New to the forum and Degus need advice please

[sarahh]

Hi All

My name is Sarah I am 24 years old and live at home with my parents and have a 21 year old sister who lives at her boyfriends most of the time we live in Kent

We have 30 odd hamsters I have lost count lol.
3 rabbits, 3 guinea-pigs, 2 gerbils, 27 rats, 18 mice, 3 cats, 2 dogs and a little rescue degus.

We have a small rescue/rescue and rehome mainly hamsters we have strict rehoming policy and will always take animals back again should they not/cannot look after them anymore or for holidays.
We picked up a little female degus as far as I am aware she's female and is just under a year old. The story goes Orginally she came from pets at home as a lone degus the people who took her couldn't deal with her anymore apparently she was too quick for them so this lady took her on but now she has to move due to a break up so needs to rehome so of her animals. We took a little 8 month old syrian hamster a friend has asked for her and the little degus whose name is Drusilla but we are going to call her Silla for short.

We know a little about degus hense joining the forum and we are going to get a book tommorow on degus.

We would like advice about pairing Silla up is it possible she could be paired, if so what would be better neutuered male or female as I do not want babies from them.


We are in touch with another rescue near London who takes in degus and we are thinking of taking silla there and having her paired up if it's possible. We do not want to take on another lone degus ourselves and it not workout thus ending up with 2 lone degus.

We were given Silla's food and I will purchase a wheel for her asap what sort of wheel would be best one that attaches to the cage or a flying saucer wheel?
Silla now has a very large cage with wooden levels and climbing toys.

Advice much appreciated.

Thanks

Sarah

[deguconvert]

OK . . . Here is a link to a thread on the forum here that will give you a loaded snapshot of what you need to know about degus. It's not the whole wide world of degus, but it really covers a lot of info and will leave you with a fairly good understanding. deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=behaviour&action=display&thread=5337

As to what kind of wheel . . . I would go with the saucer kind as it is much kinder on the back of a degu, but you may not see her using it straight away.

If you can introduce her to another female, terrific!! A male that is neutered is great as well, but males must be at least a year of age prior to the surgery for the sake of their all round health.

It's nice to meet you, Sarahh. It sounds like you come from a very busy household indeed! I hope all goes well for Silla and you.

[emz]

A wheel is fine also as long as it has a diameter of 12" or more - this then doesn't really put any extra strain on their back. Saucers are just as good also but like deguconvert said they take longer for them to learn it sometimes. Either works, as long as they have something to burn off their energy! ;D

[sarahh]

Hey Thanks for the warm welcome.

Brilliant thanks for that. I am buying a wheel next tuesday. Don't think my rats would be too pleased if I nicked theirs lol.

Bought Silla some more toys 2 lava ledges, corn tunnel, wooden block toy thing, sand and sand bath.

deguconvert you could definatly say we have our hands full we've had a winter white russian hamster come into us this afternoon, was thought to be male but is definatly female.