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Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 13, 2008 19:59:58 GMT
Oh my god just came upstairs and my degu is giving birth what do i do?  ? they were all suppose to be girls. Bella is from pets at home but she was originally with another girl who died. We got two new girls but they are from owners who have a lot of degus. Please help me? Do i need to do anything there is one baby out at moment. Do i separate them? Pheobe isn't that interested but Bella our oldest is more interested. I have read our book but it is completely unexpected and i am having a panic. Will she have more? |
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Post by starbizarre on Jun 13, 2008 20:18:46 GMT
Hi! Don't panic! I'm certainly no expert on degus giving birth but I've just copied this from one of the posts:
The male usually makes a sharp "cheep" noise while the mother is giving birth to her babies, and can take around 45 mins to deliver the babies.Don't worry about the father and the babies as the males are excellent fathers.BUT! don't forget the female is at her most fertile now, and can soon get pregnant again, so it is advisable to take the farther out of the cage for a day.Don't leave the father out to long as the female will need him to help her.
Leave the mother for a few hours before trying to see the babies, she will want time to clean them and rest without the temptation of getting up to see you.you don't want to stress her out.
You will notice that the babies are quite well developed.They are born with fur and teeth and their eyes are open within a few hours.Soon after, or the next day, they will start eating normal degu food.
So you need to work out which the male is in order to seperate him at some point soon, just for 24-28 hours. How's she doing now? I think litters are usually about 2-5, but not definite. Someone else can probably confirm this for you.... Has she had more now?
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cookie
Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 13, 2008 20:23:27 GMT
well we managed to get bella out but pheobe we can't get out at the min its still only one but apparently it can take hours.
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Post by starbizarre on Jun 13, 2008 20:32:04 GMT
ahh yes. does she seem like she's struggling at all? have you got a substantial nest box with lots of bedding? sorry, questions! i hope it all goes well!
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Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 13, 2008 21:00:19 GMT
So far so good, she is giving birth on the bottom level of the cage in lots of tissue. (carefresh) Just got Pheobe out def think it is Bella who is the daddy. So from now on Bella is Bleaker as in the film Juno because of the teenage pregnancy! We have twins so far and mum is doing well Pheobe is helping loads so fingers crossed. Luckily i still had the number from the owners of Mo Mo and Pheobe so i called them for advice on the birth. They are currently talking us through. Called my mum and told her that she was going to be a great gran( she's not too happy) Luckily we have two large cages as just recently bought a new one for the girls oh and boy.
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Post by starbizarre on Jun 13, 2008 21:03:51 GMT
Lol! Phew, glad it's all ok! Great name haha, I love Juno!!
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 14, 2008 4:22:18 GMT
WOW!!! Talk about a surprise for you!! Congratulations! ;-)
Are you able to look at the private bits of both Phoebe and Bella/Bleaker and compare them? I'm told that a great trick to get a looksee is to offer a treat at the bars of the cage, but high enough up that they have to stand on their hind legs and stretch a little for it. Then you can get a pretty clear view of their bits. Male bits have some distance between urethral cone and anus . . . like . . . an old fashioned key hole in a door. Female bits are more closely situated . . . like an 8 almost. How long have you have the new girls with B/B? Gestation is 3 months for goos, so is it possible she is pregnant from before you got them?
Good luck with your little luv bundles!
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Post by phe on Jun 14, 2008 14:41:50 GMT
omg! what a shock!!! u must have been scared crapless! any updates on the babies and mum?
thats so mental my cats called bella and my names Phoebe! u been spellin it wrong btw! ;D
xxx xxx
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cookie
Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 14, 2008 20:40:05 GMT
Well here is the update. Went to bed last night about midnight and there were three pups. We managed to get the other goos out to have a real good look to see who the culprit was and Bella looks to be the most likely as phoebe has a perfect 8. So we put Bella in separate cage and left Phoebe to help out. Morning comes and i get up about 7 to see if all is well and we have four healthy looking pups wandering around the nest. Mum is very well in-fact for someone who had four babies last night she is doing amazing. Running in wheel having dustbath and looking after the pups. At the min both Mo Mo and Phoebe are taking it in turns to keep the pups warm and Mo Mo is feeding them. Luckily i had already made an appointment for vet for Bella/Bleaker because of cloudy eye so going to take them down to be sexed.
