HELP WITH NEW BABIES

[dsmaginnes]

HELP - bought 2 degus in January only to discover 5 puppies later that one is female and the other male.

Spoke to the shop for advice and they have told me

1. Keep the male separate from the female for 5 weeks as he will upset the mother and she can turn on her pups.
2. Don't touch the pups for at least 5 weeks as again the mother will turn on them.
3. Don't clean the cage out for 5 weeks.

The mother is doing a fantastic job, but seems to be missing her partner.

All this information is really confusing as it conflicts with what is being reported on this forum.

PLEASE HELP URGENTLY AS I WANT TO ENSURE THAT MY DEGUS ARE BOTH HAPPY AND CONTENTED AND THAT NO HARM WILL COME TO THE PUPS. CAN THE MALE BE NEUTERED AT ANY AGE?

[deguconvert]

Males should not be neutered before the age of one year. BUT males are not sexually mature enough to mate until the age of 6 months. However . . . considering the time line . . . he could be the father of these pups.

Anyway, she most likely is missing him very much, as I am sure he is missing her. Putting him back in with there is not a risk to the pups, but can make the potential for pups in 90 days very high. How long has he been apart from her, and how old are your pups?

[dsmaginnes]

The pups were born early this morning between 1.00 am and 3.00 am. We separated him from them as soon as she has her first two. When we bought them we were told they were approximately 4 months old.

[emz]

Well, the pet shops information seems a bit generic. From what I have seen here after a fairly short time you can touch the pups (hopefully someone here will give you a time frame so wait for a green light off of someone who has experienced this) and the farther is actually usually amazing and will help with caring for the babies. In my opinion without that extra help she would probably be more stressed without him in most cases depending on the farther's personality. However a female is very fertile after first giving birth and can be impregnated again very quickly. If you bought them around 4 months you'd have to wait till September till you can neuter any males.

I think you can clean the cage but not the nest so if the conditions in 5 weeks get a bit unsanitary perhaps changing a bit of the substrate about would be acceptable? Just leave the nest in tact I guess I think that is the most important part. If the cage doesn't need a real good clean during that time then no worries it more depends on the size of the cage you own.

Talking about cage size - something you need to consider is, if you keep any, is your cage still of an accommodating size? More degus in a small space can sometimes cause fighting later down the line once the pups mature. Usually at 6 - 10 months degus can fight depending on their nature for some people it gets very intense.

I'd also suggest sexing your older degus just to make sure what sex they are. Both genders have a "sticky out bit" (the urethral cone) which is why pet shops are god awful at sexing them.

[DegutasticJen]

That information from the pet shop doesnt sound right to me.

I have had pups and from the information on here and other sites, I was informed that I could handle them from 4 days old. Which is what I did and there were no problems.

I cleaned the cage but I left the nest box alone untill the pups were out and venturing on their own so about 2 weeks I think. But I would just becareful about this. Whenever you see the pups out and about a lot I would say its safe to clean the nest box. I cleaned the rest of the cage as normal every week for the total clean. I even cleaned the ledges every day just so that it was extra clean for the babies to walk about in :-)

The father was removed for a few days after the birth but was put back in and he was fantastic at helping the mum look after the pups. :-)

[dsmaginnes]

thanks for the info - so the father can be put back in with the female over the next couple of days? and the pups can be handled may be at the weekend?

Great to know this - starting to freak out a bit - kids driving me barmy wanting to know when they can hold them.

Unfortunately we have lost one of the pups - dont know what happened but mother has put it outside the nest - it was weak when born and seemed to be unable to stand, I thought it was just exhausted but not so. Is it safe to life the body from the cage or will mum attack me?

[emz]

I'd say remove the pups body for one thing it might upset your kids also seeing it like that.

It was probably the runt of the litter, poor little thing.

[DegutasticJen]

We lost one of our pups after a few hours, and we removed it straight away when we got home from work, and mum didnt attack me so you should be fine.
Our mum did exactly the same thing and removed the baby from the nest and buired it under some hay away from the nest poor lil thing :-(

[dsmaginnes]

Again thanks for all this information - I dont know what we would do it there weren't any sites like this to gain information. There is definitely a lack of knowledge on these beautiful animals from pet shops and I am grateful for everyones experience.

Our other 4 pups seem to be thriving and are starting to venture out of the next - poor mum is stressing out trying to keep them all together - like any mother!!!! I can't seem to pull myself away from watching them. I think our mother is definitely the best and poor father can only watch from afar. We will introduce both parents again shortly. I understand why it is important that these are sold in pairs as they are both very attentive to each other.

[gemmagreaves]

when ours had their babies, we used to go near the cage after the second day and offer treats to mum for doing such a fantastic job. we onyl did it through the bars fo the cage so she kept her own privacy. then after about 4 days we started to go in the cage with the treats. we picked the first one up at 5 days old, mum came right over to us but we gave her a treat and she forgot about the baby lol. she started to hover around the cage where we'd picked up the baby and look at us as if to say ok times up and we put them back. we liked doing it by her terms and eventually she trusted us enough to clean them out and the babies trusted us to take food from us etc. we cleaned them out after 2 weeks. it needs it because of all the bloody messy stuff thats in their nest after the birth etc. and definitely take the dead one out, goos pancik when something dies as they think it will attract predators apparently, you might find theyl start to eat it if you dont remove it. and thats quite gross!