticed anything similar; our different groups of goos like their space laid out differently.

Our girls have a huge expanded rat cage, it started out being 3 levels tall, then a 2 tier extension was added making it as wide as it was tall, and finaly a single tier on top of the 2 tier to make it a sort of flattened cube. They like the fact that they can all use different levels and that they can see between them. They also seem to like the long runs between the cages through the pipes. They did spend about a week in the aviary but the fact that the dpace available to them was more vertical than horizontal seemed to disturb them. The only down side is that since they have all this space we have become much less interesting, unless we have food, lol.

Our older boys are now in a long flat cage. They were originally in the tall aviary cage but Mater, being an OAG (old aged goo) struggled to get between the floors. This meant he spent most of his time on just the ground level and thought he didn't have enough space. The end result was a huge bust up to the point where they had to be separated for a couple of weeks. During their separation we moved the younger boys into the aviary cage and they settled in well, both using all the floors and in one cheeky little case finding a little ledge in the roof and scaring us silly, lol.

After reintros with Buddy and Mater we moved them into the flat cage and the seemed to be a lot more settled. The still have their moments but Mater seems to be a lot happier now he can use the entire cage.

All of our goos are tollerant of us and will sometimes come out and say hi, the girls are all really independent and generally only visit for food, Brian and Stu are also fairly independent, although Stu will ping bars for attention if we're not giving him enough. Buddy and Mater are the most friendly, they regularly come to the bars or the door for fusses and Mater has a thing for hubby's head, lol.

They are all offered play time each day but the only goo that consistantly comes out is dear old Mater, which has led us to assume that everyone is happy with their space inside the cages.

Do other peoples goos have preferences as to how they like their space laid out?

[jos]

That's very interesting, I haven't got the opportuntity to change the cage layout with the setup I currently have but I am intrigued by my goos love for being as high up in their cage as they can get. They have 4 levels but they seem to spend a lot of their time in the top quarter. They have a cargo net suspended above a shelf on the top level and access to the top of their hammock from that which they also love to sit on. Their wheel is on the top level and despite putting various different nest boxes/baskets etc on different levels, those are only seen as chewing exercises and instead they love to build a newspaper nest right next to the wheel, almost like a shrine. The wheel's not the only driving factor though, as when it was temporarily out of action and removed, they didn't change their habits that much. I try to spread the toys out over different levels and then put a saucer on the bottom level and starting feeding them their suppertime herb mix on that level just so they were getting more use out of that section of the cage which did work, they definitely like the saucer. I know it's always said that degus don't live in trees and knowing how mine judge heights, I can see why, but given safe passage up and down, I get the feeling mine might quite like to!

[moletteuk]

I only have one group to go on, but I think it's fascinating working out what they want and trying to see things from their point of view. My lot love a hangout place with a view and also with a good place to hide nearby, it's this combination that really attracts them. And I'm always banging on about them loving their 'cosy cube' shelf which is just a little shelf with low headroom and a wooden front on it, they always nest in there now, when they used to nest all over the place. I think they like places with two ways in and out too.

I like how you can find things that they love by accident. We plonked down an old piece of wooden edging in the pen in front of the digging box and resting on a terracotta tube about 10cm high at the other end, just as a temporary chewing object really. It soon became apparent that Molly loved hanging out on this near the entrance to the digging box where it's a few centimetres high - she's off the floor, has a decent view and can hide in the digging box in a fraction of a second.

When I met Shads (forum member) she had a huge home made cage, but she said her boys hardly used the bottom, which was at ground level. Does your cage sit on the floor Jos?

[jos]

It's not sitting right on the ground, it's on a 6" high stand. They do have a different substrate on the bottom level, wood shavings in a 4" high sided metal base versus newspaper lined finacard on wooden levels for the others but I don't get the impression it's the wood shavings they object to. I initially thought that's where they'd like to nest as its dark and cozy down there with a full length shelf to shelter under so I put a big trixie 'wood cabin' style nest box down there for them but they didn't go for it. Belle would periodically decide to spend nearly all her waking time down there on a huge chewfest for a week at a time then ignore it and that level, also she has occasionally hit on the idea that she may be able to tunnel her way out through the metal base and spends the odd day carefully excavating every last wood shaving from one half of the base and scrabbling away before giving it up as a bad job. Belle knows she's not at ground level due to me recently accidentally leaving one of the side doors open when cleaning out and her having extra playtime as a result. They normally have playtime in a different room. One other slightly odd thing that happened as a result of that is that Belle is now very insistent about having extra playtime in the room they are kept in and will ram me with her head if I try to block her! Consequently I have given in and let her have a few extra roaming sessions. The other two are happy to come out in the playpen in the other room but they run up to the top and huddle together looking down in alarm when Belle is out in their room. I don't know if they think there is another potentially dangerous critter around and don't realise it's Belle scrabbling about outside (it's a hard floor).

I do agree they like places with two ways in and out, the one nesting container they did use (until they ate it) was an enclosed raffia basket and they chewed themselves an entrance and an exit. I filled it with nice soft Carefresh bedding and next morning that had been unceremoniously dumped outside and newspaper dragged in to replace it. They definitely know their own minds don't they!

[uglibug]

One of our boys, Brian, also carefully excavates the ground floor from time to time, probably looking for a way out. His friend Stu is the little monster who worked out how to open a cage door so now it's cable tied shut and we replace them when the look a bit chewed.

We tend to think of them as small, furry children; they know what they want and how to get it and can be the most stubborn creatures imaginable if they don't.