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Post by Karma on Aug 17, 2016 3:44:01 GMT
I need everyone's honest opinion ....
Just in case anyone doesn't remember - I have two pairs of bonded boys living in separate double critter nation cages. They have tons of hidedy holes, tunnels, branches to chew on, fresh cardboard boxes as needed, wheels, dust bath etc etc. I mix 2-3 types of commercial food and rotate around, although two of my boys will only really eat degu nature. Both pairs are getting along fantastic (one pair almost 5 years old - omg where did the time go!!) and the other is 4years? I think and roughly 1 1/2 years.
My problem, my migraines started to get really really bad and then I was also in a car accident. I thought it would just take time for the whiplash and concussion to settle down and we would get to the bottom of everything - that was 2 years ago. Well the last 6 six weeks have been the worse yet .... I really am losing hope that we will ever get it to settle down, I am running out of treatment options and nothing has helped in the slightest.
How many of you really honestly play with your degus every day? I use too - they would get about 30 minutes every night per cage of running, tricks and treats or talking and tickling. I don't think I'm done more than 10 minutes here and there for 6 months or so now and it really hurts. But, they do get fed every (almost ... unless I'm stuck in bed in a very bad one) night, come right out for their treat and then supper and I most days get a quick tickle or touch in. I haven't fully handled them in months either because of lack of energy for everything (I'm down to part time working because of this) and my brain moves at a snail pace so its hard to keep up with the little monkeys.
Am I being selfish keeping them (love them to bits!!)? Are they happy being in a pair and a cage with things to do - or should they be with someone that actually would continue the handling and interaction like I use too? Thanks for any input - good and bad, for either side.
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Post by winic1 on Aug 17, 2016 4:58:29 GMT
Mine live in a double critter nation, and never get out. Planned on making a pen and getting to that, but life and health interfered, and it never happened.
They have lots to do. I give them new things to chew and build and hide and explore. Every day they get their regular hay and pellets, but then the dried veggies or seeds or oats or whatever get scattered throughout the cage for them to forage for. I come up and talk to them, they come up to listen and see what I have for them that day, as first they get individually handed some rose petals or pepitas or pea flakes or something special I can hand them through the bars. I talk to them every time I pass by. They're in the edge of the living room - dining room area, so people are walking by all the time, and when I sit to watch TV they're right in front of me so I can watch them and talk to them then, too.
I think they're doing okay. They're not getting neurotic, they're not getting depressed, they're not chewing each others' fur out or fighting all the time or any other stress behavior.
I wish I could do more for them. But I can't. Do other degus get better treatment/lives with out of cage play? Yes. Do other degus live much worse lives in tiny cages with wrong diets and no interaction? Yes. Oh yes.
I love my little pals and getting to talk to them and give them treats and see their eager little faces. I don't think they're unhappy in their cage. They don't show any signs of it. I think they're doing okay. certainly better than they were before we got them.
If they don't look unhappy, or unhealthy, I do not think you need to feel bad. After all these years with you, would they be more upset by the way they live now, or being suddenly uprooted and have to adapt to a whole new environment (even if their cages went with them, the sounds, the smells, the people, the activity patterns, everything changes) and new people? I think they're okay with you.
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Post by Bexi87 on Aug 17, 2016 7:13:59 GMT
I had wild intentions of letting my his have free run of my lounge every night but after one thing or another (getting Esme, illness and lack of energy) they probably get free time in their run once a week at the moment.
My girls are pretty happy as they are and don't really want to interact with me (unless there is food) so I find it hard to motivate myself to get them out more often as they just go back into the cage and leave me sat in the run all on my lonesome!
I think as long as your guys are happy and healthy you don't need to worry. I agree that moving to a new home would be incredibly stressful for them BUT if you feel you can't cope then obviously rehoming them is an option. I'md say primarily go off how you are feeling and if their behaviour changes then look at it again.
Hope you start to feel better soon, there is nothing worse than waiting for improvements that don't come.
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Post by bouncy on Aug 17, 2016 7:38:59 GMT
With my own health issues, my boys certainly don't come out every night. Are they bothered? Not really. They like coming out and causing mayhem in my kitchen, and I've even contemplated giving them 24/7 access. However, if I leave the room, they go back in of their own accord. If I fall asleep, move around too much, have the fan oven on etc, they take themselves back in.
It's taken me a long time to accept, but you can only do what you can. I would love to have my boys out several hours a day, but they don't seem to mind if I can't, and they certainly don't bear any grudge. Sometimes it's as if they pick up on how I'm feeling and take themselves back after 15 mins.
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Post by yasmin on Aug 17, 2016 18:26:28 GMT
So sorry to hear that your health is not improving. I hope that there is a turnaround in the not too distant future. As far as the goos are concerned – You are not being selfish. They are better off with you, in the home that they know, where they are loved and cared for. They do bond to you – even if they don't get out that much. Mine don't get out every day. Even though I now work from home and my office is right next to their room – a room totally goo-proofed, with glass windows on the doors so I can watch them from my desk – there are days when I suffer migraines/fatigue or have to go off to appointments, errands, or have a social life (not often but it does happen ). I too have Critter Nation Cages – one of them 3 units high. When they do get out (and I can only let out one cage at a time) they spend three hours + out and about, usually until they themselves go back in. As far as handling is concerned, I don't handle mine unless necessary (medicating, etc.). If I have time, I will sit with them and let them come to me and climb on me at their will. My daily physical contact with them is putting my nose up to their noses whenever I open the cage doors to feed them. I also go into the room often (sometimes hourly) and talk to them, and bring them treats, and sit next to their cages and watch them – I trust that they are pleased to "spend time" with me like that. No caged animal is living life as it was meant to, but these "pets" have little choice and I pray that them not knowing any different means they aren't consciously suffering from it. The only thing better than us giving forever homes to abandoned creatures and doing our best to keep them safe, healthy, enriched, and cared for is for there no longer being any degus bred for the pet market.
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Post by uglibug on Aug 17, 2016 20:01:37 GMT
Our crew don't get out every night, and tbh they don't really seem to care that much. I have some serious mental health issues and I struggle to get out of the house some days so they are important to me for company. I'm nervous about handling them, so they only get open door time when hubby is around, but even with the doors open they don't always bother to come out. They all know they are loved and that's the important part.
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Post by deguconvert on Aug 18, 2016 2:09:57 GMT
Our cages had tons of room, really we could have housed more degus with the cage sizes we had, but I had had enough of caring for large numbers when we went through the multiple pregnancies phase with our degus. So, they primarily were in the cage, with occasional times out. Like maybe once a week? I have no issue with them being in their cage, especially when they are large and well set up like yours!
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Post by moletteuk on Aug 20, 2016 16:50:23 GMT
Would extending the cages be an option? I'm sorry you are in this situation with your migraines still being so bad
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