Need help with my lonely degu!!!

[puzzle29]

Sadly, a couple of days ago, on 9/11/10, my darling (Puzzle, degu) died aged two. He was really weak and couldn't walk or eat. I cuddled him all day until he died. Anyway, my other degu, Scribble, is on his own, and I am giving him loads of attention. I have him out about twice a day, or more. I want to introduce him to some new baby degus, but I know eventually, I will be in the same situation. I will be left with one on its own, and not know what to do!!! What should I do . I can't give my baby Scribble up, and I know in the future, I won't be able to give up any more. What should I do with one on its own? He keeps running around looking for his friend... If I get new ones i will go through the same hurt three more times, but i cant leave my baby on his own....Is there any other way I could stop him getting lonely without buying loads of new ones? Like other animals? xxplz helpxx

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[smux]

Your best bet here is to get two baby degus, and (if you feel comfortable doing so when the time comes) give them up for adoption when the inevitable day comes that you're left with only two. Remember, whether you get two new degus or not, those degus are alive or going to be born and they're going to die...your actions aren't going to change that fact, but it might make their lives in the interim a lot better (and possibly a lot longer) than they would be with another owner...your choice to get two degus may make their lives better, and choosing not to might make their lives worse (obviously, the opposite is also true, they may be better off with the owner they'd get if you didn't get them, but I'm looking at the positives here :-))...the main point here is that you not getting the degus isn't going to change the fact that they will die, only whether you feel anything about it happening...and if you don't get them you'll either have a lonely degu or you'll have to give him up for adoption so someone else can give him a companion. Speaking of companions, they don't have to be babies although babies tend to be easier to introduce as he is less likely to fight with a baby than an adult...but he may get annoyed at the sheer boundlessness (energy) of a baby degu, I know my Theresa is with her 2 girls (the boy's kept elsewhere with his dad) and she's only 6 months older than them and not even out of puberty herself :-)

Basically you've exhausted all the options yourself, but you have to choose one of them. As for degus with other animals, it is a bad idea for them to share with most animals for a number of reasons. For instance, rabbits...degus are closely related to rabbits, yet a rabbit can and will kill a degu if they want to by kicking them with their hind legs. Chinchillas seem like the perfect choice, except chinchillas are nocturnal so sleep all day...unless YOU sleep all day, a chinchilla is a bad choice because degus (being diurnal like us) tend to follow our own sleep patterns so will be up when we're up, and that'll cause fighting and tension if the chinchilla wants to sleep but the degu is up. Guinea pigs and degus are the safest bet, but a guinea pig could still kill a degu if he wanted (although I must point out that my Loki went up against a friend's guinea pig and they were almost playfighting and Loki was holding his own well :-)). All this said though, you could put two degus in a cage and one COULD kill the other easily enough, but it is more likely if the animals aren't the same because there's no communication method they can use to talk (another reason why he needs a degu...companionship requires communication) and this will cause friction...imagine being in a lift with a frenchman who doesn't speak english and wanting to know which floor he wants you to press :-)

[puzzle29]

thanx, has anyone got any tips for persuading my parents to get more degus? I really want to, and so does my mum, but my dad says that he doesn't want to go through all the sadness of them dying again, but I said I'd be much more upset of my baby Scribble got ill because he was on his own... :S

[puzzle29]

btw today my friend brought her guinea pig round my house, and they got on really well...they were grooming each other, and following each other around, and Scribble was acting just like he was when he was with Puzzle...is this good??? Is it ok for him to play with the guinea pig?

[smux]

Easy response to your dad is that if your current degu dies early of loneliness it's HIS fault...degus are social creatures and they NEED company...what he's saying by denying you a second degu companion for him is that either you or he will be the degu's companion and provide him with interaction for most of the day, and I'm sure both you and he have better things to do than keep a degu company :-)

It's a known fact that lone degus have a tendency to suffer from depression more if they're not given plenty of attention on a regular basis throughout the day...perfectly fine if you're invalid and stuck indoors all day, but no good if you work or go to school or college...he'll just pine away over time. Degus live in their HUNDREDS in the wild, a degu living on his own in the wild would die either by attack (they look out for each other) or cold/loneliness probably (I say probably because it would never happen :-)).

Your problem is that if you overstate the loneliness issue too much he may decide the degu would be better off in another house than here on his own, so maybe bring the issue up at another time...perhaps mentioning that you saw the degu has been lying around the cage a lot more recently and you read somewhere that lethargy is a sign of depression in degus.

And it is fine for him to have playtime with other animals as long as they're supervised and obviously they're animals that are known to be fairly safe (so no pitbull terriers :-))...Okay, by that I mean no rabbits, because all it takes is a kick to kill a degu (and most rabbits are very temperamental), but chinchillas, guinea pigs, cats maybe, gerbils, hamsters, etc, should all be fine IF supervised and if there's any sign of trouble from either side you should step in and put them somewhere safe. There have been stories of cats and dogs that are sweethearts to their degu friends, and I remember my flatmate mentioning one story of a bird (don't think it was a parrot, but something fairly big) who would pick up the degu and take him for a fly around the room, assumedly it scared him senseless at first but if they did it often enough he'd get used to it and maybe enjoy it...although I don't recommend you getting a parrot to try this out :-P

[Bexi87]

I would speak to your dad and explain, like Smux says, that degu's can suffer badly from depression if they are alone and especially if they have lost a cagemate!

I can see your dad's point about not wanting to go through the loss again but surely the health of Scribble comes first?

Personally I think the best option would maybe get a pair of 6 week old boys to introduce to Scribble and then if the worst happens again, you are not left with a lone goo?!

[puzzle29]

thanx guys my mum is taking me to freeport today, so im going to try and persuade her by talking to the people in pets at home and showing her the cute baby degus!!! wish me luck

[Bexi87]

I would try to get some newly weaned babies from someone who is trying to rehome a litter rather than some from PaH. It is very rare for PaH to have young babies in, they are usually a few months old at least and it is recommended that you introduce babies to adult goo's as they don't see them as a threat.

Good luck anyway

[puzzle29]

thanks, does anyone know an RSPCA centre anywhere where i can adopt babies? thanks for your help guys xx

[smux]

Go to the RSPCA website and get your local centre's number from there and contact them...the problem you might find is that getting babies via adoption is very unlikely as most of the animals that tend to be abandoned are adults (same situation as P@H)...you might get babies through our section of the forum dealing with it but it probably won't be local...

...for example, I am probably going to have a few babies I will be giving away if my Theresa IS pregnant, I kept the first bundle as there were only three of them but I think 12 has to be my limit unless I find a good reason to keep any more (although I am considering keeping any females from the new litter as the cage is large enough to accommodate a lot more and I am sure the baby girls will welcome the company although Theresa might pack her bags and leave :-)) so they'll need to find good homes around Christmas/new years when they're around the 4-week mark (2 weeks before weaning ends, I will try to find homes for when they're weaned)...obviously London is a bit too far (although if you're at the Freeport in Braintree, it's not too bad :-P) but you can hope for better deals closer to you :-)

[Bexi87]

Have you looked on preloved.co.uk? They always have degus up for adoption on there

[puzzle29]

thx guys!!! my parents agreed and I'm getting new ones at the end on this month!!! Don't know where yet though... maybe preloved.com?

[puzzle29]

btw does anyone have any cute names?
i have scribble, i thought about ludo, sudoku, pikachu, but i dont know....

[nickymills30]

hun, thats brill news!!! As a parent, it can be hard to keep saying yes, to childrens demands, but also, as a parent, i need to understand, what is best for our pets xx