Hand Raising Degus??

[dyzired]

okay..soo I work at an exotic animal sanctuary..and we have a few cages of degus. We thought we finally had them seperated by sex..butttt a few weeks ago I found out we were wrong when I found a litter of babies. Unfortunately, they were bad parents and killed 3 of them..leaving about 5 or 6. I took them home..one of them died on the drive home..and 4 died over the following 2 days. Luckily 1 survived..and he's about 5 weeks old now and fully weaned =] He's so friggin cute and his name is Moose. I was just wondering if anyone has had any success hand raising degu pups? Also, if anyone can tell me about how big he's supposed to be at a little over a month old. He seems to be growing every day and he seems a healthy weight. When I took him home, his nose was all chewed up by the adult degus and was all bloody, the tip of his ear was chewed off, and he had some cuts on the top of his head. So if you can see his pink nose and chip in his ear, that's why.

www.flickr.com/photos/moosethedegu/
Thats my Flickr account with pictures of him..theres a couple pictures of him when I found him around 1-3 days old. Let me know what you think. Tell me if he looks okay to you guys!

[deguconvert]

I think he is looking very good! You have done very well, raising him by hand. It is very hard to do, from all I have heard. WELL DONE! You clearly have a great bond with him! He must be SO glad to see you when you get home. Are there some young pups about his age that you could introduce him to? Or is that something you have thought about?

[dandeb]

Way to go! i am actually am hand raising a female that was left solo after mom died giving birth. Shes 7 weeks old now and a bit bigger then your boy be he looks pretty healthy to me! All i now is that babies are supposed to have a bit of a belly on them Im wondering how did you wean him! my girl is two weeks older and still getting formula with her kibble because she wont drink any water!

[dyzired]

Well what i was feeding him was goat milk.. Because i was successful with that with a previous litter (they passed away however during the weaning process) but at a little over 2 weeks of age i started slowly adding water. I think i was using a 1cc syringe to feed him so when i first started the weaning process i did 2 1/2ccs milk and 1/2cc water.. And every day id just add a little more water while also offering him a bunch of different treats such as nuts and pellets and seeds just to get him interested in solid food. Finally i had him drinking like 2 3/4cc water and 1/4 cc milk.. And i saw him eating solids often and drinkig often so i stopped the milk althogether.. He still searches for it when i take him out but he no longer needs it im just so relieved i passed the weaning process