boots
Newborn Degu
Posts: 19
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Post by boots on Dec 31, 2010 10:21:23 GMT
Hi I have recently got two male 12 week old degus. One is of a normal size but the other is absolutely tiny! Half the size of his brother roughly.
They get on fine, some mounting occasionally (smaller mounting the bigger funnily enough!) but the bigger doesn't seem to notice really. They sleep all cuddled up, groom each other. All perfect, except for the fact that the bigger boy has a habit of climbing over the smaller, kind of cocking his leg and weeing on the smaller ones back!
When it happened the first time I thought it was just an unfortunate accident. But he's doing it once or twice a day for the last 2-3 days!
So anyone got any idea why he's doing it? If I can stop him? Also, what's the best method of cleaning the small one, as he stinks of urine now?! I've given him a wipe with tissue when I see it happen, but will it be best to use maybe an unscented baby wipe or something?
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Post by smux on Dec 31, 2010 10:41:53 GMT
Its scent marking, it's normal behaviour and its his way of saying he owns the smaller guy no matter how much domination the little one tries. I would personally leave it as is unless it is a problem for you, but if you do wipe it off definitely use toilet tissue and not baby wipes...it may not be as effective but it won't leave any chemicals on their fur. A dust bath should remove most of the urine scent if not all, but every time you remove it he'll just re-mark his territory so you may find he does it less if you do nothing about it.
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boots
Newborn Degu
Posts: 19
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Post by boots on Dec 31, 2010 10:52:33 GMT
Ah right ok, I'll leave them to it then! I thought it was scent marking but I didn't realise they did it on each other! Not seen it with any of my others! I wasn't sure if leaving the wee on him may hurt his skin possibly. Neither of them seem too keen on using a dust bath so far, but I'll keep trying.
Thanks for the quick reply!
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Post by smux on Dec 31, 2010 11:21:12 GMT
At 12 weeks they should definitely be using the dust bath, get one of your more docile degus out and give them the dust bath in view of the babies so they can see what it is used for (I am assuming here that they are in their own cage...if they share with dustbathing degus they will eventually get it)...they learn by imitating the adults, usually their mum or sisters, and this is probably something the people you got them from didn't do. Even if they're not doing the dust bathing properly, still give them access to it as if they are as hopefully they will cotton on to what they should be doing.
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boots
Newborn Degu
Posts: 19
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Post by boots on Dec 31, 2010 12:18:38 GMT
Yep they're in their own cage at the moment, I've only had them 3 days. Been giving them access to the dust bath 2-3 times a day to see if they get it but they just sit in it and poo mainly! Will try getting my old boy Alfie out to have a bath in front of them, hopefully that'll do the trick! Thanks again  |
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Post by deguconvert on Jan 1, 2011 6:34:15 GMT
I'm thinking that you don't actually have brothers . . . although there are definitely differences in sizes between siblings . . . but for one to be so tiny when the other is so big suggests to me that the pet store put a pup in with an older male so that one or both of them wouldn't be alone. You might want to take a good look just to ensure that both of them are male.
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boots
Newborn Degu
Posts: 19
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Post by boots on Jan 1, 2011 17:51:15 GMT
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Post by deguconvert on Jan 1, 2011 18:28:34 GMT
WOW!! He is SO small!! It could be that he is the runt alright . . . or that with eight others to compete with, he didn't get as much milk from Mom or as much of the other food. Now that there are just the two of them with you, he might be making up for lost time and will have a growth spurt.
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Post by Whizz on Jan 1, 2011 19:42:34 GMT
One of my boys, Gus was very small (admittedly, bigger than yours but still smaller than his brothers) and since I got them in September, he has grown a lot. He is still not the biggest, but he looks more his age and doesn't look so weak, probably because he toughened up a lot due to them being in their puberty stage, so he obviously doesn't want to be at the bottom of the pile.
I think Gus might have been the runt of the litter. So I guess he did have a growth spurt.
He should build himself up, obviously the older, and more he eats, the more he'll grow. So perhaps he will build himself up and have a bit of a growth spurt!
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Post by Bexi87 on Jan 1, 2011 19:49:23 GMT
One of my babies is noticeably smaller than her 2 sisters but she seems fine. I'm trying to force her to eat more (they all have separate bowls but can't get the hang of it!) but I don't think it's causing her too many problems.
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boots
Newborn Degu
Posts: 19
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Post by boots on Jan 1, 2011 20:08:02 GMT
Dennis the little'un eats loads and certainly stands his ground food wise! There's no way he would let his brother (Wilson) have an unfair share of the food! So I expect your right, and he will have a growth spurt soon. Although I do absolutely love having such a tiny, cute baby! He's such a confident little thing though, I think he may have a case of short man syndrome, because he certainly acts as if he's a lot bigger than he is! I will be putting there cage next to my old boy Alfies cage tomorrow, with the hope of them living together in the not too distant future, but I will monitor their meal times closely to make sure he still gets enough food. Alfie is an exceptionally big boy though so Dennis is about the size of his head at the moment! Eventually after getting Dennis Wilson and Alfie living happily together, I'm aiming to then integrate the three of them with my 4 other boys. But putting the two babies in with Alfie is the quickest way of getting him some company. Hate seeing him on his own  Thanks for the replies, it's put my mind at ease a bit. I did just have a horrible, niggling feeling that it was likely there was something wrong with him. If he doesn't get noticeably bigger in the next few weeks then I will take him for a check over at the vets I think just to be on the safe side! |
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