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Post by deguconvert on Aug 31, 2010 4:22:38 GMT
Yeah . . . they (degus) have been known to conceive when reintroduced as much as 3 weeks after delivery of the pups. It's really impossible to tell you WHEN she will no longer be highly receptive. There have been members who have had a pair of "male" degus for over two years only to discover pups one morning at breakfast time. Apparently one had a sex change . . .? LOL! Sometimes all that humping leads to nothing for a long time, and sometimes it leads to a whole lot of something time and time again. More often . . . it leads to several cute little somethings.
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Post by DegutasticJen on Sept 1, 2010 21:55:53 GMT
Well congrats on your new arrivals! Handling them ATM should really be very bare minimal if at all the first 48hrs really are the most vital stages I've found with all my litters! Sorry if this has already been said I'm just skimming over what's been going on
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Post by DegutasticJen on Sept 1, 2010 21:57:54 GMT
Sorry just realised how old they are!! Thatl teach me for skim reading this late when I'm tired
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Post by smux on Sept 1, 2010 23:22:12 GMT
The only one who was held at any point was the first one to be born, but we were so dumbstruck that the flatmate had to get a picture of them and I'm glad we got it too because that group of pictures was the best we've got of them yet. Since then, they've been kept within sight of Theresa at almost all times and today has been the first time I have removed any of the babies out of the cage so the flatmate can get a little time with them (he misses them, they were in a cage by his bed but they're now in my room in the top of the main cage) but the minute that little guy/gal makes a noise I move them back into the main cage so they can be with their mum.
Hazarding a guess here, but I think I have 2 girls and a boy based on a quick look under each of them. Obviously, at this age, it's incredibly hard to know for sure, so I am not definitely saying so yet...I also don't get to look for very long as they're fidgety little things :-)
I put in a new toy or 4 today to their cage area, it's getting quite full up now. Firstly I have some cardboard packing from a box (can't remember what for) which is moulded and I cut 3 holes in it (one either side, one on top) and they now have a playbox to go into with lots of space to run around inside...put it this way, Gizmo goes into his downstairs to hide when he's having one of his panics or is worried about the dominance stuff going on (I'm being serious too...I've seen it happen :-P), so if Gizmo can get through the inside then the babies have plenty of room. I also put up a tunnel from the roof...it came with Dante/Elsevier but they never actually used it so I took it out. The girls also had a hanging tunnel which they liked to gnaw on rather than play in, so they don't have theirs either. I also put in a pringles tube with the metal end cut off, it's big enough for the adults to run through as well as the babies and the adults like to gnaw on it (yes, some people are probably worried about the "metal coating" inside...it's a very very thin coating, more likely sprayed on rather than a sheet of tin foil or something, they're in no danger) and lastly I put in a pile of timothy hay for them to have a gnaw of, as I had noticed the babies like to nibble on hay and I hadn't put any timothy hay in yet.
And now for a new video showing off all of this:
(video was processing as I posted this...it may be done by the time you see this...if not done by tomorrow I'll redo it in the morning)
Edit: It failed bigtime...failed to process...but it's up now!
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Post by emz on Sept 2, 2010 6:03:41 GMT
My last YT vid took over a day. It isn't processed yet for me here.
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Post by smux on Sept 2, 2010 10:18:14 GMT
Last time I had one of these fail on me for an hour, I cancelled and reuploaded it and it was done within a few minutes. I did the same with this one as it failed before, but I guess I should have tried a third time :-)
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Post by smux on Sept 3, 2010 16:14:07 GMT
And another video. Only the two boys (Dante/Elsevier) have a wheel at the moment because Damien keeps on breaking the plastic ones by nibbling the pin in the middle...but I've fixed one (sorta...it works) for now and it's up in the baby's area (which is getting pretty crowded with all these toys in it...I'll have to clean the place out soon :-)) and here's them having a go at it. I should point out that they have had prior experience with a wheel so this isn't entirely new, but they haven't had a wheel in their cage area yet so this is now available always for them (or until Theresa or Gizmo breaks my botch job)...they now just have to learn to take turns! :-)
I'll be getting wheels for all the others when I have the money to buy a couple of those wooden ones...money's a bit tight at the moment and I'm barely feeding them (but they come first, so they get food :-)) and in a few weeks I'll get the wheels plus a bulk load of food and some gnaw sticks too.
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Post by smux on Sept 3, 2010 17:51:31 GMT
And another video...This one quite cute compared to the big grown up babies we've seen thus far...feeding time!
