Health and safety during play time | Degu and Chinchilla World

littlesqueek
Burrowing Degu

Posts: 133

Health and safety during play time Jun 20, 2011 17:19:03 GMT

Post by littlesqueek on Jun 20, 2011 17:19:03 GMT

Hello all,

Sorry I've been absent lately I'm moving soon (in about 2 weeks time) and I'm in the middle of packing.

The degu's are going to get the second bedroom in the new house all to themselves. This means I can contain their noise/mess and let them out for a run around the room (hopefully without them escaping). However at least one of my Degu's (Leo) is a notorious paw bitter, so far he's bitten two of my other Degu's, there was blood and on both occasions and one even got infected.

If the Degu's are running around the same room as their cages; how do you stop the Degu's who are out playing from going over to say hello to the Degu's who are inside their cage and getting hurt? (So far I have 5 degu's in 3 cages, two pairs and one on his own whom I'm hoping to integrate with one of the pairs). I would like them to be able to interact with each other but I don't want any injuries...

Perhaps I should elevate the cages? Put a card board barrier around the bottom of the cages? I don't have enough funds for a run at the moment.

blossombrooks
Forum Helper

Pepper, Daisy and Dougal's adoring mum!

Posts: 920

Health and safety during play time Jun 20, 2011 21:22:10 GMT

Post by blossombrooks on Jun 20, 2011 21:22:10 GMT

Hey littlesqueek,
Firstly good luck with the move! :-) I was wondering, when Leo bit the others paws were they in or out the cages?
I have a room for my girls, the biggest snag I've found is that they climb the cages and run around the tops of them. I usually rescue them with a tube before they get any more ideas but they're so bloomin fast! If you were gonna stop them interacting I think you'd have to elevate the cages or they'd just run up them. Little monkeys eh? :-)

Two goos, Daisy & Dolores - RIP Pepper & Dougal google, mama misses you.
One cat, Bert (thinks he's people)
One husband (wishes he was cat)
love them all to bits!

littlesqueek
Burrowing Degu

Posts: 133

Health and safety during play time Jun 21, 2011 8:34:34 GMT

Post by littlesqueek on Jun 21, 2011 8:34:34 GMT

Leo is on his own at the moment since my attempts to bond him with other Degu's have (so far) been unsecessful. So when he bit the other paws he was inside a cage (not his own though because I've noticed he's territorial over his cage and wondered if he would still be agressive in another cage). On both occasions he bit their paws when they where standing on top of the cage so he had good access to the bottom of their paws.

But even if I stopped them from going on top of his cage he's been known to try and bite through the mesh.

I think it would just be safer for every Degu involved if I just elevate the cages ... Or at least his... Then again both the attacks happened during breeding season. O.o So I really don't know how safe he is when he's not pumped full of hormones.