Introducing a male to a female couple?

[andrip]

I have a female couple and in my country Degus aren't really legal. When I first got my degus they were from a lady which had probably the only two litters in the whole country.

Yesterday I saw a pet store that had 3 degus, two females and a male. I really want to add to my group but don't want to split up the female couple in the petstore or leave the male by it self.

Would you advice against me purchasing the male and adding it to my group, then giving it away along with any male pups?

Would't it also be hard to add two new degus to a cage?

[andrip]

Wen't ahead and got the two females, the store had some younger pups as well so the male won't get lonely (woo). The two I had before don't seem very happy with the new couple, but they don't seem to aggitated either. They seem to just want to run on their wheel while the new couple seems to be trying to socialize more. Should I let them stay in the cage together or should I let them meet a few times before?

Like I said, they're not fighting that much. Had a few tiny incidents since I put them there but other than that nothing really. But they don't really seem happy with it either.

It really looks like at least one if not the both of them might be pregnant too.

[smux]

Glad to see you chose the two males...I must have missed this post yesterday (I was out until late) or I would have suggested considering that...it may be more degus than intended, but it's better for all.

As for the fighting, if you haven't done a proper introduction you need to keep a close eye on them as fighting could break out at any time. It could just as easily go smoothly, but it could degenerate into a bloodbath with two pairs of females sharing a cage (any pairs, really). If they're not agitated, that's a good sign, but it might take less for trouble to erupt.

If one of them is pregnant, you will soon know about it if you aren't definitely sure. Weigh her regularly and keep a record of the weights and dates so you can see when she might be due (I have no idea what the average "due" weight is, but I am sure someone here can comment on it) and keep a look out for nipples as that's a sure sign she's a week or so from giving birth. Nipples will be clearly visible usually (the blacker fur underneath is forced out and you'll see this) although this probably isn't always the case.

Your best bet if one is pregnant is to split the cage up so they can see each other and interact but not actually cause each other any (or at least much) harm. If all goes well every time you see them, feel free to keep them together again. I'm mostly worried about the pregnant one (she might just be fat, of course) as you don't want her injured by your original two.

[andrip]

Thanks for your reply. I have the cage in my room so I've been keeping an eye on them ever since I brought them in and there's definitely agitation and little spats here and there but right now three of them are actually sitting in the wheel chilling. The fourth, the one I'm almost positive is pregnant and the one who seems to be getting into these spats the most, is on the floor above chilling alone.

I'm going to let them stay like this for at least a few more hours since they seem to be getting calmer.

I'm going to weigh both of them since they both look preetty pregnant to me. Will be on the lookout for nipples as well.

EDIT: Should be safe to leave them over night if the spats don't get more serious than this? They usually fight just a little until one of them scatters away.

EDIT2: Just weighed all four of them and am quite surprised, the two I got today are both in the 220-230g range (my scale sucks so it won't get more accurate) but the others were only 160g and 190g

My previous pair must be at least 8-9 months old, I've had them for 6 months and got them when they were really tiny. I'm not sure how old the new ones are but they are bigger and even a little different built. Their ears are more perky and the fur is lighter.

I'll have to take some good pictures later because I really need to know if I've got healthy goo's here.

[smux]

The two you had before are going to be underweight as they're not yet adults, 250g is about the average you want for healthy adult degus (the actual average is more than that, but slight unhealthiness isn't gonna kill them :-)). The two new ones have just arrived and if you don't know their ages it is possible they are healthy adults rather than unhealthy teens...or it might be that they are pregnant, as you mentioned. If there is any chance they are adults, don't assume they are pregnant...just prepare for the possibility :-)

[andrip]

Yeah, the new ones must be older I guess.

They seem much happier now, I guess the fighting was just to settle who's top dog now. One of the degus I had before got a little hurt too. It seems like one of her claws has been ripped out or something, there was a little blood but she stopped bleeding very quickly.

I even caught them all sleeping in a pile last night, so I'm sure they're OK together? haha

[smux]

My Damien's had a claw ripped out recently, also from fighting. His "finger" is now swollen so I have given him some Metacam for any pain and Baytril to fight any infection, and of course lots of treats afterwards for taking his medicine :-)

They sound comfortable with each other if they're sleeping together...that's always a good sign.

[andrip]

Yeah, I'm quite comfortable with the foursome now.

I hope your Damien get's better, upon closer inspection I saw that there was just a nick on the back of her pawn (or whatever it's called ) so I don't really think I have to do anything about it.