Goo Nightmare!

[skeffiboo]

So, we got our little Goo's, Timmy and Gobbles from the pet shop a few months ago.
We let them run free in our bedroom daily and gave them kisses and cuddles ^.^ Trained them to come to us for a peanut or their favourite beetroot sticks.
Then one day I came in from work and Gobbles was very poorly sick. He had very bad diarrhoea. We tried to clean him up and encourage him to drink some water to try and get his fluids back up but it was too late. The poor little thing died during the night.
We have no idea what caused this, both Goo's eat the same things, have the same treats at the same time to avoid squabbles..
Anyway, we decided we couldn't bear Timmy to be alone, especialy while I'm not at home during the day.
We went to the same pet shop where we got the first two and talked to the assistant. She told me it's best if we try to find new friends for Timmy, so we came home with a new pair.
We were told that Timmy was a boy and that the two new Goo's were boys.
Wrong!
We've spent the last week slowly introducing them, watching their behaviour and finally decided to take the divider out of the cage because they got on so well so quickly.
Now I expected a bit of 'mounting' as a dominance display.. got a little concerned when one of the new Goo's 'mounting' of Timmy turned into 'frantic wiggling' .. then we got the Peeping.. I thought something had spooked one of them. It's the same noise. It went on for a good ten minutes though.. and no amount of coaxing or softly spoken words or even him eating his Beetroot Sticks would stop him.. Then the same with the other newbie!
Looked up Goo body language.. Post Coital Squeeking.
So Timmy's a girl.
Her due dates March 12 lol just after MY birthday ^.^
I'm confused as to what I should do with regards to two boys and one girl though.. don't they fight over females in season?
Should I get both boys neutered to avoid this?
And WHY WONT THEY STOP PEEPING lol it's been about half an hour!

[deguconvert]

OH!!! What a lovely surprise!! Or maybe not. You do have a bit of a question! It is actually rather multi layered. IF Timoth"ella" is pregnant at this point, you won't have to worry too much in the next 3 months I should think. BUT then you need to keep a close eye on things.

1. Timoth"ina" will be her most fertile in the first 48 hours after the delivery of the pups. Male goos are very "Johnny on the spot" when it comes to being ready to "fertilize her fertility." So separating them has to be quick . . . like if possible . . . once the first one has popped out. Having said that . . . degus are very quiet in labor and delivery. No screaming for drugs. ;D It's tricky to catch them. You might want to remove the Dads once you can see the babies moving inside Timoth"osa."

2. Both Dads will be very helpful in raising the pups and giving them the goods on basic degu behaviors. So it is a great help to the new Mum to have them with her from hour 52 to 5.5 weeks of age.

3. At six weeks of age the pups are usually weened and you should be able to sex them. ANY female pups that have had excellent nutrition and housing have the potential of already being capable of conceiving at that age. SO the Dads could impregnate their daughters. It is wise to have the Dad separated from Mum and pups by this time.

4. Now you have Mum and pups, who are likely male and female. These pups need to be separated and re-homed, or whatever you have chosen to do with them. A degu will have anywhere from 3-9 pups in a litter, which would give you a max total of 12 degus. Are you going to keep Dads and male pups, or Mum and all the female pups, or all of them? Do you have the space for whom ever you keep? If you do keep both males and females, you will have to keep the females in a different room where the intoxicating effects of their scent will not waft across to the males and bring on excessive demonstrations of domination, masculine fitness, and excellent genetic material.

That about does it for what is ahead of you. If you have any more questions, please ask. There are a lot of very knowledgeable members that are happy to help you out.

In the mean time, enjoy getting to know "Your Two Dads", and I hope things go very well!

[skeffiboo]

Thanks for your advice!
Wow, what a sleepless night that was. The peeping went on for a good three hours Then the boys started squabling which shook the whole cage.. we gave it 'till 2.00am and decided to seperate them again *yawn*
My boyfriend went back to the pet shop today to ..ahem.. express his opinion.. lol they offered us 'a new cage or something'.
I imagine I'll keep them together and if she is pregnant, when the due date draws closer we may have both males neutered. This way we can avoid fighting, squabbling, weeing on each other, mating and inbreeding o.O
As soon as the pups are weaned, we'll pop mummy and any little girls in the 'new cage or something' then we can get any little boys neutered when they are old enough.
Then I can have a happy little degu family/army all running round my room together, all happy cuddly squeeky cutey innocent fun fun (o^.^o)
Plus it means I get to buy even MORE cool toys for them to destroy!! I think I probably get more enjoyment buying them toys than they get out of eating them!
Speaking of which, I buy some of their houses and playthings from this ebay shop. They are fantastic, and pretty good value too!

stores.ebay.com/Surepets-And-Merlins-Pet-Supplies_Small-Animal_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ240581319QQftidZ2QQtZkm