sneezing male with red coloured urine.

[makeriotsnotdiets]

Hello there,

this site along with the German forums have been a blessing since my girlfriend and I decided to acquire our first goos... so thank you to everyone on here for all the excellent info put together in other threads.

we have 2 boys (supposedly) and one have them has been sneezing a little bit. not too much to warrant absolute panic, but enough for me to read up on it. I'm sure it's the same goo that has been passing coloured urine. there is beetroot and carrot in the food at the moment so I thought that was the cause.

now due to my extreme forum reading habits, I'm not too sure that Forrest is a boy. there was a lot of dominance style humping from early on and once there was a rather long and loud celebratory mating call. now with the coloured urine and (not so often) sneezing, all seems to point towards pregnancy?

I haven't been able to check their sexes yet because I wasn't there when my girlfriend collected them and I don't want to lose any trust built up so far by grabbing the goo. (only had them a week so the taming is at an early stage)

sorry for the long post for my first one. anyone have any ideas?

[Ady]

Hello,
congrats on your new goos.
The mating call can happen even if no female is around, he can get excited by himself or around other males, especially if he's young. If u have metal cage you can make them climb up the side and check their bits through the bars.
Regarding the colout urine, leave it to dry and if it dries red or pink it's just food colour in it, if it dries brown, it's blood. Beetroot always colour urine as you mentioned. Also coloured urine isn't sign of pregnancy.

[makeriotsnotdiets]

Hi Ady, thanks.

yeah, I think I read one of your replies to somebody else about the dried colour. it is drying pink/red so thats why we thought it was the food. the feed we have contains beetroot and carrot so I spent the afternoon picking out anything that resembled them.

I'll try the cage climbing thing soon. I don't know why I didn't think of that lol.

thanks again.

[Ady]

How's the sneezing? Maybe there is some dust in the bedding you use? Or in the hay? Does he maybe dig in it and then sneeze? Or are his eyes watery? Sometimes it can be health issue but first you can eliminate any outside stuff that can make him sneeze.

[makeriotsnotdiets]

no. both seem perfectly healthy.eyes are fine, i've held my ear to the cage whilst they have been there to try listening to their breathing, which seems fine. both have healthy appetites and are both taking on water. they are both very active still and the sneezing doesn't seem to be bothering him.

the room is always between 18-20 degrees because we spend almost all our time in that room whilst studying etc. I have spent time around the cage and there seems to be the ever so slightest draft coming through, but it is hardly noticeable to me. that has been covered now. we'll see... hopefully it's nothing. I'll have a look into the bedding too.

cheers

[Maravilla]

Hi,
reddish urine normally is a common thing, as Ady already mentioned. I would say that half of the urine of my degus is coloured due to the plants they eat.
Sneezing is another thing. How old are the degus? Do they show any other signs? Wet eyes? Eating problems? Sneezing can be due to some dust, but also due to a cold (here often combined with wet eyes) or teeth problems (therefore the question about their eating habits).

It's important to have their sexes checked as there are often problems with this. You can try to but them in a transparent box or glass to have them checked. I think it's better to make it now than to wait for a pregnancy (normally you will notice this just in the last days of pregnancy). Also here in Berlin there are enough degus, no need for more babies.

[makeriotsnotdiets]

HI guys,

they are both 9 weeks old. I used Ady's trick to get them on the cage and I'm now sure that they are both boys,. I spent 3-4 hours with them this morning (perks of not working yet) and both seem fine, the same as when we got them. both eating, playing, non-stop wheel action. eyes seem fine, and never noticed any sneezing.

A pregnancy isn't what we would have wanted anyway (if they were boy and girl). If we are to get more degus it will be through adoption and animal shelters.

thank you both for answering

[Maravilla]

Well, with 9 weeks boys normally aren't sexually mature. This takes a couple of days longer (normally at the age of 10-12 weeks). Girls are different (can become pregnant at around 6 weeks).
Keep an eye on them and try to check their weight regularly. You are in the fortunate position to have them from an early age on what can make things easier.

[makeriotsnotdiets]

OK, so the past 2 days... no more sneezing and no more red urine... success!

thank you both for all your advice.

@ Maravilla - yes we are very fortunate

[Ady]

Glad there's no more sneezing. Also there's nothing wrong with red urine as it was colored by beetroot as you said, it's fine.