How to Sex Your Degus !

[puppy00]

Hehehe... wish I had known how to sex degus like this when I first got my 2 degus T_T
I thought my 2 little girls were boys

[Karma]

degu sexing is nice and easy once you have had some practise I would rather sex gerbils/degus (very similar gentials) all day than have to try with rabbits or baby hamsters. At 5-6 weeks I swear all hamsters look alike!!! Although they are very easy once they hit about 8-10 weeks but by then they are sexually mature and some females are already pregnant if a boo-boo is made.

Rabbits are just difficult all around. So irriatating.

I liked the video - it was very well made.

[Tiiyn]

Jun 4, 2011 4:04:17 GMT puppy00 said:

Hehehe... wish I had known how to sex degus like this when I first got my 2 degus T_T
I thought my 2 little girls were boys

At least they were two girls! Not one of each =D

[cheekyfilly]

Hi. Im brand new to all this and only collected my babies yesterday. They are 6weeks old and the pet shop sold them as girls. However they started 'mating' last night which I can only put down to trying to decide who ia boss. When I checked I think they are girls,so is this common?

[cheekyfilly]

And I know it's cheeky but please could I post some pictures to get an extra opinion on gender?

[Maravilla]

Mar 27, 2013 8:52:54 GMT cheekyfilly said:

And I know it's cheeky but please could I post some pictures to get an extra opinion on gender?

Of course you can! It is always better to get a second or third opinion than having babies in a couple of weeks. So please feel free to post your pictures here. I am sure that, if it is not the correct place, one of the mods will look for a better place.

What you have seen is probably a dominance issue. Why should girls be better than boys? If the degus are really 6 weeks old (what a pity they were not allowed to spend another couple of days with their mom ), there would be still some time for boys to become sexually mature.

[ntg]

Hi cheekyfilly, as Maravilla says, feel free to post pictures for a second opinion, and don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have!

If you start a new thread in the beginners section then you will be more likely to get a good response from people

[cheekyfilly]

Thanks guys. The chap said they were 6 weeks but the paperwork says 6-8 so im hoping they are closer to 8 :-) will get some pictures up tonight

[mocni]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for digging this thread from the grave, but I have a question that I only thought to ask here.

We've got our degus for a month now and they were maybe a couple of weeks old when we got them, so they shouldn't be older than 2 months yet. Since I'm having trouble picking them ul and holding them still for check up, is it maybe safe to assume that one of them is male because he tends to scream on occasions? I've read somewhere that that's a thing males do when they are ready to mate or right after.

I wouldn't like to spend money on a vet if it's that easy to guess.

[misscatafer]

Oh dear, why were they removed from the mother so young? All degus squeak and squeal no matter what the sex. Could you take pictures for us to help you sex them, you could entice them up against the bars with a treat or into a clear plastic tub to get a clear photograph.

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2018 14:32:30 GMT mocni said:

Hello everyone!

Sorry for digging this thread from the grave, but I have a question that I only thought to ask here.

We've got our degus for a month now and they were maybe a couple of weeks old when we got them, so they shouldn't be older than 2 months yet. Since I'm having trouble picking them ul and holding them still for check up, is it maybe safe to assume that one of them is male because he tends to scream on occasions? I've read somewhere that that's a thing males do when they are ready to mate or right after.

I wouldn't like to spend money on a vet if it's that easy to guess.

You need to take pictures for us to see. All degus squeak and scream. Males are capable of impregnating females from 8 weeks old, so you need to get their sexes checked ASAP. You can burrito them in a towel or a flannel and hold them belly up and take a quick picture, alternatively place them on something see through, something glass with some treats and take pictures from below.

They also sound like they were too young to be separated from their family.. do you mind in me asking what happened?

[mocni]

We took them on the 7th of May and they were born on the beginning of April (cleared that up with my younger brother, wasn't sure before) so they are at least 2* months now. Some lady had her female degu impregnated and wound up with 4 degus too much! By the time we got to her she allegedly lost one, so thats how we ended up with three (the initial plan was to take two of the same sex).

I'm not sure that we'll be skillful enough to hold them AND take pictures but we'll try to guess for ourselves with the help of the op's video and the pics on this thread.

Thank you for your input!

*Edit

[savvy]

Have you tried putting them in a glass bottomed jar/bowl and taking a picture from beneath? That way you're not holding them, just containing them for a few seconds.

[mocni]

We'll try to check up on them tomorrow.

