lone degu and baby degu advice

[katya]

we need your advice!
we have a lone degu, yes i know you shouldn't but he was on his own in the pet shop after being attacked by all his brothers & he has only got half an ear!
But, anyway we think he is lonely and we would like to know if we buy a baby degu and introduce him to the cadge what will happen? is it safe? can we actually do it? and jus please give us adive about it were stuck!

[emz]

You certainly can introduce an adult or baby degu in with your lone goo.

You will need a second cage that can sit right by the current one for safe interaction (so they can see each other but not get at each other) as well as a lot of patience. You cannot just put them in straight away hardly ever. It will result in one of them most likely getting seriously injured. Their scents must become homogenised by cage swapping and other things (such as meetings in neutral territory, sharing the same sandbath, etc.)

A degu is usually said to be easier to introduce when they're under 8 weeks old (weaning age is 6 weeks so it's only a small window) but that doesn't mean it is guaranteed to be easy. www.degutopia.co.uk/ has a great introduction guide. If you follow it to the letter there is only a small chance you could be un successful, it is rare that they are not eventually a success. Be prepared though, it can take many months before they can then live together.

In the end though it is worth it. Your degu will have better quality of life and live longer than if he/she spent their entire life alone. A lone goo can end up with psychological issues and become self destructive so I am sure everyone here encourages you to try and get a second degu or even a pair. No matter how much time a human devotes to playing with a lone degu we can not give them the same quality of social communication; it's just not the same.

Make sure you sex your degu and any new ones to ensure none are females. It happens so often on this forum and the last thing you need is babies on top of the stress of introductions.

I wish you all the best if you decide to introduce a new degu(s).

-Emma.

(PS: Remember, check out www.degutopia.co.uk/ ! Keep it on your browsers favourites. It really is a degu bible of knowledge for intros/illness/diet/enrichment - pretty much anything and is a valuable asset for any degu keeper.)