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Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 14, 2008 20:44:12 GMT
Oh yeah i forgot counted the days back to see when it happened turns out she may have been pregnant b4 we got her. She was 10 weeks when we got her or just over and 90 days takes us to 2 weeks before we picked them up. Would that sound right or could she be premature? Will post piccies soon, thank you guys for all the help. Luckily i always wanted a big family!!!
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 14, 2008 21:21:35 GMT
You were told that she was ten weeks old when you got her? Do I understand that correctly? My head is whirling a bit here. It is my understanding that goos are not sexually mature before 6 months of age (24 weeks). Which would lead me to believe that pregnance before that age wouldn't be possible.
Unless girl goos are different???
What does anyone else think?
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cookie
Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 14, 2008 22:01:26 GMT
She is a baby still i know this is what is really confusing me. maybe she was 12 weeks but def not 6 months.
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Post by deguconvert on Jun 15, 2008 3:17:56 GMT
Would sure be nice to pick the brains of the degu keeper at the safari place someone wrote about the other day. Perhaps they could illuminate the question for us a bit. How knowledgeable is your vet about degus? If I were you, I would be asking the vet about it, too, since Bleaker is already scheduled to be seen. (Maybe have vet confirm Bleakers sex for your own peace of mind) I think it is definitely too early to take the mom and babies out to visit the vet . . . but it would be interesting to get your vets take on things!
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Post by spookymuffin on Jun 15, 2008 10:46:42 GMT
Females can become sexually mature at 6 weeks but it's very rare. Females do tend to reach maturity before males (just like most mammals) but it can happen anywhere between 6 weeks and six months.
Diet is a big factor. The better her diet the more likely she'll reach sexual maturity earlier.
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Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 16, 2008 12:44:08 GMT
This is what i read online but it does say in my book that it is 6 months very confusing. Well i will hopefully find out from my vet one way or another. Which degu keeper is this? Have i missed the thread. It would be great to have someone who REALLY knows degus my vet is good but like most vet she only has had limited time with goos.
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Post by jumpinjanet on Jun 16, 2008 13:16:55 GMT
Hi. This is jumpinjanet,I posted the thread about some info I got from a keeper at Longleat.She was in pets corner but I didn't get her name,sorry,I asked if she knew about Degus and she said she was their main keeper but she was holding a ferret at the time and had a bit of a crowd around her so we couldn't chat long.I thought I'd go back later but you can't go back into pets corner once your tickets been stamped,I wanted to see the degus again cos they were all huddled up against the cold
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cookie
Warbling Degu
Posts: 32
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Post by cookie on Jun 16, 2008 18:36:05 GMT
Cool, i might be able to get a contact email from the web site. So update on situation, vet says that the average age of sexual maturity is 6 months but females have been known to mature as young as six weeks. Which is why it is best to have them sexed by 6 weeks. Bella is a fella but......... so is phoebe. So it turns out i have two male goos and one female. Makes much more sense now as bella and Phoebe were always the ones to fight. Vet says she can't be 100% but she feels what would be the testicles in both. Sad news is that Bella or Bleaker from now on has got cataracts in both eyes. They are only on half the eye at the minute so she still has some sight but it isn't diabetes which is a relief. So i will finish with good news that all the babies are out and about having a nose round the cage, Mo Mo is being a fab mum and hopefully we have now sorted the sexes so NO MORE BABIES!!!!
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suzannem
Burrowing Degu
In life we get what we allow ourselves to accept
Posts: 280
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Post by suzannem on Jun 16, 2008 18:45:51 GMT
was phoebe in the cage in the 24hrs after the birth, if so id keep an eye out for another pregnancy as this is a goos most fertile time.... but on a less worrying note its good that you've found a vet who knows what shes on about and sum pics would be nice as soon as you can realisticly get into the babies  |
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? they were all suppose to be girls. Bella is from pets at home but she was originally with another girl who died. We got two new girls but they are from owners who have a lot of degus. Please help me? Do i need to do anything there is one baby out at moment. Do i separate them? Pheobe isn't that interested but Bella our oldest is more interested. I have read our book but it is completely unexpected and i am having a panic. Will she have more?