But just regarding the screaming I mentioned earlier - Inget that they are social creatures who like to talk and it's really cute when they get togehter and start squeaking and communicating but I'm talking about straight up screaming into the abyss with no regard towards the other two. They were even separated. Since they are in two cages joined by a hanster tube the other simply walked away. The screaming one stayed there alone, screaming one night for 6 hours. About THAT kind of screaming I've read thats something males do after mating or afetr dominance mounting other males. And on rare occasioins territorial females. Thats why I asked if you could maybe guess who the male is.

Will definetly keep you posted!

[savvy]

What you describe is actually a panic/danger alarm call. Something is scaring them. Can you explain what technique you use for catching them?

Also are you sure that the hamster tube is big enough for a degu?

[mocni]

Yup, they love the tunnel. When we first introduced them to it they could pass each other in it and two of them often hurdled up in it.

I also remember reading about unexplained night scares in degus? How a degu wakes up, not fully concious and starts to scream involuntary? I'll try to find that link again. The screaming did happen around 4 or 5 in the morning when they were sound asleep (we were as well).

Picking them up is not something we mastered yet. Almost every day we seal the tunnel when they are in one cage, close all the walls in the hallway (where we keep them) and simply remove the cage and let them move freely around us for a while. They even come up to us at some points even jumo over our legs. But every time we try to pick up one it squirms away. And we really are gentle about it, it all looks really silly when you look at us. When we do manage to pick one up they are still for exactly .4 seconds until they see a chance to leap out of our hands. They never bite and are friendly, they just don't seem to like to be picked up and hold. After the fun ends we put out some bathing sand for them to get rid of our smells and we bring them back in (often they jumo in the cage themselves).

Sorrt about making such a long post

*Edit: found the link www.degutopia.co.uk/degubhvrfaq.htm
It's a faq on the website, it's under the question 'my degu sometimes squeals at night'

[deguconvert]

It's a great post!! Don't worry about it!!

[Deleted]

Jun 4, 2018 18:25:19 GMT mocni said:

Yup, they love the tunnel. When we first introduced them to it they could pass each other in it and two of them often hurdled up in it.

I also remember reading about unexplained night scares in degus? How a degu wakes up, not fully concious and starts to scream involuntary? I'll try to find that link again. The screaming did happen around 4 or 5 in the morning when they were sound asleep (we were as well).

Picking them up is not something we mastered yet. Almost every day we seal the tunnel when they are in one cage, close all the walls in the hallway (where we keep them) and simply remove the cage and let them move freely around us for a while. They even come up to us at some points even jumo over our legs. But every time we try to pick up one it squirms away. And we really are gentle about it, it all looks really silly when you look at us. When we do manage to pick one up they are still for exactly .4 seconds until they see a chance to leap out of our hands. They never bite and are friendly, they just don't seem to like to be picked up and hold. After the fun ends we put out some bathing sand for them to get rid of our smells and we bring them back in (often they jumo in the cage themselves).

Sorrt about making such a long post

*Edit: found the link www.degutopia.co.uk/degubhvrfaq.htm
It's a faq on the website, it's under the question 'my degu sometimes squeals at night'

I’d be worried about ventilation in the tubes if they sleep in it, keep an eye on it. Have you looked at our cage size guide by any chance? I’m curious as to your setup now lol and how you’ve fixed the tubes in place, would love to see!

Degus will alarm call because they may hear things that we can’t hear.

Most degus don’t like being held/touched or picked up. They’re prey animals and so allowing themselves to be restrained goes against every grain in their being. Your best bet is to always let them come to you, use treats to get them used to being in your hands... put treats up your hands and arms and eventually they won’t see hands so much as a threat.

[mocni]

It's a bit of diy setup. We hastly got into getting 3 degus after we lost one of our hamsters and the only thing we had is the old hanster cage and one old bird cage (more than double the height). And at the openings of the two cages we kinda fixed a hamster tube (it's got little holes all around for ventilating). It's not that pretty but works great. They got water and food and a little house in the hamster cage and a wheel and a lot of branches in the bird cage where they can climb on. Maybe I'll post some pics if I get around to it. It looked cute when they were little but they are growing rapidly! This weekend we are probably going to get a custom made 80x60x100cm cage at least. We always knew we had to do that.

And we are maybe looking into giving one away to prevent inbreeding. Just separating them wouldn't be a long term solution. We also looked into fixing one but 60euros is a bit steep for our student pockets.

[MistyAnna]

Could I send in a pic to double check mine too? I know they are the same but I'm beginning to think they're both Males