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Post by farplace on Feb 20, 2012 8:38:49 GMT
Im new here and want to say hi ;D I run an animal rescue centre and currently have 3 adult female degus and 8 newborn babies who came into rescue yesterday. It has been several years since I have cared for degus (and never newborns) and I have come here to learn the best care for these sweethearts. Looking forward to getting to know you folks. Jan Farplace Animal Rescue
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Post by amie on Feb 20, 2012 18:40:53 GMT
Welcome to the forum! Feel free to ask any questions you may have In regards to the newborns, the mums should do just fine without your assistance, however if you do have any problems, please do share and we'll help the best we can
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Post by deguconvert on Feb 20, 2012 20:49:35 GMT
Welcome to the forum, Farplace!! It is a pleasure to meet you and to be able to help you. Congratulations on the eleven new to you little loves. EIGHT newborns!! WOW! They are so much fun and a true delight to have. You will immensely enjoy them!
The newborns will need to have a fairly stable ambient temperature, as they are unable to control their inner thermostat well in their early days. This improves as they get older and by about four weeks they are well furred and busy little monkeys that do much better with their creation and control of warmth. You will see that they are moving around and out of the nest at about day 3 or 4, and the adults will be busy carting them back. If you find a pup out of the nest, pick it up (they are fine to be picked up and held, the Mom and the other adult girls will not freak out about it, and it won't cause them to kill the pups either.) and if it is chilled, warm it in your hands for a couple of minutes and then return it to the nest. Sometimes you have to cover the nest over with some toilet tissue or facial tissue to help keep the pups in place or to improve their warmth. From the age of about 4 days, you can start holding the pups for short amounts of time. It will help to make them friendly and ready to be handled, and it doesn't interfere at all with their growing and training under Mom tutelage. And, besides, you'll love holding them!! You will notice that the pups will start tasting the solid foods that you put in for the adults when they are somewhere between a week and two weeks in age. This is completely normal, so don't worry about it. After that, they get VERY busy and curious and will check out everything they see. This will mean that you need to have your cage pup proofed so that none of them can sneak out of any opening and start roaming around your home. Cardboard wired into place is very helpful with this task.
That's about all I can think of for now, but as Amie said, if you have any questions, please ask away!! We also have the Breeding and Babies Board that you may wish to have a look through. It is full of discussions about pregnancy, pups, etc.
Once again, Welcome to the forum!!!
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Post by farplace on Feb 20, 2012 23:59:05 GMT
They are absolutely wonderful! All 3 females are nursing the babies. They are actually the pups of 2 of the females, but the 3rd one lost her litter a few days before they came here - so all have milk. the pups are busy exploring their home. At the moment I have them in a 5foot tank with a cat-proof lid. This will ensure the babies are safe and cant escape. As they get bigger they will be moved into a better cage.
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Post by deguconvert on Feb 21, 2012 4:01:36 GMT
They look like they have some blue colouring in them. Are any of the mums blue? They are adorable!!
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Post by farplace on Feb 21, 2012 8:01:57 GMT
They look like they have some blue colouring in them. Are any of the mums blue? They are adorable!! All the mums are normal agouti coloured. Not sure about the dads as they were rehomed separately.
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