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Post by lolsorensen on Nov 1, 2022 12:14:09 GMT
My local shelter have a group of 11 male degus born 2017-2020. I dont want to adopt all 11 but maybe two or three. Im new to degus and would love some advice on how to decide how many to adopt and also how to choose. My goal is to have degus who get along, is there any clues in the big group to look for, that can indicate they will get along in a smaller group/pair or how does it work with degus? Can I pick any of them and expect that they get along?
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Post by moletteuk on Nov 1, 2022 18:21:21 GMT
I would recommend a group of three as this is enough for them to show proper social behaviour but not so many that cage size isn't practical. Four could work if you are willing to join or modify cages to be big enough.
Does the rescue have them in one big group currently? If so, then yes, there will be sub groups and particular friends within such a big group so ideally you would need the rescue to be able to figure this out and pick out a group of particular friends or you may find there could be quite a bit of aggro in establishing a new smaller group. Degus have very strong preferences for individuals so it would be lovely and lead to a simpler life for you if this can be figured out. It may be that the rescue have no way of indentifying most of the individuals in which case it is a very difficult task and the best you could do was go and hang out with them for quite some time to see what you can figure out yourself.
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Post by deguconvert on Nov 1, 2022 19:57:55 GMT
What Moletteuk said!! Their social relationships are quite complex, and it is hard to know who fills what position and place in the many ways that they interact. If all 11 are agouti in colouring, and if the workers at the rescue are not very familiar with them, it could be very difficult to ensure that you are choosing individuals that all have a good relationship with each other. Since there are 11 in the group, when the time comes that you are removing the number you want, they will be running madly all over the cage they are in, and it can be super hard to keep your eye on the ones you want. And when you do get them, you need to know that both groups (those you took home and those that remained) will go through a period of chaos as they once again re-establish who is who in their new groups. If it works out that you have chose degus that are close with each other, they will still end up going through some dominance issues because they will be in new territory, and there will so much fewer of them than they have been used to.
Something that would be helpful to you, to make their new home with you more familiar and less scary, is to make sure you bring home a bag of dirty substrate from their cage, and spread it out throughout the cage you will be putting them into. This will come with all their various smells, which contains a lot of crucial information, and should help reduce the above mentioned dominance chaos.
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Post by lolsorensen on Nov 2, 2022 10:14:57 GMT
Thank you both for your replies! This group all comes from the same home so I assume they have been living toghether before they came to the rescue. I believe three would be a good size group for me, but perhaps I should wait and see of someone can take all 11.
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Post by deguconvert on Nov 2, 2022 23:52:31 GMT
Talk to the rescue people and learn what they know of the group. You will probably get some really good information! If you have more questions . . . bring them here and we'll discuss it with you. If they are people that love degus . . . they may know more then I have anticipated they will, which would be really awesome! Don't give up yet. I know I shared some really intimidating things, but being forewarned can be empowering as well. We will help you all we can!
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