Need some advice and help! please read :]

[andersonesp]

Hi everyone!
Me and my girlfriend brought two male degus (Taz and Hodge)both are around 2 and a half months old, we've had them for 3 days.
Both are already coming out of their cage and onto our hands and arms but won't really sit still...well Hodge will but Taz goes crazy mad and tries to get away except when he has a nice hide in my hoody pocket...i don't mind cuz Taz has a lot of character.
We've tried giving them rolled oats which worked as they both eat from our hands now but they seem to get competitive when they both eat from one hand and that leads to a nasty nip at our hand...by accident i'm sure.
Does anyone have any tips on degu discipline or getting them to maybe calm down slightly... perhaps Taz needs more exercise to calm him down a bit i'm not sure.
if anyone has any training tips, ideas, advice or any other ideas that don't regard this topic but will benefit our degus please share:]
Thank you very much

Dave

[smux]

Fights over food is normal, but watch to see who starts it and take your hand away from them and offer the food to the other guy only. Either they'll learn to share or they lose out on the treats. I've seen angry squeaks from some of mine to others even when I've given them all the same treat and they've gone to different areas of the cage to eat it...they're just protective of their food :-)

[sarahh]

They are just young like human babies they have to be busy all young animals like to be off playing.
Fights over food is just a get out the way thing my rats do it too. It's still very early days 3 days isn't much they are still getting used to things new surroundings etc. Do you have a wheel in the cage goo's love wheels I use the savic jumbo rolly. Ledges, hay tunnels, willow sticks/baskets they love chewing, mine have a critter kabob with wooden chews on it and a bell on the end they love pulling it and ringing the bell.

[malteser60]

Degus are very very lively creatures. I've had mine for 8 months and they're still all over the place. I think as they grow older they become more settled. But for now expect them to be all over the place.
Also patience is the key. They'll soon realise that the more they sit still the more treats they get! Honestly, bribery with treats is the key to degu happiness!
And don't worry about the scuffles between them. You'd think WW3 starts when mine argue over treats. The grumbles and whines, along with well placed kicks, shoves (especially off ledges), bum-swipes, it's unbelievable. And this is with me telling them off to behave, plus feeding them treats from seperate hands, even on seperate ledges. Usually what happens is one of them takes the treat then quickly runs to the other ledge to make sure she's not missing out on any treats that her sister is getting - almost like making sure her sister is not getting more than she is. Then, obviously, the sister gets upset and cue the kick and/or bum-swipe off the ledge. Honestly, with degus, it's like a pantomine every time!

[malteser60]

Oh forgot to say, have a look at degutopia for advice on training, also this sticky on this forum helps:
deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=intro&action=display&thread=5766

As i mentioned, patience is the key. You're already ahead in that they're happy to sit and run on you, that's normally the biggest hurdle for degu owners to overcome.
I found that talking to my degus all the time has helped a lot with the training. Evertime I passed their cage I woud stop to say hello, I would repeat their names all the time, especially when feeding them their treats. Also stroking them a bit when eating the treats gets them used to being touched.
Handle them often if possible. Doing these things mine now happily sit on my shoulder (or inside my top in Cinnamons case) and will stay there whilst I'm doing the housework. If I let them out to run they will always come to me when I call them. They really do seem to enjoy spending time on on. When I let them out to play I try as much as possible to stay there with them, and normally they will wander off to investigate, returning to me every 10min or so just to make sure i'm still there. Cinnamon would come over and climb over me, sit on my shoulder, have a sniff, then head off again. Nutmeg, bless her, will climb right on top of my head and sit there, like she surveying her land that she's queen of!

[andersonesp]

Thanks for all the great advice! :]
I think I've been too relaxed with them on the treat side so it's not really training them much ahaha, so i definitely will try a more structured reward based approach.
Taz now climbs on my shoulders and sometimes take his seat on my head to have a look around which is quite cute.
Today we let them loose in the spare room which they seem to like, but something spooked them and im not sure what it was, after that they seemed restless and agitated.
Hodge seems to bite i'm not sure wether he is grooming or actually going for a bite so i feel a bit nervous when i handle him.
I'm trying to get each of our degus to respond to their name follow by a click, should i offer a treat every time it works?
thanks :]

[danzibaar]

Degu are very energetic creatures! When I was cleaning my Degu, Luigi, out I took his wheel out to clean. The next day his wheel was still not back in his cage and he had more energy then he has ever had.Luigi was running around, playing with all his toys and coming out for a cuddle and adventures.When his wheel was back in he spent all his time running on the wheel and a long time having a nap in his hammock!
It is essential for Degu to have a wheel to use all of that fun excitable energy!