Hello i am new to this.

[fredtheted20]

Hello there i am new to all of this, i have four degus and have owned them for about 3 months and i am yet to tame them properly, any suggestions? The picture is of my degu called cedrick sat on my bed.

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[deguconvert]

Hello Fredtheted! Welcome to the forum and to the life that comes with degus. Not that they radically alter your life . . . like children do . . . but they do certainly add their own unique flavours!

I'm going to copy over something from another thread that will hopefully give you some ideas to try out with regard to training your degus.

As to hand training, it is fairly simple, but it requires a fair load of patience. So that is usually the first thing I tell new owners. Grab your patience and hold on to it hard. Degus can swing anywhere from extremely shy to overtly outgoing and friendly. Which ever way they are, you need to build a trust account with them, and that can take time. So . . .
-Whenever you are near, talk to them. Make a point of going to the cage and saying hello.
-Sit beside the cage and chat with them, offer a couple of little treats. Let them sniff your fingers . . . possibly a little nibble even . . . but as Emz said, a short loud squeak if it hurts works wonders in letting them know it hurt.
-IF your cage has a door opening that you can rest your up-turned palm inside of, without running the risk that they will easily escape on you, then when you are sitting beside the cage, put your hand in. In your palm place a couple of sunny seeds, or even tiny pieces of broken walnut (these are what convinced our boys that I was safe . . . they were to greedy for the goods to not chance it! LOL) They will approach and run, then get bold enough to snatch and run, and eventually they may snatch and sit beside your hand. Then will come the day when they stay on your hand, and maybe venture out a bit. At that point you may be able to entice them up your arm a bit.
-I like to tell people to very gently rub the sides of a degu while it is eating a treat. It helps them to associate your touch with really good things, and they will be much more tolerant of it. I learned this with the last of our three to get tame. There will be varying degrees of tolerance, but it is a helpful tool.
-While you are in the training stage, don't worry too much about the amount of treat you are giving . . . so long as the pieces are quite small. It won't be a life time treating plan or habit, so it is OK for the short time.
-And speaking about time . . . hand training so that they are used to you can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. But that won't be the end of it. You will notice your degus continually showing smalls signs of growing trust and affection over the time that you own them. Sometimes you may feel you have reached the peak of what will grow, and a few months later they will surprise you with a new demonstration of affection. Just remember that it is a somewhat slow process for the deeper trusts to be gained, but it is well worth it.
-Something that has proved to be very helpful for training is a fuzzy warm house robe. Degus love to crawl into little tubes and tunnels, and the sleeve of a house robe looks just like that. If you don't mind the idea of a degu or two running around inside of an old robe or hoodie (if you have one), then put it on over an old shirt and begin to entice them in. While in there they will get used to your smell and the feel of you, while you also get used to them. It can make a tremendous leap forward in your relationship with them. To this day, my boys ADORE my house robe. If I put it on and go to the cage, all three of them clamour to come out. Then they speedily dive inside and go hunting. I look like I've become infected with 'moles.' After a bit they will often pile up in the small of my back and have a snooze. They can be HOT little furries! And yes, my house robe is getting well and frequently washed. ;~)


Something to realize about degus is that they are very busy little critters and aren't very inclined to sit in one spot and cuddle . . . for the most part. There are those that will cuddle with their people and fall asleep on them, but the majority of them want to run about, look at everything, taste everything, chew anything that they want, and generally be on the move. So, if this is something you have been hoping for, I do apologise now for bursting your balloon. Degus, for the most part, just don't fall into the cuddly catagory.

Please feel free to ask for clarification or for different ideas if none of these work for you. I hope you are enjoying your degus