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Post by sleepyone on Apr 14, 2010 22:39:39 GMT
Hi I'm new here. Finally came out of lurkdom, having been reading these boards for a bit now since I found the site. The information I've found has been wonderful! I took in 4 degu's off a woman on facebook. Her kids had been terrorizing them, chasing them around the room and letting them out of their cage. The picture she posted, the bedding was filthy. She had to of gone at least a month without changing it. They were all on the thin side as well. So after a quick discussion with my husband over it, I took them in, figuring if I didn't keep them at least I could find them a suitable home. There were 3 males with 1 female in this tiny little cage. I found a home with an old friend for the 3 males and decided to keep the female with the intentions of if she has babies, to keep the females and find homes for the males. I'm actually getting quite excited about babies now. I'm unable to pick her up but several times a day I put a few rolled oats in my hand and she eats out of it. Today I actually managed to stroke her head with my thumb (same hand she's eating out of, if I try the other hand she runs off) while she ate. She's very pear shaped now, she started building a nest about 2 or 3 days ago. The nest is inside a kids play mountain which has several entrances. She drags nearly everything in her cage into it and gets mad when things won't fit ;D Today while she was eating from my hand I noticed baby movement on her sides! Any idea how long from seeing movement to seeing babies? I know degu gestation is 90 days, but have no idea when she got pregnant. She's not huge huge, but she is a lot larger than when I first got her (She was so thin you could see the outline of her spine slightly)
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Post by emz on Apr 15, 2010 1:25:42 GMT
Degus show signs of pregnancy late into the gestation period from what I have read about online so it sounds like she is very close.
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 15, 2010 2:00:12 GMT
Welcome to the forum!! Always great to see another Canadian join the site! WOO HOO! Ahem . . . just a little . . . pleased. I think you can't be far off at all from seeing some new little ones. Seeing movement has to be one of the last things, and I don't think very many people get to see that. LUCKY YOU! How long have you had her? It's exciting when you get to touch them for the first time and they don't run away, isn't it? The thrills will grow too. I guess there is the possibility that she was rather terrorized by the children at her previous home, but as you work gently and daily with her, she will realise more and more that you are safe to trust. It sounds like you have been making progress with her, and WELL DONE for relocating the three boys as well. I look forward to hearing more in the days ahead!
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Post by sleepyone on Apr 16, 2010 15:19:54 GMT
Thanks for the replies emz and deguconvert
I've had her a little over 2 months now. She's gotten really lumpy in the last couple days. I'm noticing a huge difference now. I'll post a photo in the pictures section soon as I can, this is the third time writing this as my internet keeps going out for some reason. So I'll post it quick before it has a chance to do it again ;D
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Post by sleepyone on Apr 19, 2010 18:31:55 GMT
and I think we're having babies! ;D my kids wasted some more toilet paper this morning (brought it upstairs and unrolled it! grrr) so I took some of it and put it in her cage. That was a couple hours ago. Now when I went to check on her, I lifted the edge of the house/mountain to see her and she'd used all the toilet paper, adding it to her already huge nest. I could hardly even see her, just her eyes poking through! She didn't want the rolled oats I was offering, so I gently placed the house back down. Now there's lots of small quiet eeps going on in there every few seconds. I can hear her moving about and turning every now and then. I'm anxious to know how many she's having/had. Should of given her a see through house! ;D This has brightened my day considerably
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 19, 2010 19:19:01 GMT
Got a piece of perspex that is just the right size for a roof? LOL! I look forward to hearing what you find! YAY!! BABIES!!
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Post by sleepyone on Apr 19, 2010 23:37:20 GMT
Tonight I snuck a quick peek in and saw 6! All so incredibly cute! Momma degu is very protective of them so I was very quick and left her alone again with an offering of fresh food in her bowl. I think she's going to have her paws full once they start moving about out of the nest!
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Post by deguconvert on Apr 20, 2010 2:02:59 GMT
Yes she will!!! They are so fast and SO busy! LOL! So much fun! Congratulations!!
One thing you will need to do is pup proof your cage. They are so tiny they just waltz right through the bars like they aren't even there. That means that you need to block off the openings that are next to every surface . . . wide strips of cardboard attached on the outside work really well for this. Also, once they start to climb, one or more of them will realize that they can pop out the bars at the top of the cage, so that is another area that you will likely need to cover so that they don't escape that way. In fact, before you hoover or anything like that, go to your degu cage and count all the babies to ensure that they are all there and you won't run the risk of sucking one up or hurting a pup in some way.
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Post by emz on Apr 20, 2010 4:53:09 GMT
I think she's going to have her paws full once they start moving about out of the nest! Indeed she will have! They usually start to leave the nest and explore their new surroundings within hours of being born. Congratulations on the pups I hope all 6 are healthy. ;D
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Post by gemmagreaves on Apr 20, 2010 10:10:12 GMT
i must say i think parenting has a lot to do with the pups escaping through the cage bars! lol. halo has been a wonderful mother and not one of her pups has escaped from the cage, but our last baby boom, one goo in particular was such a cheeky little rascal she would not stay put and mum wasnt particularly bothered. if the babies got too far astray halo picked them up by the base of their tail and dragged them (yep if you can imagine a goo dragging a baby near its bottom and half standing on it while doing so) and chucked them back in the nest. ours are in their own room though so any escaping from the cage saw them with a 1inch drop to the floor and nothing to chew on. the little goo used to just sit underneath the cage in that spare 1 inch gap and squeak for a bit until mum called for feeding and then she used to run right back in! lol. have fun with 6! ours are 5 weeks now and are about the size of the gerbil. i can tell theyre almost ready for leaving as theyve started bickering over the food bowl now! they even grunt at mum when shes in it! i just cant believe they are at rehoming age next week. they look so tiny still! we didnt rehome our last lot until 10 weeks old because i thought they were too small lol.
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Post by sleepyone on Apr 20, 2010 14:05:19 GMT
;DThanks everyone!
She was nursing them this morning, so it seems like everything is going well. One followed her out of the house and she dragged it back in by its rear end ;D She also has most of the openings to the house blocked off with nesting material or wooden pieces she's dragged in. At first I thought she just wanted everything in her cage to be IN the house, but now I think she's been using to them to block off the openings. To make things easier on her in a few days I may switch the house with the plastic igloo my rat is using as that only has one entrance.
I currently have them in a long hard plastic bottomed cage. The bottom half is hard plastic and the top half is a see through plastic. I think it's a rabbit cage, but I've been borrowing it off my sister who had a guineapig in it at one time. The top has a cage type hinged lid. Which by the sounds of it I'm going to need to cover it with something once they start to climb or jump.
I know it's a possibility she or they may start to chew on the cage so I've been keeping my eye out for something more suitable. I have lots of toys in the cage as a distraction for chewing the actual cage. I've seen the tall bookcase type cages people have built here out of wood and love them! That's even an idea if I can convince my husband to help me out with it. ;D
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