Bleeding Tail and more

[matty]

I guess I should start from the beginning. Three months ago I got 2 Degus (male and female, Napoleon and Josephine), which quickly had babies around a month of being in my care. Josephine had a litter of 7 babies and everything seemed to be going good. Napoleon was helping out a lot and the babies seemed happy. Recently, about a month after they were born, Napoleon started being overly aggressive towards the babies and so I separated him from the babies and put the two babies who had cuts all over them in the "hospital" cage. 7 days ago I put the babies back in the cage and once again they seemed ok. However, tonight I found a degu screeching and half his tail was devoid of hair and covered in blood. I looked all over the cage to find the source of the damage, but there was no apparent reason for it, be it cage, another degu, a wandering cat or anything else. I am unsure how to help the degu recover and ensure he will be ok. He is not bleeding too badly. I have taken him out of the cage and I put him in the "hospital" cage. I wonder if I am making it worse by removing him or if I am doing the right thing. I am also unsure if he is one of the degus that was injured before.

I have a critternation double cage (Napoleon is on the bottom and Josephine, with the babies on top). I was also wondering if someone could give me some guidance on what to do with the whole brood moving forward. I have considered selling the babies and keeping Napoleon and Josephine. I have also thought about separating the males and females and keeping them in separate areas of the cage. Would the critternation cage be big enough for 4 males/ 5 females in each half. Is there a best way to keep the degus together and ensure a more peaceful environment? I have had degus before, but never in this large of quantity and thus my struggles.

[matty]

The Degus are weened

The cage is 6 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet. It easily breaks into 2 seperate cages, but there is a small area where the ramp is pulled up which would allow Napoleon the access to bite or nibble one of the other degus. This makes me think you were correct about Napoleon being the culprit because I found a bite on the bottom of the babies foot. I think that pretty much shows it was Napoleon and the fact that he has been climbing near the top of his area puts him near the scene of the crime. I have put a flat metal plate there to prevent him that little bit of access.

It is fitting that my degus have started to act up right after I finally got my fish tank sorted out. Oh the joys of animals. .

I think you were correct about Napoleon being the culprit because I found a bite on the bottom of the babies foot. I think that pretty much shows it was Napoleon and the fact that he has been climbing near the top of his area puts him near the scene of the crime.

Edit: Thank you so much for your help. I completely forgot about the courtesy's of life. Silly me.

[Jaiye]

If you are worried about the size of the cage once the litter has been split and the boys below with while the girls stay up top with mum, why not wait until you have done that and then decide if it looks too small. Obviously they will grow, but if you think there won't be enough room, why not sell all the babies except one male and one female to keep their parents company? =)

Thats what I would do anyways. Good luck! Hope Napolean stops attacking the little ones as well.