Normally she feeds the babies inside the nesting box, but I caught her feeding them on top so I took the opportunity and filmed a bit :-)
Edit: Notice no wheel in the bottom left...*SHE* broke it! I'm trying again but this time with two nails to lengthen the pin (it was plastic before, and she nibbled it off) and I'll hold it on at the end with something metal so she can't just gnaw it off
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Post by slaine on Sept 3, 2010 18:22:01 GMT
awesome vids great to see the babies feeding
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Post by smux on Sept 3, 2010 18:54:15 GMT
Thanks...trying my best to share the experience as much as possible, there's so many things that most degu owners will never experience except by accident, and the birth of baby degus is one that people would love to experience the most. Once people realise how easy it is to help the mum with her task, maybe more people will have a go for themselves and let their pride and joy experience children for herself.
Most people don't realise, but the experience of pregnancy prolongs the life of a female degu the first time it happens. She's had babies and experienced something new, she's had a reason for being, basically, and she's a part of the future of degu-kind :-) After the first time, regular pregnancy can cause a strain on her and it can reduce her lifespan, but the first time is different. The same can be said for the males, except further procreation doesn't reduce THEIR lifespans :-)
It's too bad that the previous owner of my 3 girls isn't interested in letting them get pregnant, but as they weren't mine originally I felt I had to ask and I got my answer so I will stick by it.
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Post by deguconvert on Sept 4, 2010 18:24:58 GMT
Theresa looks SO relaxed, but I just have to wonder HOW she can be relaxed while straddling three moving babies?! LOL!!! My goodness!! What a job that is! Makes me wonder what momma goos with more than three babies do when it's feeding time? Do they have to stand up too? Maybe they stand up until there are enough babies underneath and then they just . . . lay on them while they eat.
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Post by smux on Sept 4, 2010 19:12:40 GMT
I think babies take turns in a dominatory way (so the bigger and badder get first go by force) then the runts go after if mum will let them if there isn't enough teats for them all...thank god she didn't have 10 babies, or I would have to get formula and be feeding the runts every 2 hours just to keep them all happy :-)
Also, the reason Theresa's fairly relaxed is that she isn't cooped up in that cage all day every day...I give her a good bit of free time whether it's on me or the flatmate or out and about, and when she goes to the flatmate she gets a go in a peanut butter jar (very little left in it, and she noshes away at the leftovers, she loves peanut butter :-)) so she's happy.
The baby I videoed on the food bowl seems to be a regular there, I think...we're going to have a fatty on our hands here soon...and I already know this one likes peanut butter just as much as Theresa too (I offered them a taste from the peanut butter on a stick, that's spaghetti stick, that I give Theresa every so often :-))
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Post by smux on Sept 6, 2010 23:07:53 GMT
Another two videos...these of one of the babies having a drink from the big boys bottle (there's a tiny bottle in there just for them, but this one went for the big one)
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Post by smux on Sept 8, 2010 22:27:48 GMT
Good clean dustbathing fun!
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Post by smux on Oct 27, 2010 15:57:25 GMT
Nothing much new to report on the babies, they're all still alive despite their attempts to the contrary by climbing out of the cage at every available opportunity (although sometimes I let them free for a bit). They must be about 8 weeks old by now, and still in with mum (she's the dominant one, remember, I have no worries about them impregnating her) at least until I have the money to get a new cage...and I still have to decide if I am going to buy another metal cage or make a wooden one, but it'll probably be the former until after christmas when I will have the money to lash out on a proper wooden cage with all the extras. I am also not sure if I am going to separate them from Theresa or not if they are all male, at least not at the moment...once they're at about the 3 month stage then I am pretty sure they are going to be ready to split from her, but then she'll be going in a cage (or at least the top of the cage I already have, where the babies are with her now) on her own if there's no other girl babies which is obviously why I am loathe to split them up yet. She'll probably get supervised visits with both the babies and her brothers (she's visited her brothers a few times since the babies were born) regularly and she'll be got out of the cage regularly a least for a run around, so I think she'll be happy for now.
One of the babies has had the end of his tail nibbled, and it turns out Theresa was the one doing it. He has also been nibbling her tail, so I think he deserved it a little. Other than that, 3 happy healthy little boys (as far as I can tell...if I post pictures to confirm, it's going to be low quality phone cam ones) and I still haven't decided for certain about whether to keep them or not. I WANT to keep them, but basically it's raised costs for looking after them by an extra third (possibly more, as growing babies can probably put away more food than an adult degu would). Costs have gone down a little (see below rant about P@H :-)) so maybe they're offset against each other and it isn't too bad. At the moment I'm at the stage where I (of course) love the little guys, but I could part with them if I had to and the home they went to was a loving one...pretty much the same stage I am at with the girls, although they are getting more and more comfortable with me and the flatmate every day so there is hope for them still. I of course haven't mentioned the £50 cost of another cage for the babies, nor the cost for making a proper wooden cage for them to all live in (I'm thinking around £200 in total for all the wood, glass, metal strips and such I am going to need, although for the size of cage I am planning to build it might go up from that estimate...I am probably going to build it in such a way that it isn't too big to move out of the room or the house, just in case I move or want to put it in another room).
