Help needed in degus gender

[Puppyduck]

This may be in the wrong place but we are looking for a second opinion on our two new degus gender.

We bought two new degus a week ago to be companions for our two existing male degus to live together in an aviary cage. At first I was almost certain they were boys and as they were quite small I assumed I had it right and that it would be more obvious as they got older.
But after we introduced the two new degus our two boys began fighting.
We decided it was just dominance issues and left them for a few days to calm down.

After reconsulting our many degu books, however, we began to suspect that maybe Mr Muggles and Ted were actually Mrs Muggles and Tedina and I did my best catching them and we both sat down and examined their bits and compared them with the book.

We now believe they are females. Especially as some mating has been going on (we thought they were just mounting to establish dominance).

We took some pictures today of their parts and would like a second opinion on their sex.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/richiehell/100_0406.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/richiehell/100_0408.jpg


I have put the two images as links in case it may offend anyone/be against the rules to show degu genitalia.

We really need some advice on what sex these little degus are so we can take the next step.


Thanks

[buzz]

I'm 99% sure they are both girls

Sorry.

[Puppyduck]

Thats ok. We just needed to know for definite. We have the old cage still so its no problem seperating them. Hopefully our two boys will get back on snuggling terms if the two girls get taken out.

Thanks for confirming.

[ra]

#1 is definitely a female

not so sure about #2.

[buzz]

Was that missexing by the pet store?

[ra]

The angle of the second picture makes the spacing look different - do they look more alike? Males' "parts" are further distance between the the female. I discovered it's actually easier to tell if they are standing and you carefully lift the tale and look at them that way rather than turning them on their backs.

[kerry]

i agree, girlies..

[buzz]

to be honest the more i look at pic 2 the more i'm thinking young male.... can you get another pic straight on rather than side ways?

[jackdaniels]

1. looks like a girl would it be possible to take some more pics?
2. is a boy. You managed to get a good pic very difficult to take a pic they are very fast and wiggle a lot in that position.I can see a clear gap

[Wendi]

I agree with JD. Number 2 def looks like a boy. How old are they? If they are sexually mature, the suspected boy will soon confirm things by having a bit of a 'play on his own' if you know what I mean.

[deguconvert]

That is a difficult call. I, like the rest, think #1 is looking very female. I tend to feel that #2 looks rather female, too, but it is really difficult to be certain. Would it be too far out to recommend waiting a week and looking again? A little bit of growth could be helpful in making a stronger determination.

[jackdaniels]

Apr 23, 2008 20:32:01 GMT ra said:

The angle of the second picture makes the spacing look different - do they look more alike? Males' "parts" are further distance between the the female. I discovered it's actually easier to tell if they are standing and you carefully lift the tale and look at them that way rather than turning them on their backs.

Yes that is the same way i sexed my boys and girls. I let them run on either mine or my girlfriends hand and managed to get my head underneath and slightly lift tail up worked a treat and was a lot easier than turning them over

[Lala]

1. Definitely sure it's a girl!
2. I'm not so sure about, looks female but the gap seems a bit bigger. This is why I wasn't sure with J&C's sex, but as they've grown it's been easier too tell!

When I took the goos too be sexed the vet tried turning them all on their back & none of them were having any of it. Eventually he asked "can you help?" so i got them too stand up ;D the simple way's always the easiest

[kerry]

my two baby girls have very very small gaps so we thought the one with the bigger gap was a boy. now we have stewie his gap is huge and i've already seem him err 'doing things.'

[kimberley]

What is that little brown circle on deggy 1? (Who im sure is a girl) Unsure about deggy 2.

[Puppyduck]

Looms like both are girls. Now with litters of babies.