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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 19:40:22 GMT
Hi all I've had my two degus since October 2010. They've always lived together and have always gotten along. I was told that Ren is a girl and Stimpy is a boy.. Yesterday I took them both out of the cage and walked around with them for about two hours. I cleaned out their cage and set it all back up. Then I put Ren and Stimpy back, and five minutes later they had a huge blow out fight which left Stimpy (male) bleeding and crying for about half an hour after.. I wasn't sure what to do, so I separated them for a few hours. I put them back together once they were both calm, but Ren immediately started in on Stimpy, backing him into corners and turning her back to him. They then got into another bloody fur-flying fight. They've been separated for the night.... I'm just wondering what the heck is going on and why they're fighting now??? I haven't put anything new in the cage and they each have a wheel, water bottle and food dish... Also, should I keep them separated or put them back together? How should I go about getting them back together?
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 19:46:20 GMT
I just want them to go back to snuggling again
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 4, 2011 19:49:55 GMT
What a shame! Cool names by the way! Just out of interest how old are ren and stimpy?
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 19:52:02 GMT
Thanks! Um, they were about 6 weeks old when I got them so, I guess they're about 10-11 months?
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 4, 2011 20:04:48 GMT
I see, well the problem could be that theyre now both sexually mature and stimpys instincs will be telling him to mate! Whereas if ren isn't ready, or does not want to mate for any reason, then she will fight him off! P@H gave me a boy and a girl and told me they were both girls, so I know what its like to have one of each sharing a cage. Girls are near enough sexually mature after they have been weaned, at around 6-7 weeks usually, but boys take a little while longer, and its usually 6 months+ before they are sexually mature. Now my male was sexually mature at about six months, as they are now roughly 9 months old and have a litter of pups (the gestation of which is 3 months), and I know that at around the 6 month mark, my two started having fall outs, nothing major, but they got on so well before and then all of a sudden they were fighting and I couldn't think why! Obviously in my case my female backed down (she must have wanted babies as she was the most dominant of the two), but I've heard that if a female for whatever reason doesn't want to mate, she will fight the males off, so it sounds like this is what might be going on. My advice would be to split them up and possibly get a same- sex cagemate for each. Though this would require time, patience, and 4 cages! I can't really recommend anything else as I don't think its something that is going to just calm down in my opinion
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:10:10 GMT
I was afraid of that. I'm definitely not going to get rid of them (the woman I got them from was feeding them to snakes), so I guess I have no choice but to get two more.. I think you're probably right... Ren is typically the more dominant one.. if Stimpy did try to mate and she wasn't into it that would explain everything. Thanks so much for your help
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 4, 2011 20:13:30 GMT
Your welcome! I'm sorry it isn't a quick fix, but i think it is the best thing for them! I've heard of them being used as snake food before, ive heard they're very pallateable for snakes, and are sometimes used if a snake is being particularly fussy with their food!
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Post by fred on Jun 4, 2011 20:17:01 GMT
I am relatively new to degus and don't have any experience with fighting. I would strongly suggest that you keep them separated for now until you get advice from more experienced members here. How certain are you that your two are a boy and a girl? We have seen many cases were degus have been mis-sexed. Usually there are suddenly babies from supposedly same sex pairs but it could also happen the other way round. If there is a chance that yours may be two boys or two girls, that may affect the advice.
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Post by kovu07 on Jun 4, 2011 20:23:13 GMT
Brilliant advice Phil, I think that is probably the case. However, like Fred said, if we could confirm their sexes that would be great as their sexes would alter the reasons as to why they are fighting.
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:24:23 GMT
It makes me sad. I was in the store just as she was about to feed Ren to a snake.. thank god I was there.
Fred- I'm not positive. I've tried looking but I guess I'm just not experienced enough to tell them apart lol. I called the pet store I got them from and she said I can bring them in and she'll double check their sexes on Monday... Untill then, I guess they will be living separately.
This was my first experience with a degu fight, and it was horrible. In my opinion, worse than a dog fight.
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Post by philbailey1806 on Jun 4, 2011 20:25:13 GMT
Oh yes of course! How did you find out they were male and female? did you sex them yourself?
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:26:59 GMT
No, the three ladies at the pet store I got them from all said they were male and female. Like I said, I'm not that great at telling them apart myself! Any tips?
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Post by kovu07 on Jun 4, 2011 20:28:47 GMT
Could you take pictures of their bits and post them here, then we could tell you. Waiting till monday seems silly if we could tell you today
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:36:35 GMT
Sure, just a moment.
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Post by kovu07 on Jun 4, 2011 20:37:42 GMT
Ok
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:45:58 GMT
These are Ren's bits..
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Post by kovu07 on Jun 4, 2011 20:46:52 GMT
Female 100%
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:46:59 GMT
Had a really hard time getting stimpy to take a picture. His leg is still bleeding and he gave me a warning nip, but this is the best I got for his...
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Post by renandstimpy on Jun 4, 2011 20:49:16 GMT
Stimpy... looks the same to me...
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Post by kovu07 on Jun 4, 2011 20:50:06 GMT
Sorry I can't tell from that picture
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