On Sunday I went to P@H to pick up a few bits I needed, knowing they closed at 4pm. I left at around 2ish, and managed to get off the bus at 6 minutes to 4 (two buses later, that is) and I made the journey to the store in a record time of 5 minutes meaning I still had a minute left to get into the store, but they refused me entry because THEIR clocks and watches (which, I should point out, are synched because people tend to correct their watches based on the clocks at work or home) said it was after 4. Despite the fact that it would take me literally a minute to get into the store and get exactly what I wanted (I said I knew what and where to go for it) they said they couldn't, so I had to walk away empty handed. There are two more stores nearish to this one and they stay open until 4:30, but this one closes at 4, and I was too far away from the others to get there in time. I was very low on food (I still am, but expecting a delivery tomorrow) but had supplies of everything else, so I decided at that point that enough was enough and I'd had enough of P@H...I will never darken their doorstep again, from the wood shavings with large blocks of unshaved wood in, to the nuggets with dog biscuits in, to the overpriced prices on almost everything, to the security guard who needs teaching a lesson in nonchalance when he's stalking his prey, and now this...not to mention the tons of horror stories I've heard here :-)
I checked my watch against the internet time (the one based at Greenwich) once I'd got home, and MY time was out by ~30 seconds in THEIR favour, meaning theirs was out by a lot more and it WAS before 4pm when I got there. Oh, and I should point out that I asked them to check their time against the speaking clock but they refused to...had they done so, they might have found out their clocks were wrong and might have let me in rather than making me waste the journey.
From now on, I'm doing all my degu shopping online from the plethora of other stores like zooplus, chinchillas2shop and netpetshop, with the bulk of my buying coming from one seller on eBay who has quite a few deals...I mentioned their deal on guinea pig food in the feeding section, and I've placed an order with them for 15kg of food and 12.5kg of hay (5kg of meadow hay and 7.5kg of another type...about £22 in total for the hay), plus a few small items (treats) for a total cost of £62.50 with delivery. Over the next few weeks I am going to be making more orders, including another for a 20kg bag of sepolita (chinchilla dust) and more food so I have a nice stock of everything, and also probably a large order from chinchillas2shop with a huge mix of different treats and foods for a total of probably £50 or more. I have decided to give up the whole of my larder space in my kitchen (it's more a cupboard than a larder, but it's got lots of space) to the degu stock so I should be able to stock up on a hell of a lot more and it'll mean I will never need to go to P@H for an emergency pickup of anything :-)
The babies love the food I am getting (gerty guinea pig) so hopefully they won't decide to chuck it everywhere like they do with the nuggets, although they've loved the fact that I am treating them all (including the rest of the degus) with sunflower seeds while there's so little food, and I've been rationing out the food I do have left so it lasts until tomorrow (when the delivery should come). I have also been feeding them greens daily, and the babies love to chow down on green beans in their pods, so I am not too worried about them being hungry :-)
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Post by nickymills30 on Oct 27, 2010 16:19:24 GMT
I really hope you don't think i;m speaking out of turn, but if your babies are still with their mom at 8 weeks, and they are boys, how can you be sure there won't any more babies?
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Post by smux on Oct 27, 2010 17:17:48 GMT
I did mention why in the post, because she's the dominant one of her bunch (her and her brothers, the 3 boys she came with...long story) and she is also the dominant one with these babies, so she will let nothing happen unless she wants it to, I am sure of it. She's still with them for that reason AND the fact that I don't have a cage spare for her or the babies to go into, at the moment they're living in the top floor of a 3-tier cage split from the rest of the cage by a base floor (the mesh floor that's usually at the very bottom, so has no hole for them to get through). As mentioned above also, I am probabaly going to buy a metal cage for them...Ill be looking around ebay and gumtree for deals, either an expensive new one or a cheaper secondhand one.
Anyway, my reason for logging back in...the parcel arrived and I had to carry it up in 3 loads as it was a little under 30kg and I'm on the 3rd floor...but everyone's happy with their treats, food and hay, the boys are nibbling barley hay at the moment as they've never had it before.
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 27, 2010 20:48:03 GMT
Male degus don't become sexually mature until they are at least 6 months. No worries just yet.
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Post by nickymills30 on Oct 27, 2010 21:00:36 GMT
oh, my mistake, degutopia says males should be removed from around 6 weeks. Never had to worry myself, as only having males xx
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 28, 2010 4:16:05 GMT
Yeah, they do say that, but I think they mean adult males that may have been left in the cage to help out mum.
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